What if you are wrong?her sister’s voice scolded.She should be finding her soulmate in church like her sister did.
“I’ve run a bar for decades, and I know when two people belong together,” Bernie muttered, then glanced around to be sure that neither Clara nor Nash heard her.
Chapter 10
Bernie had always known the time would come when she would have to hang up her bar rag, but now that it was almost here, she found it to be bittersweet. Change wasn’t easy for a middle-aged woman who had lived with a six-to-two routine for too many years to count.
Middle-aged, my hind end.Her sister’s annoying voice popped into her head.Accept that you are old as dirt and that it’s time to age gracefully.
“You can have that crap about aging,” Bernie growled. “When I die, I’m going to slide into heaven right after my last breath, and I’m going to have used up every moment of the life the good Lord gave me. I won’t have wasted a single moment of it.”
Vernie Sue would never set foot in a bar, so why was she sending her spirit to argue with Bernie that evening? Sure, her sister had done her fair share of mental aggravation through the years. But if Bernie wasn’t allowed at the family reunion, then Vernie Sue should keep her sanctified butt on the front pew in church and off a barstool in the Chicken Coop.
She set the box of records on a table and pulled up a chair to go through the selection for the next time the jukebox needed to be changed out. The millennials and Gen-X folks didn’t give two whoops and a holler about old records, so through the years she had managed to get her hands on whole stacks of them from online dealers.
“The kids could possibly draw a few younger folks to the bar, and they won’t even know who Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson are,” she muttered and wiped a tear from her eye.
She had vowed that if the right buyer came along, she would not get emotional when she gave up her life as a bartender. But the one lonely tear flowed down her cheek and dripped onto her T-shirt said that wasn’t going to happen. She was quickly wiping it away with the back of her hand when the door between the bar and storage room opened.
Clara came in and picked up two bottles of whiskey from a nearby box. “We are low on Jim Beam and Jameson. Is that the records we are supposed to use next time we change out the jukebox? I would be glad to help you go through things on Sunday afternoon.”
“I’ll get it done,” Bernie told her.
“Do you have a turntable?” Clara asked.
“What?” Bernie frowned.
“A… What do you call them? One of those things that you…” Clara shooed away a fly that buzzed around the room.
“A record player or a stereo?” Bernie chuckled. “Answer is no. I haven’t had one of those in years.”
“Maybe you should get one and then take a few records with you so when you get lonesome for the bar, you could play them,” Clara suggested.
“Darlin’, I can play anything I want on my phone,” Bernie reminded her great-niece.
“Yes, you can,” Clara agreed.
See there, I’m not getting old,Bernie sent thoughts northwest toward her sister.Can you even use all the apps on a cell phone?
“Besides”—Bernie shrugged—“I’m not taking much of anything with me. Since the trailer is furnished, it will give me a brand-new start. I will want to take my box of pictures and personal things from my bedroom. But I’m not loading up my truck with stuff that will have to be stored.”
“What about all your costumes? Don’t you think the folks at the Paradise would love to see you all dressed up for holidays?” Clara asked.
“I will take some of them, but I promise to leave at least one for you to wear at each celebration,” Bernie said, “and you are right. Dressing up makes me happy, and I should share that with Mary Jane and her girls. Did I tell you that Joe Clay has my trailer all ready for me and Pepper to move into? And from what you have been saying with your actions as well as your words, you do not plan to go with me to the Paradise.”
Clara set the bottles on the worktable and hugged her. “That’s right. I didn’t see a single bar in Spanish Fort, and you have helped me figure out that this kind of work is what makes me happy. So, I’m staying right here, but are you sure about this? Sometimes, you look so sad that I have my doubts that retirement is what you are really ready for. You’ve still got a few weeks to change your mind, and Aunt Bernie, living and working with you has been awesome beyond what words could say.”
“I’m not ready at all, but I’m positive that it’s time. I didn’t realize how frazzled I was until you two kids came along to help me,” Bernie answered with a long sigh. “I want to have some quality in my life between now and the time I drop dead. Plus, Endora needs me to pull her up out of the doldrums, and Mary Jane needs at least one member of her family to show her some love.”
“Luna needs you, too,” Clara said. “I believe that she’s got some secrets that she doesn’t want Endora to know about.”
“Yep.” Bernie nodded. “I got the same feeling.”
Clara picked up the bottles and headed across the room. “It’s the end of an era, but the beginning of a new one for both of us.”
“And Nash, too,” Bernie said. “Remember, tomorrow night is our cigar and whiskey therapy session.”
“Yes, ma’am, I’m looking forward to it.” Clara nodded and left the storage room.
