Whiskey Neat (Last Call #1)

1. Indiana

ONE

INDIANA

“I’m really sorry to tell you this, team, but today is our last day.”

My heart sinks at the news. I knew it was coming, on some level we all did, but that doesn’t make it easier to hear.

“We tried,” our CEO, Brian, continues. “Unfortunately, they have more funding resources.”

A somber mood settles over us as reality sinks in. This is my fourth layoff in ten years and I’m fucking over it. I thought this company was gonna make it. It had such promise, and the public stock offering was gangbusters.

Rubbing my forehead, I slump in my chair. I’m on the edge of defeat, and I don’t think I have another job hunt in me. I look up when a hand lands on my back.

“Yeah?”

“Come on, Indy. We’re day drinking.” Chris flashes his big smile. “First round is on me.”

“Why the fuck not.”

I pull myself up, only to be subjected to a bunch of HR nonsense about paperwork and security. I’ve heard it all before, so I just wave on the way out of the conference room doors. Yeah, yeah, we’ll get packets and severance packages and yada, yada bullshit.

“Lee cut us loose for the day,” Chris says as we walk down the hall. “But we have to come back tomorrow for the formalities.”

“I’ll be hungover and surly, but that’s fine.”

“We all will be,” Bill says, scrunching his nose. “This blows.”

“I’m so fucking over it.” We stop off at our desks where I grab my keys, coat, and phone. I don’t even bother to log out of my computer. Fuck those overnight updates.

A large group of us leave the office building—a rented space that didn’t comfortably fit all the staff, but we made it work. Across the street is our hangout place, and we battle the falling snow, slushy streets, and traffic to make it to the other side. No one bothers with crosswalks in New Onyx.

Once inside the bar, Twenty and Six, we choose a table big enough for our group. My mood is plummeting quickly, and I’m three drinks away from turning into an asshole. I make a mental note to stop at two and take my pity party to go.

“What are you guys gonna do next?” Stephanie, the only woman on our team asks. “Any ideas?”

“Work for the assholes that bought us out?” Chris offers. “It sucks, but they’re officially the biggest kids on the tech campus.”

“I don’t know if I can,” Jayson says. “Could we even fake it through an interview with them?”

“Right?” Bill says. “I loved working for Lee. It felt…” He shakes his head. “Brand new again. Exciting.”

“It’s not a good sign that the new company didn’t headhunt any of us,” I point out just as the server delivers our standing order of pitchers of beer and a cocktail for me—a whiskey neat. It’s all I drink anymore. Beer makes me bloated. Yay, forty. “They either don’t trust us, or we don’t fit their culture. Either way, I’d steer clear of applying to work with them.”

“Then what?” Jayson asks.

“Maybe it’s time to head west,” Bill says. “There’s plenty of tech companies in Cali.”

“Yeah, and twice the layoff rates,” Chris says. “I came from there, remember?”

Everyone falls silent, but my thoughts are as loud as a rock concert. I told myself if I got laid off one more time I would do something radical. This is that time.

“I’m quitting the industry,” I announce, swirling the amber liquid in my glass. “I’m out. I’m not fucking doing this anymore.”

“What are you gonna do instead? Retire young?” Chris asks.

I scoff. “Not quite set enough to do that.” I exhale slowly. “I have a few ideas. Entrepreneurial shit.”

“Oooh,” Stephanie says. “Like what? Your own tech company?”

“What part of leaving the industry did you miss, Steph?” Jayson teases.

She furrows her brow. “Oh, right. What are your plans?”

I have zero plans to announce them to this group. Not that I don’t like or trust them—I do, but I don’t think they’d get it. To my knowledge, I’m the token queer of our team, and my soul is craving something I’m not sure they’d understand.

“Nothing specific yet,” I lie. “Just some thoughts. I have enough in savings to take a break and make plans.”

“Keep us posted, man,” Bill says. “Especially if it involves hiring people.”

Chuckling, I nod. “You guys will be fine. You’re all highly talented, great people. You’ll find your way.”

“You’re right,” Chris says. “We’ll all land on our feet. Sometimes shit like this is a needed kick in the pants, right?”

I consider his words as my idea settles and takes hold. It feels right. My only hangup is deciding whether I’m really ready for this, but Chris has a point. If not now, when?

The following day, I plop onto my couch after two hours spent doing paperwork and cleaning out my desk. After hanging with the team for a few hours yesterday, I left pumped up and ready for the next chapter of my life. I didn’t even get drunk.

Toeing off my shoes, I lean back on the couch and pull my phone out of my pocket. I know exactly who I’m starting with. I press the button next to his name, bouncing my leg as I wait for him to answer. Is he working right now? No doubt, but he’ll answer me. He always does.

“What’s up, loser?”

“Kit Adler. What are you doing?”

“Uh, it’s ten a.m. in LA. I’m working. You?”

“I’m calling you with a proposition.”

I know this is a little risky, but fuck it. I also know that life hasn’t panned out the way Kit hoped at all, so he might surprise me.

“Listening, but if it’s another zip-lining tour in Columbia or some other jungle, count me out. Not interested in another ER visit.”

“You can get an insect bite anywhere.”

“Not from the kind that lays eggs in your skin. Anyway, what’s your proposition?”

“Remember the last time we all met up and went to the Willow Bay Alumni event? ”

“Of course.”

“The idea seed was planted then, but I think I’m ready to grow it now.”

“Go on.”

“What if…” I take a deep breath, grinning as the words form on my tongue. “What if we bought Jimmy’s? Fix it up and turn it into the gay bar we all need.”

Kit is dead silent for so long that I look at my screen to make sure the call didn’t disconnect.

“Kit?”

“Yeah. What about your job?”

“I got laid off yesterday. Again. The whole company was bought out.”

“Shit, man. Sorry.”

“It’s okay. It’s a sign.” My phone buzzes in my hand and I look at it. “Ridley’s calling on video chat. One sec.” I switch over, smiling when I see my friend’s face, but quickly becoming concerned when I see his frown. “Hey, man. What’s wrong?”

“I need your help, Indy. I just found out I inherited a shit ton of money from my great-uncle Winston and his big-ass house.”

“Uh, I’m sorry for your loss.”

“I didn’t even know him.” He chuckles. “He didn’t have kids and he left it to me because we have something in common. I’m the other queer in the fam.”

“That’s nice though.”

“Yeah. Shit. I didn’t ask if you were busy.”

“It’s okay. I’m talking to Kit on the other line.”

“Tell him to hang up and we’ll do a threeway.”

“Cool. One sec.” I click over to the other line. “Hang up. Ridley’s gonna call you and put us on threeway.”

“Got it.”

Kit ends the call and I click back to the video .

“What do you need my help with?”

“Money. I don’t know how to manage it. The house is in bad shape too. I don’t know if I should sell it as is or fix it up.”

“Where is it?”

He grins. “Willow fucking Bay.”

“No shit?”

“Zero shit. One sec. Let me get Kit on.”

The screen is black for a second, then Kit’s face pops up in the corner.

Kit waves. “Fuck, it’s good to see you, Rid.”

“You too, man. So I was telling Indy I just got an inheritance and a house in Willow Bay.”

Kit pulls his head back. “Are you fucking kidding?”

“Nope.”

Kit looks at me, clearly astonished. “Wow.”

“You two look weird.” Ridley says. “Did I miss something?”

“Just the reason me and Indy were talking.”

“I got laid off,” I explain. Ridley frowns, but I continue. “So I had this idea that’s been on my mind for a couple of years. Since the alumni event.”

“Okay,” Ridley says.

“I was thinking some of us could buy Jimmy’s old place. Fix it up and open a gay bar. The town needs one.”

Ridley’s expression is blank as he drags a hand through his unruly dark hair, the colorful locks of his youth long gone. “Seriously?”

“I know I don’t know shit about running a bar, but how hard could it be? I ran my own investment firm for six years and then transitioned to a tech career. If I can learn that, I can learn to sling drinks, right?”

“It’s more than that,” Kit says. “It’s all the behind-the-scenes shit too.”

“I know. That’s why I was gonna call Lowen next. ”

Ridley whistles low. “Lure the king of design back from Europe?”

“We know how things have been for him. He might be ready for a change.”

“True,” Kit says. “But Paris to Willow Bay sounds like a downgrade.”

“Maybe he can consult,” I suggest. “I have to have my guys involved on some level though. I can’t do it by myself.”

“I’m so fucking in,” Ridley says. “If I have to spend one more year in a cubicle staring at spreadsheets and complicated chemical compounds, I might lose it.”

“Do you mean it?”

“Fuck yeah. I have to come back to Willow Bay anyway. At least now I have a purpose. Maybe we can fix up the house and live there. It’s huge.”

I smile as the plans start to take shape. Kit nods, scratching the beard he now sports. He’s a full-fledged bear now, shaking off the baby weight of his college cub years, and if I were into his type, I’d be all over him. I happen to know from a drunken admission he made a couple of months ago that he doesn’t love his life in California and he misses the East Coast and the friendship bond of our group.

“Fuck it,” he says. “Maybe this is exactly what I need. I’m in too.”

“Yesss!” Ridley says. “Who’s calling Bane and Jer?”

I frown. “Don’t they love Seattle?”

“If you ask me, it’s a front,” Ridley says.

Kit nods. “Yeah, I agree. I think they want us to think they’re happy.”

“What? It’s been eighteen years and they haven’t left.”

Kit shrugs. “I don’t know, man. It’s just a vibe I got the last time we were all together. ”

“Exactly,” Ridley adds. “Like there was something artificial about those smiles.”

“Huh. I wonder why I didn’t notice.”

“Maybe because you were half a bottle of whiskey deep and eyeing Janelle Woods in that red dress she was wearing.”

“Fuck. I feel like a dick for not noticing.”

“Don’t,” Ridley says. “I only noticed when they thought they were alone at our table and I came walking up. They were discussing something that had them both looking upset, and they immediately stopped talking and smiled when they saw me.”

“Almost the same situation. I walked in on them in the bathroom. Same vibe.”

“Huh. I was gonna call anyway, but I’ll approach it differently now.”

“Dudes,” Ridley says, cheesing wildly. “Are we getting the gang back together in fucking Willow Bay?”

“I hope so,” I admit. “I need this.”

“I’m thinking we all might need this,” Kit says.

Ridley nods. “Yeah. It’s been a long time and a crazy road, but if it leads us back together then it’s been worth it.”

If I wasn’t convinced before that this was the right move, I sure the fuck am now. “Stay tuned, guys. I’m calling Lowen.”

“Best of luck,” Kit says.

“Eh, Lowen’s a kitten.”

“Even kittens have claws,” Ridley says, laughing.

“If I can’t handle talking to one of my best friends I have no business opening a bar.”

“Facts,” Kit says.

“I’ll keep you posted.”

“This is fucking exciting,” Ridley says as he ends the call.

I hold my phone in my hand for a second, a huge grin spreading across my face. I just might pull this off.