Bourbon Nights - Shari J. Ryan Page 0,9

a serious sentence.

“What did he say?”

“Something like: ‘Someone forgot to seal my bottle. My shelf life is about to expire. Time to fly with the angel shares.’ I was trying to understand what he was talking about, but it didn’t take long before I solved his riddle. He was laughing about it. I don’t understand.”

“What else can a guy do in this situation?” I ask Pops. “If he can laugh about it, it’s better that way.”

“I suppose,” Pops says, taking a step back. He dips his hands into his back pockets and shakes his head. “This is awful.”

“How is Mrs. Quinn taking the news? Did he say?”

“Not well. Like the girls, really. They’re trying to be strong. They cry in private, but he hears them, and it’s breaking his heart. He’s more upset for their well-being than his own.”

“I can’t say I blame them.”

“Yeah, anyway, Harold appreciates you being able to take care of the shop right now,” Pops says. “I’d do it, but I wouldn’t be able to get the barrel shipments out at the same time.”

“You don’t have to explain,” I tell him. “Are you able to handle things at the warehouse without me, though?”

“Brody is going to put more time in and your cousin, Becca, too.”

“Good. I’m glad everyone is helping out. It’s the least we can do. I’ll head over to the distillery after I spend a few minutes with Parker.”

“That would be great. Harold asked me to have you call him when you’re heading over there. Do you mind?”

I wish I could say I haven’t had to speak to someone shortly before they passed away, but I’m not so fortunate there. It isn’t to say I know the right words to use or give advice. I didn’t give proper words or advice the last time I spoke to someone on their deathbed. I’m not sure people have the opportunity to plan out those kinds of words. I’ll try to do the listening and do my best to keep my foot out of my mouth. “I’ll give him a call. No problem,” I tell Pops.

“Parker was well behaved all weekend, as usual,” Pops says. “I love that kiddo. The quietest little spitfire I’ve ever met.”

“She’s something special,” I tell him.

“I’m proud of you, son … in case I don’t say it enough to you.”

When life is put in perspective, we say things that could be used as last words, if necessary. I guess it’s easy to see how all remaining chances in life can be lost in an instant.

3

Seven Years Ago

When a person returns from a deployment, there are months’ worth of civilian life to catch up on—movies, television shows, insane sporting miracles, medical advances, and the revolving lives of friends and family. My unit arrived back on base a day earlier than planned. My parents and Brody are driving down to greet me at home after being gone a year, but I don’t want to tell them they’ll be a day late. I’ll give them a heads up when they’re about an hour away. Because of our early arrival, most of us don’t have friends and family waiting when the busses pull up. We’re all just happy to be home on U.S. soil, though. The friends and family are bonuses.

I step out of the bus doors, shuffling my pack over my right shoulder when I’m attacked from the side. Arms swing around my neck, squeezing the air out of my lungs. “I get the benefit of knowing you would be here a day earlier,” Abby says.

Aside from feeling winded by her deadly hug, I need a moment to calculate my thoughts after noticing her appearance. I drop my pack and scratch the side of my face. “Abbs, you’ve been sending me letters for the last year. Did you fail to mention something?”

I’m not the type to ask a girl if she’s pregnant due to the off chance she ate too many bags of Doritos, but if she isn’t pregnant, she needs to see a doctor about what’s going on with her stomach. Abby wasn’t dating anyone, not that she mentioned. On the contrary, she has made her disinterest for relationships clear. I’m confused.

“We have some catching up to do,” she says, tapping her fingers to her lips.

“Ya think?”

“He better be a good guy,” I tell her.

Abby runs her hand down the length of her throat and sighs. “He might be, but um—I’m not sure who he is.”

I shake the confusion out of my head and