27
Josh
I whip around to find Sherry glaring at me.
“Sorry.” My anger dissipates for a moment of guilt. “I thought you stayed out there with them.”
Sherry rolls her eyes. “Those bozos? There’s a reason I’ve kept this place a dump for so many years. Up until this past week, it’s kept a nice distance between me and the riffraff.”
“Sorry I ruined that.”
She rolls her eyes. “I was being dramatic. I can deal with the riffraff as long as they are buying seven-dollar pints.” She passes me, heading to the bar, but stops, opening her mouth, as if choosing her next words carefully.
“Listen, I wasn’t going to say anything, but I’m getting the sense you need to hear it. Whatever has gotten into you the last little while, I like it. I’ve been waiting for a long time for you to grow up and stop wandering around this town like you don’t know your ass from your head, and frankly, I was starting to lose hope. This place has really turned around. And that was entirely due to your sudden change in attitude. Whatever has happened, keep it up.”
I’m a little lost at how I should respond here, as I’m pretty sure the personality changes she’s referencing are due to the fact that I’m an entirely different person than her nephew, Fletch, but I decide to take her comment for what it is.
“Thanks, Sherry. The last few years have been rough. Finally seeing things go right has been good for me too.”
She raises a brow. “Rough how?”
I didn’t exactly think my comment through before I made it. I assumed that, like in every other conversation these past two weeks, Sherry would rip a few insults and move on. But she sits down on a barstool and beckons me to join her. I formulate the best way to tell her the rest as I take a seat.
“Well…while I was out in the world…finding myself for all those years…I became very close to a man. He was like a father figure to me. And he got very ill and left me his bar to run, and I couldn’t do it. I couldn’t get customers through the door. I couldn’t pay the staff, and eventually, I had to sell the place so I didn’t go completely bankrupt.”
Sherry doesn’t immediately say anything. She abandons her seat, ducks under the bar, and fetches two glasses and her best Scotch. She pours us each one and slides mine across the bar. “Sometimes in life, the universe kicks us in the ass, and there’s not a whole lot we can do to stop it.” She takes a long swig of her drink and then sets it down. “But it’s only a loss if we don’t learn something from it. So, what was it?”
It’s not a rhetorical question. She pins me with her stare, sipping her Scotch as she waits for my answer.
I’m not sure. Losing my dad’s bar was such a terrible time in my life that I try not to think about it. It’s all a blur, with all my memories defined as before Buddy’s or after.
“I guess I learned that live music is always a draw. That karaoke night worked really well too and—”
“No.” Sherry sets her glass down with a hard clink. “What did you learn about yourself?”
I have to really think. When Buddy’s was going under, all I could think about was that my dad would have never let it happen. I tried everything, and I did everything, and at the end of it, it still wasn’t enough, and it hurt to put everything I had on the line and still come up short. With the Bronze, things were different. There were no expectations for me or Fletch. We started from the bottom, and with the pressure gone and the distance, I was able to do things differently.
“I guess I learned that I’m actually really good at running a bar like this one. That, yeah, there were some pretty crappy circumstances the first time around. And I guess there’s always a risk that things can go wrong again, and it will be out of my control, but all of the good times still make it worth it.”
Sherry doesn’t say anything, but her lips curve upward—on Sherry’s terms, I’d call it a smile.
“I like that. And I’m going to butt into your life one more time this morning, seeing as I’m on a bit of a roll.” She lowers her voice. “You know that compliment I gave you earlier about knowing your ass from your head?”
I snort. “That was a compliment?”
“You know damn well it was. Now I’d like to see you take the same initiative with that girl.”
She means Brynn.
I shake my head. “That’s not the same thing.”
Sherry crosses her arms and huffs. “I am a few good years away from going senile, and my eyesight is just fine. I see the way you look at her and the way she looks at you. I’ve been behind this bar for over thirty years. I’ve learned a lot more about the world than how to pour a stiff drink. She likes you. You like her. You’re telling me she isn’t worth the risk?”
“It’s a little bit more complicated than that. Plus, she’s out there with Spencer. Maybe that’s the guy she needs.”
Sherry narrows her eyes. “And you’re in here, sulking, doing absolutely nothing about it.” Sherry pokes a bony finger right between my ribs. “You just told me you learned something from failing. But from what I can see, you’ve rolled over and played dead. Given yourself a pat on the back and said, The best man has won. But I don’t think he’s the best man, and I don’t think you think that either. There’s nothing he can offer her that you can’t. But there’s one thing he did do that you didn’t.”
“Coordinate a flash mob?” I offer sarcastically.
Sherry doesn’t laugh. “Yes.”
“She hated that. It’s one of her worst—”
“Not the dancing.” Sherry cuts me off. “The fact that he told her exactly how he felt. He left no questions on the table. No doubts. We’ve all been scorned by past lovers. God only knows I never learned my lesson, and as much as we shouldn’t, we carry the emotional baggage with us far longer than we should. If you really like that girl, tell her. Leave no doubts in her mind. Fight for her, because although you think it hurts to try and fail, it hurts a hell of a lot worse when you walk away and then realize when it’s too late that she was the love of your life.”
Sherry’s words hit hard.
She’s right.
About all of it.
What I feel about Brynn.
That if I don’t do something, she will end up with Spencer or someone else that comes along.
“Okay.” I get to my feet, a plan beginning to formulate in my head. “I need to do a few things before seven, but I haven’t finished stocking the beer fridge and someone needs to be here at six to let the Hungry Dingos in to set up. Is there any chance you can…?”
She rolls her eyes, waving me off. “Yes. Fine. Go find love. I got it.”
I give her a kiss on the cheek. She cups my face with her hand before giving it a light slap.
“You’re not going to plan a flash mob, right? Just to be clear, that part was metaphorical.”
Nope. If I’m going to win Brynn, I need to do it my way.
“Yeah, I have something completely different in mind.”