Tipsy

Epilogue

Epilogue

Mikah

It was the first day of April, which never really meant much. But today was different. I wasn't a calendar kind of guy, but the day was booked with meetings, errands, and family. And my siblings had my first time slot of the day.

Ollie arrived to work late, donning a fresh layer of darkened bags beneath his eyes and spit-up down the front of his dress shirt. He'd never looked more exhausted or happier in his life. He was a changed man—one who lived for every tiny hiccup his son would make and would send videos of it to the family group chat. Teddy was only a few weeks old, and Ollie was more than ready to bring him into the kitchen and teach him the ways of culinary life.

This morning, however, was not about Teddy. It was about Mulligan's, and its future. The two of us pushed through the contractor's plastic that hung from its ceilings and into the area where my bar once stood. The kitchen was now extended, making Ollie one happy chef. And as we rounded the corner, we entered the area that would soon become the brewery. This had also become Kit's make-do work area. She pulled up a table one day and never left. Therapy, while still an issue, seemed to work for her.

"Bar guy!" Kit yelled and waved at Tyler. "I need help with the new drink menu. I don't know what goes into any of these drinks, and we need pictures of some."

Tyler sighed. "I'll help you if you learn my name."

Kit waved him off. "What's in white Russian?"

"Nothing we need a picture of."

"A cosmo?"

"Please don't."

"Sorry to interrupt," I said with Ollie in toe. "Kit, we need you."

She rolled her eyes, warning Tyler that she would be back. He looked equally enthused.

Kit asked us where we were going repeatedly as we crossed the empty restaurant floor. We pushed our way through the doorway that led to the staircase to the apartment, but we stopped at the one doorway before it. Ollie entered Dad's old office, turned on the light, and ushered Kit in. She looked as surprised as we'd hoped, seeing that all the old furniture and filing cabinets had been removed. The old olive green tinted walls were now painted a fresh white, with a newly installed wooden floor.

"Wow," she said, taking in the brightness of a once very dark room. "What are you guys going to put in here?"

Ollie pulled a toothpick from the pocket of his shirt and placed it in his mouth. "You."

"Me?" she asked.

"This is your place, too. You need a space to work, and we talked about it. We think the marketing and books could be done from here. It would be nice to see you around more. You could even bring Madison and quit paying for daycare."

Kit's eyes flushed with tears as she wrapped the both of us into a hug. It had been too long since we'd all shared one of those. And we knew our dad would be proud of us for keeping the three of us together while continuing his legacy.

***

Hallie was a nervous wreck as we entered the nursing home. It was a plan she'd come up with the night before, and neither of us was sure how it would go. Harold was a loose cannon with his mood. Hallie was just hoping it was a good food day. If it wasn't, she had an extra beer in her purse and a bag of Taco Bell to bribe him.

We rounded the nursing station, greeting all of her coworkers. Her hand was sweaty as she took mine and led me to her hallway of overflow patients. As we entered the room, Hallie stopped abruptly. My chest hit her back quite hard, and it didn't deter her from fleeing the empty room to get back to the nursing station.

"Hal..." I followed, knowing where her head was at. This was her worst fear. Harold was a skilled nursing patient, far from going home and not in his bed. I couldn't lie, the sight made me worry too.

"Was there a death today?" Hallie asked, rounding the desk to sift through paperwork.

"A few of them," the nurse said. "Why?"

Hallie's shoulders drooped, and I knew that look. She was ready to bawl her eyes out at any second. I was already mentally preparing to console her the entire way home. She was here on her day off, specifically for him. He had become a very special friend to both of us.

"Where is Harold?"

"Blondie! Check this out!"

Hallie's head turned so fast I thought she'd get whiplash. Coming down the hallway with the help of his physical therapist, Harold was walking with a walker. It was one of the first times I'd actually seen the man smile.

Hallie rushed to hug him, screaming and jumping up and down with the news. She was his biggest cheerleader. She was for all her patients. And in just a few months, she would move from being their nursing assistant to their nurse. Everyone deserved a nurse like Hallie.

"Perfect timing," I said, observing his new wheels.

"Oh, yeah? You gonna bust me outta here?"

I stood behind Hallie and wrapped my arm around her chest, kissing her cheek. "Kinda."

"I, well, we, were wondering if you would like to walk me down a very short aisle for our wedding?"

Harold's lip quivered as he nodded. "I would really love that, Blondie. I gotta get practicing, but I thought you two were already hitched?"

He wasn't wrong. Our courthouse wedding had been done months ago. But I still wanted Hallie to have the wedding she deserved, and she planned to break the brewery in right. With one hell of a reception with it as her backdrop.

She was going to make the most beautiful bride.

***

Jillian was taking her role as a bridesmaid seriously. She attended every girl's trip from flower shops, to wedding dress shopping, to decorating. She'd even talked Hallie and Sloan into black for the bridesmaid dresses—Jillian's signature color.

When Hallie and I had returned to Mulligans, there was a serious debate about floating candles as center pieces. Jillian loved them, Sloan worried about fire hazards, Kit was chasing Madison, and Teddy mostly cried.

We loved Jillian fit in so well with our family. And the night prior, Hallie had spent the day prom dress shopping with her, before I met up with them for dinner. That was when we told Jillian, after many nights of talking, that we wanted to skip the fostering process and start an adoption process with her. Hallie wanted her to always have a place to call home, and we both agreed. Home was with us. Jillian was stoked with that plan. And now we had a new goal.

Ollie handed Teddy off to me as I took a spot at the table. Mulligan's may have been temporarily closed for our customers, but our weekly dinners had more people than they started with. This time with my family meant the world to me, even if Teddy had a knack for puking on me every time I held him. And sure enough, he did just that, shooting spit-up all down my favorite Ramones shirt.

"Better get used to it," Sloan said with a giggle. "You'll have some soon enough."

"Those are a long way off." I kissed Teddy's little cheek and shook my head, gazing across the table at my wife. "We have a remodel, a wedding, and an adoption to get through first."

Hallie awkwardly shifted in her seat. "Or sooner."

"Sooner?" I asked, watching her turn as red pepperoni on her pizza. "Like, how much sooner are you thinking?"

She shared a look with Sloan before standing with her empty glass. "Like seven-ish months."

I handed Teddy directly to Ollie. "Seven months?"

She shrugged and smiled as the table broke out in a congratulating chatter.

Was she serious?

I couldn't tell if she was serious.

"Hallie, that's an April fool's joke, right? Like one of our pranks?"

"It's been on my bucket list." She said with a wink. "Been slacking on your reading?"

I loved this woman.

The End.