Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
LIAM
I get drunk every year on Julia’s birthday.
It’s something I’ve done for so long, I’m accustomed to it.
It’s built into my muscle memory to get blackout drunk on Christmas, when little tykes are opening their plastic junk and their parents are downing buckets of coffee.
Sometimes I do it with my dad and brother, or Hannah. Sometimes I’m alone.
But today, I’m standing outside Otis’s grandmother’s house with a six-pack, wondering what the fuck is wrong with me.
It’s Dottie. She put this picture in my head of Otis getting through to Briar, and now I can’t unsee it.
I’m here because I want to see if she’s here.
I want to see her, period.
I know that’s a bad idea, but I can’t summon the energy to care. Not today.
I knock, and an older woman answers the door with a surly look on her face. The smell of cooking turkey wafts out, making me realize I haven’t eaten for a while. I can’t remember how long.
The older lady instantly waves her cane at me. “Is there no decency left in this world? You’d try to swindle money out of me on Christmas day? Who sent you, boy? What do they know?”
I pause for long enough that she beans me with the cane. “Well?”
Otis appears behind her while I’m still rubbing my head. “Liam?” he asks, as stunned as if Santa Claus had dropped by for a hang. “Holy shit, are you here to have dinner with us?”
“Language,” the woman says.
“Sorry, Grandma.”
“Do you know this large man?”
“Yeah,” he says. “This is Liam. We work together.” His eyes widen. “Wait. Is there, like, an emergency at the brewery? Did the vats explode?”
“No explosion,” I say, feeling like an idiot. “I…thought maybe Briar might be here.”
“Uh, no,” he says, his eyes full of confusion, “but—”
“Come in, come in,” his grandmother says in a weary voice. “You’re letting all the cold air inside.”
I follow her into the house, now certain I’m an idiot. Dottie tricked me somehow, but I can’t think how or why she would have, since she didn’t know how I’d react to her hint.
“Would you like a drink?” Otis asks. “Or are you looking for Briar because of the emergency?”
“No emergency,” I say.
“So what are you doing here, son?” the woman says gruffly.
It’s a question for the ages.
I hoist up the six-pack. “I brought beer.”
She glances at the beer. “Is it good beer?”
“His beer’s always the best,” Otis says. “That’s why Briar hired him.”
Turning back toward me, she asks, “And do you like light or dark meat?”
“I’m not fussy.”
She studies me for a long moment, as if judging my truthfulness. “You can stay, but there’ll be no funny business.”
“Yeah, stay for dinner, Liam,” Otis says eagerly. “You can help me decorate more posters for the New Year’s Eve party. Sophie and your sister want to put up fifty more when they get back. It’s going to be epic.”
I’m about to say, No, I definitely don’t want to do that. I have a date with a bottle and my bed and a very, very bad mood.
But the words don’t come out. I keep thinking about what Dottie said about needing other people.
Hell, maybe there was something in that tea, because I’m actually thinking about staying.
“Yeah, okay,” I say, feeling sweat bead on my forehead and the back of my neck.
Half an hour later, I’m sitting at an old work table next to Otis, putting stickers on a poster covered with exclamation marks.
My brother would give himself an ulcer laughing if he could see me now. Hannah too.
“I don’t like spending the holidays alone either,” Otis remarks out of nowhere as he adds yet another exclamation point to his poster. “I’m glad you think we’re friends. I wasn’t sure you liked me. I got the impression I talked too much when we were getting the barrel room decorated for Briar.”
“You did,” I say, smiling, “but that was a nice idea. I wish I’d thought of it.”
He sets down his neon marker to get a better look at me. “What are your intentions toward Briar?”
Talk about a turnaround. I’d come here to figure out his intentions—and, honestly, to get in the way of them if at all possible.
I take a sip of my beer, trying to figure out what to say. Finally, I land on, “I think a lot of her…and I think about her a lot.”
“Obviously,” he says. “Who wouldn’t?”
“So we understand each other. I know you feel the same way.”
He lifts his beer up as if toasting me. “But you’re the lucky one, because she wants you.”
“Why do you say that?”
He laughs. “Look…Ann and I might have been high the other night, but Briar ran outside without a coat to look for you.” He sounds wistful as he adds, “I always knew it was a long shot. She’s…
her. And I know I’m a lot younger. But I thought at least I could be around her. Help her out. I still want that.”
“I want that too.”
“So?” He gestures toward the front of the house. “Why don’t you go find her? Doesn’t seem like you to give up after one try. We’ve all seen what you’ve done to get that beer ready on time.”
“My sister made me promise not to date any of her friends. I screwed up pretty badly in the past, so she had her reasons. I wasn’t expecting that anything would happen between Briar and me, so it was an easy promise to make.”
He stares off in thought, then pops yet another exclamation point onto the poster. “Sophie likes them,” he explains offhandedly, then adds, “You know, I’m afraid of Hannah. Most people are, but I didn’t think you’d be afraid of her.”
“I’m not afraid of her. I’m afraid of disappointing her. She’s my little sister. She used to look up to me. It’s not a good feeling having your little sister think you’re a jackass. I’m the one who taught her how to read. I played dolls with her, for fuck’s sake.”
Otis nods in understanding, and I remember what Dottie said about how much he’s grown. I didn’t know the kid before, but I see it. He’s on that cusp between being a boy and being a man.
“Look, I shouldn’t have agreed to take you boxing and flaked out. That was shitty. We’ll figure out a time to go. Just be ready for all the guys to give you a hard time. They do that with fresh meat.”
He hesitates, eyeing me. “Do they all look like you?”
“A few of them. But you know what? Maybe they used to look like you. We all start somewhere.”
After giving this some thought, he nods again. “I’ll do it. Would you like another beer?”
Yes.
We have another. And then one each with dinner. And then five more.