Bourbon Nights - Shari J. Ryan Page 0,60

least twice.

I haven’t heard from Melody since last night, and I’m wondering what she must be going through today with Harold in hospice. Though I try not to be invasive of her privacy, I wish I knew more than I do about Harold’s current situation. I'd like to visit, but only if it’s not intrusive on the family’s time.There have been a dozen instances of picking up my phone today, to send Melody a message to check in, but I stop short of hitting the send button.

Mr. Crawley makes his way upstairs just before two-thirty, knowing I have to pick Parker up from school. “Everything good up here?” he asks, stretching his hands over his head.

“Yeah, I was a little distracted today, but everything should be in order at this point. I got the shipment out an hour ago and got the inventory entered into the system.”

“Basically, you left me with nothing to do but sit here and look good,” he jokes.

“Well, sir, if I may say so, you do a damn good job of looking good. So, by all means, have at it.”

“Smartass,” Mr. Crawley says. “Have you heard anything from the Quinns today?”

“No, I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing.”

“I think you’ll be hearing something soon,” Mr. Crawley says. “In fact, here, you’ll be needing this.” Mr. Crawley steps into the back room and returns within seconds, handing me a bourbon bottle.

“Why? What’s going on?” My heart pounds with curiosity, wondering what he knows … wondering if something happened that he isn’t telling me.

“Give your mom a call. Harold has decided to have a party tonight. I don’t know how or why, but if the man is making demands right now, we listen, right? Anyway, you’ll be there before me, and he asked that you bring this bottle with you.”

I retrieve the bottle from Mr. Crawley’s hand, feeling confused about the thought of a party. “Well then, I will get the information from my parents. Thanks for letting me know.”

“No problem. I’m sure I’ll see you tonight,” Mr. Crawley continues, grabbing my coat off the back rack and throwing it at me.

“Okay.” I don’t know what is going on or why neither Mom or Pops have called me yet, but it’s got to be something, I guess.

“Tell Parker I said hello, and I hope she did well on her spelling quiz,” Mr. Crawley says as I’m walking toward the back door.

“Will do. Thank you, sir.” He’s a good guy. He is like the grandfather of all grandfathers, type of man.

The moment I slide into the truck, I call Mom to see what’s going on. “Hello, Brett? Oh, I’m so glad you called. I’ve meant to call you for the last hour, but I’ve been running around like a chicken with my head cut off.” She’s out of breath and hearing all the chatter going on around her, I can tell she is in a public setting.

“I heard something about a party tonight. How …”

Mom chuckles. “Harold is having a good day, and he demanded a party tonight with his closest friends and family. They have invited us to go.”

“I have Parker, Mom. I can’t—”

“Brody has already offered to stay home and watch the girls. He’s a little more removed from this situation than you are at the moment. Harold specifically asked that you be there, so I think in this situation, we’ll let Brody sit this one out.”

Brody is always sitting these situations out. He can’t handle sadness of any kind, which most people wouldn’t know by the way he cracks jokes at every possible opportunity. We’ve referred to his issue as anxiety since we were kids, but in truth, his situation is not true anxiety. He just went through too much shit between the ages of fourteen and sixteen, and since then, he’s been sitting a good chunk of life out. And we have to go along with it because we’re a family. I get it. We’re not all cut out for everything life throws at us, but Jesus, no one has given me a free pass since I moved home. Then again, I should take the opportunity to be there tonight for Melody’s sake, so I’ll be grateful Brody has taken his normal loophole to escape the party.

“Um, okay. Does anyone need anything? What can I do?” I offer.

“I’m at the grocery store to get a few things to bring, but they’re having the party catered, so Marion said she didn’t need anything.