"You’ve stayed over at my house," he says, laughing with a look of confusion.
"Yeah, and I get up before you to make sure I don’t look like a zombie before you wake up."
"Yeah, I already know this too," he says, smirking.
"Ugh," I grumble, covering my face, smudging off whatever leftover makeup I have from yesterday and sit up, holding the comforter close to my chest.
"Before I say anything, there’s something you need to hear." Brett holds his phone up and presses the play button on a blacked-out video.
The video morphs into Dad sitting on the couch downstairs, looking healthy. His big smile is ever so present, and he’s singing Happy Birthday at the top of his lungs in every off-key note possible.
Still, no pain.
Just happiness.
At the end of the song, Dad pauses. "Like him or not, Brett will be a friend of this family forever, and he’s a trustworthy guy, so I asked him to do me this favor and be my messenger when needed. He told me, no matter what happens in life, he will make sure you hear me somehow. You can give her the present now," Dad says. "Love you, sweetheart. Happy Birthday—and I know I was the first one to say it today." Dad ends the video with a wink and smile. My heart fills with so many emotions, I can’t help the happy tears, the heavy sobs, or the knot forming in my throat.
"He has never let me down, not once," I tell Brett through hoarse words.
"He never will," Brett says, "and neither will I." He leans over and kisses me on the cheek. "I know—morning breath rules."
"Thank you," I laugh through a shuttered breath.
"Okay, now for the present," Brett says, taking a gift back out from behind his back. He hands it to me, and I look inside before reaching for the contents.
"A bottle of bourbon?" I question, not feeling a sense of surprise.
"It’s not just any bottle of bourbon," Brett says. He takes the bottle out of the bag and shows me the font label displaying:
Bourbon Love Notes
"I’ve never seen this bottle before.”
"Your Dad made a batch for you and your sister, these are unique, and you two are the only ones to have the contents from this particularbarrel.” Brett turns the bottle around, showing me the back side of the label where the ingredients are usually listed. Instead, the label reads:
To my little girl on her twenty-eighth birthday. This is your year to shine, find your way, and figure out which path to choose. Your decisions will lead you to your dreams. I write this while remembering the way you looked up at me with those big green eyes and called me Dada on your first birthday. You gave me the world. I love you, Melody.—Dad
I know this is a gift from Dad, but I throw my arms around Brett and hold him tightly, grateful for caring for these messages. "This means everything to me."
"My gift won’t quite hold a flame in comparison, but I feel lucky to see the smile—thatsmile, I thought might have gone away with your dad."
27
"What’swith this formal invitation from Journey?" Brett asks as I’m counting cash from the register.
"I’m not exactly sure. I don’t recall ever receiving any kind of invitation from Journey for anything," I tell him. I wouldn’t call it formal as she sent an e-invitation, but it’s still more of an invitation than Journey would send to anyone. "I think it’s only our two families, though."
"Maybe it has something to do with the shop?" Brett asks. I shrug because Journey hasn’t mentioned a thing about her share of the business in about six months since Dad died. "Maybe she’s getting married," I say, with a deep rumbling laugh.
"To who? Satan?" Brett jokes back.
"Maybe Satan has a six-pack and a clean-shaven face ... I don’t think Journey’s standards are too high for a man with a dark mind."
"What if Satan knocked her up?" Brett follows.
The thought makes me pause for a minute, not because I could have the spawn of Satan as a niece or nephew, but the serious thought of Journey being a parent figure isn’t something I ever imagined. It isn’t because she doesn’t have a big heart, it’s because she likes her alone time more than others. "I doubt it. She would have called me, freaking out, if she was knocked up.”
"I wonder if your mom knows she’s hosting a dinner party at her house tonight," Brett says. Another good point. Surely, Journey would have run the idea by her first. Then again, any mention of a dinner party, and Mom is on board since it means she can make an abundance of food to feed people.
