Page 40 of Always Be an Us

I sigh.

The Tiki Bar is only a fifteen minute walk from me, but I decide to take the bus anyway, slightly exhausted from everything that happened yesterday.

A bus comes around once an hour, a little away from our front door, right by the mailbox. I get to the mailbox right as medium-sized yellow bus turns into the street. I wave at the driver and he pulls to a stop.

"Hey there little lady." Clifton, the cheerful plump driver, calls out as I climb on. "Sorry about your grandfather by the way. Real damn shame."

I sigh internally. Does the whole town know about the heart attack?

"He’s doing better, thank you," I say and take an empty front seat. I smile politely at the half-dozen people on the bus before I sit down. "They stabilized him at the hospital."

"Great," Clifton says and jabs his finger to the back. "Carol over there was worried sick all night. Says your grandpa used to come to the park and play mahjong with her group sometimes."

I turn and smile at the elderly lady who gives me an encouraging look.

"We'll pray for him at church," she says.

"Appreciate it," I respond and turn back around.

The conversation doesn't end there. In the short, three-minute ride, several people on the bus come up to me to extend their condolences and speak a little about their relationship with my grandpa. It's not a surprise. My Grandpa has apparently touched a lot of lives in his time on earth.

And hopefully, he'll be able to touch a lot more.

At my stop in the town center, I step off the bus and head into the Tiki Bar just as Rick is waving goodbye to a customer.

He frowns when he sees me coming. "What are you doing here?"

"I thought I would help you a little this afternoon. Carly isn't in, right? She has classes today."

"Yeah, she's not here. But I don't need help. I got it. Besides, you've got a lot on your plate. Speaking of which..." He holds up a finger and does a little jog behind the counter, searching for something in the drawers. When he returns, he gestures for me to extend my hand palm open.

I do and he presses something into it.

After he retreats his hand, I see a wad of cash.

"For the hospital bills," he says. "And don't worry, it’s coming out of my portion of the profits."

"Rick–"

"Don’t mention it," he says with a warm smile. "Seriously, don't. You know I hate when these things get sappy."

I smile warmly at the man who has been like a second father to me. "Thanks, but it's not necessary. The hospital bills are covered already."

His eyebrows rise in surprise. "Insurance came in clutch?"

Part of me wants to say yes and end it there but I don’t want to lie to Rick. "No um… someone helped me pay for it actually."

"Someone?"

"Yeah. You know the new guy in town, the one that bought the Pink Hotel?"

A look of displeasure passes over Rick's face. "The five-burger guy?"

"Yeah him. Anyway, he was at our house when Grandpa had a heart attack. His daughter came over earlier because she wanted to talk to Grandpa about the Pink Hotel but then Grandpa had a heart attack and Declan, five-burger guy, helped me get him to the hospital. And after that, a nurse told me he cleared the bills too." I skip a lot of vital details, but the true story makes even less sense than what I tell him.

"That’s nice of him," Rick comments, scratching his beard. "But I don’t see why he paid for it. Was he responsible for the heart attack?"

"No," I say immediately. "He wasn't. But I think maybe he's just a nice guy."

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