We’d been in the same grade, reluctant buddies at first. She liked to read and I liked to raise hell. The thing that eventually broke the ice, though, was a school library book I brought home one week. It was a book of puns for kids. I liked it because it made me laugh, and she probably liked it because it was a book. We’d spent hours reading them aloud, a section at a time, laughing and making up our own. Puns had been our thing ever since.

Now I talked to her every few weeks, or more often if a punny mood struck one of us. We’d been known to message back and forth for a stretch of days, exchanging puns. We’d also been known to go weeks without seeing each other, since she lived an hour away in the city, and she refused to set foot back here. Yet whenever we saw each other, usually lunch or dinner when I was in Nashville for something, it was as if we’d talked just yesterday. It was why I’d taken her to my dad’s wedding. I’d wanted to take a plus-one, but I hadn’t wanted a date date because I’d still been a little weird about my dad remarrying. Chloe had been exactly what I needed—supportive and comfortable.

“What’s another setback at this point?” I said as if it didn’t matter. It mattered, but it wasn’t going to defeat us. We just needed time to reorganize.

“It sounded like it was a done deal,” she said. “Which makes it suck double, huh?”

“We’ve got some colder leads to double back on.”

“Take a sample of this stuff when you meet with them.” She set her empty glass down. “Truly, if everything you brew is as good as that, people will be lining up to invest.” Her eyes narrowed. “It’s potent too. May I… have another half glass?”

Maybe it would help her relax. The longer she sat there, the more wound up she seemed. Once Sarai brought her lunch out, I went to the walk-in to grab some stock that had gotten low over the weekend, busied myself prepping the bar for the week, and stepped in to seat Loretta Lawson and Dotty Jaworski while Elijah was seating another group.

When I got back behind the bar, Chloe had drained the second beer and pushed her half-eaten lunch away.

“It’s not good?” I asked. “I can get you something else.”

“What? Oh. No, it’s good. Really good. I’m not that hungry.”

“What’s bugging you, EVP Chloe?”

She threw her head back and closed her eyes. I heard her take in a breath. Then she came forward and thumped both hands on the bar, not quite looking at me.

“I… did a dumb thing.”

“That doesn’t sound like you.”