Page 109 of The Scars We Heal

“It is, but he’ll be there,” Reid said with a melancholic expression.

A moment of silence clung to the air, but then Colter clapped his hands. “Let’s get to it, then!”

That seemed to get everyone moving again.

Our crew got to work, picking up piles of smushed potatoes. Reid attempted to carve the turkey, but found the meat inside was horribly dry. He still put it away in the fridge to try to make a meal out of it later, but he wasn’t going to subject us all to eating bone-dry meat.

An hour later, we all met in front of the doors of Rudy’s bar. Downtown was pretty much deserted, as was to be expected on a major holiday like Thanksgiving, but Reid knocked a couple times on the double doors, and before long, the old man had hobbled up to the doors to unlock them.

His brows lifted in surprise. “Ho, Reid, my boy.” Then his eyes wandered across all of us. “You brought friends. What are you all doing here?”

“Funny story.” Reid scratched the back of his neck. “We had a little mishap with Thanksgiving dinner, so we all decided to order some pizzas and come here. Figured you’d appreciate the company. I know it’s not turkey, but we wanted to bring you a meal, too.”

I could have sworn I heard the old man sniffle.

“Well, that’s mighty kind of you. Come on in.” He stepped aside, gesturing for us all to enter the bar.

The stereo played an old Sinatra song, and a John Wayne movie played on the TV in the corner.

“Take a seat. Can I get you all some drinks? On the house.” Rudy walked behind the bar and reached for a bottle of Pendleton.

Mikey started counting all of us. “One, two, three, four, five shots of Pendleton, one shot of tequila for Ellison, a Malibu lemonade for Isa, vodka soda for Sierra, and…uh…” He hesitated when he looked at Caitlin.

“Gin and tonic, easy on the gin,” I answered for him.

“Here, let me help you with all those,” Juniper offered, skirting around to the other side of the bar. “It’ll be just like old times. And then I can also make my own because I’m picky.”

Rudy laughed. “If you ever want to come back to bartending, you know we’ll always have a place for you here.”

She flashed him a grin. “If the whole cancer research thing doesn’t work out for me, you know where to find me.”

“It’s going to work out for her,” Mikey added with a wink.

I redirected my attention to the other conversation between Ellison and Isa.

“So, now that you’ve moved up to Montana, do you think he’s going to propose soon?” Ellison asked, her lips curling up into a grin.

Isa shrugged, but her eyes sparkled with emotion. “I’m not sure.”

On the other side of me, Reid said in a low voice to Colter, “I think I might propose to Isa next summer. I want to give us some time to adjust to living together, but Ellison and her little sister gave me some ideas of what she likes in a ring.”

“Eavesdropping?” Caitlin whispered in my ear as she sidled up next to me.

“Guilty,” I admitted, just as Juniper slid a few drinks across the bar, putting them next to the lineup of shots Rudy had poured for us.

Mikey cleared his throat and reached for a shot glass. “All right, ladies and gentlemen. Raise your glasses.”

The rest of us passed around the drinks until everyone had one.

“Here’s to having friends who have seen us at our best and at our worst and still keep us around, even when the mashed potatoes get dropped and the turkey gets burnt. I’m grateful to call you all my chosen family. Yeehaw!”

We all laughed and clinked our glasses, the guys all throwing back their shots.

Mikey let out a contented sigh then whooped. “Now, who wants to play a game of pool?”

“Tournament style!” Colter raised his pointer finger and swirled it in the air. “Everyone partner up!”

Naturally, everyone chose to partner up with their significant other, leaving me and Caitlin at the end.