Page 10 of Wish We Were There

“Carpet’s thrashed,” Zed admitted. “But that’s about it. The bathroom up there’s still in pretty good shape, if you can believe it. The downstairs bathrooms… Well, they work, but they probably need some fixing up, too.”

“That’s doable,” Taylor said firmly, still looking around. “That’s all doable.”

Zed laughed. “That’s what I want to hear.”

“Why’d you close it down, Zed?” Parker asked. He remembered seeing the news that the Bridge would be closing, but it had all been vague without a reason that Parker could discern.

Zed sighed. “To be honest, I was burnt out. My wife got sick, and taking care of her and both venues were too much for me. Our other venue in North Park was performing better and has a bigger staff, so I decided to close down the Bridge—handed over a lot of the day to day of the Harmony Theater to the staff too. Kim’s doing a lot better now, but we’re ready to step back more permanently. I thought maybe we’d rebrand and reopen, but…”

He sighed again, looking over the space with his hands on his hips. Parker nodded quietly, peering over at the older man and trying to read his inscrutable expression.

“Can we see upstairs?” Taylor asked, and Zed nodded, shaking himself from his reverie.

“C’mon up,” he said, and they headed for the stairs.

Overall, the venue was largely just as Zed described—not in great shape, but Parker supposed the repairs were doable. Probably. Maybe with a few contractors helping out. Something told him Taylor wasn’t quite as realistic, though, judging from the same sparkle that flashed in his eyes with each part of the venue that they inspected. By the time they’d toured upstairs, backstage, then arrived back down in the pit right in front of the stage, Parker had no doubt Taylor was going to go through with it after all.

Parker glanced over at Taylor as the three of them stood in silence, looking around the room once again. Both he and Zed had distant, wistful expressions. Parker wondered what he might be thinking about. Was he worried about the amount of work renovating the venue would require? Or did he already have a vision for what it would look like under his ownership?

If anything, he was sure Taylor was thinking about Zach, wondering what he might have thought about all this; or thinking about how, if Zach were still here, they wouldn’t be in this position at all.

He needed to get out of his head about it all. Taylor asked him there because they were friends, and Parker needed to stop reading so much into it.

“Thanks for showing us around,” Taylor said after a beat of silence, pulling Parker’s attention back to him. “Send me over the paperwork, and I’ll have my lawyer look over it, but I’m feeling pretty good about this, Zed.”

Zed beamed at him, and Parker couldn’t help but smile, too. For all his own concerns, it was heartening to hear Taylor feeling so positive about something—anything, really—after the past few months he’d had. If Taylor was happy about this, then so was he.

“Sounds good,” Zed agreed, patting Taylor’s shoulder. “I’ll email you tonight. Take your time looking everything over, alright? No rush for any of this. I know it’s been a rough couple of months for you. I’m in no hurry, so you don’t need to be either, okay?”

Taylor flashed him a small, wry smile. His eyes briefly flickered over to Parker. He could have sworn the other man’s gaze visibly softened before he looked back at Zed, making Parker’s heart skip a beat. He really was seeing things now, he was sure.

“Thanks, Zed,” Taylor said. “I will.”

The older man turned to Parker. “And it was nice to see you, too, Parker. I’m glad you’re helping Taylor out. God knows he needs good people around him right now.”

Parker smiled in return. “Yeah, of course. I’m happy to help. It’s been good to see you, too.”

They shuffled back out to the hall and out the front door, then said their goodbyes. Taylor seemed to hesitate for a long moment, watching Zed walk in the opposite direction while biting his lower lip.

“Thanks for coming,” he finally said, looking at Parker. “It made me feel a lot better to have you here.”

Parker grinned despite himself. “I barely did anything. That was all you.”

“Moral support,” Taylor chuckled, glancing back at The Bridge one last time before turning to Parker again. “I don’t have any plans after this. Want to get lunch?”

For all that he’d tried to keep his unruly heart in check, something in Parker leapt in joy at the offer.

“Yeah!” he said, far too enthusiastically, so he turned away and coughed. “Sorry, I—I mean, yeah, of course. Any particular place in mind?”

Taylor’s eyes softened again. “Surprise me.”

Chapter Five

Taylor

Parker ended up choosing a nearby Mexican place that was still serving brunch. Taylor’s chest had been tight with anxiety the whole time, so when the waitress took their drink orders and Parker ordered a beer, Taylor added quickly,

“And I’ll do a strawberry margarita.”

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