Page 81 of Last Call

“Why not? You opened Murphy’s all by yourself.”

“Hardly,” Fallon said. “There’s a reason I named it Murphy’s Law. You were too little to remember anything about that time. Everything went wrong. I mean everything. Electrical fires, storms, flooding—you name it. I almost gave up.”

“But you didn’t.”

“No. Dean was home for a few weeks. Jerry stopped by and offered to help. Pete and Dale came every day after work. Charlie helped. Your mom made us lunch. My mom brought us pizzas. Carol cleaned. Murphy’s isn’t my place, Dave. It’s everyone’s. I think that’s why it means so much to me. Everyone thinks it’s because it was my dad’s place. That’s part of it. Only part of it.”

“What would you need me to do?”

“I think we should work on that together.”

“Uh, Fallon? I’d be working for you.”

“No. You’d be workingwithme.” Fallon took a deep breath. “I talked to your mom.”

“You asked Mom about this?”

“I didn’t want to approach you about this without telling her. I’m sorry. I know you’re a man. But you’re still…”

“I get it,” Dave said.

“Look, this wouldn’t be a handout. I need a partner.”

“Don’t partners usually put up money?”

Fallon shrugged. “Call it a managing partnership. Talk to Becky.”

“She’ll tell me to do what makes me happy.”

“I’m sure that’s true. Talk to her. Believe me, this isn’t something you can commit to without discussing it with Becky,” Fallon said.

“What does Riley think?”

“About this?”

“Yeah.”

“She thinks it would be good for me—and for you,” Fallon replied. She took a deep breath. “If it matters, I’d like to do this with you.”

Dave stared at Fallon for a minute. “And I could spend time teaching people to ski?”

Fallon nodded. “Yep.”

“Could we look upstairs?” Dave asked.

Fallon smiled. “Let’s go.”

“Do you have any idea when Dave might get back?” Billie asked, her fingers tapping an uneven rhythm on the countertop.

Andi paused mid-pour with the coffee pot. “Fallon didn’t say.”

Billie ran a hand through her hair and glanced toward the door. “It won’t take much convincing.”

Andi raised an eyebrow. “Convincing Dave?”

“Fallon’s whole plan makes sense. It’s a perfect fit for him.”

Andi set the pot down. “Billie, what’s going on? You were supportive when I told you about Fallon’s idea. You said it was brilliant.”

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