Page 25 of Always

Beside it is a dartboard with numerous little holes outside the scoring area.

Steve looks up from the TV, a quirky smile playing on his lips.

“Escaping all the hormones?” he asks, raising his eyebrows.

I can’t help a slight smile. “Just came down to get a drink.”

He rises. “What can I get you?”

“I hear you have Wild Turkey.”

“Love the stuff. But you? I’d have pegged you for a Basil Haydn kind of guy. Or maybe even Pappy’s.”

His reference to Pappy Van Winkle surprises me. It’s a top-shelf bourbon that can run you sixty-five bucks a shot in Boston.

“I won’t lie,” I say. “Pappy’s is smooth as mother’s milk, but I grew up on Wild Turkey. It’s in my bones, and it’ll always be my favorite.”

“Mine too. Skye enjoys it as well.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“I suppose you would.” He pours us each a glass.

The aroma of dinner wafts down the stairs. I inhale the savory goodness. “Smells good.”

“Maggie’s pot roast,” Steve says. “Always a treat.”

“I love pot roast. I have vague memories of my mom making it before…”

“Before what?”

“Never mind.” I’m not about to confide in a man I just met about how the fire and my father’s drinking led us into poverty so deep that we didn’t eat beef for years.

I take a seat next to Steve on the couch and take a sip of my drink.

“Jeopardy!, huh?” I say.

“Never miss it,” he says. “I love trivia. Always have. The categories are tough tonight though. Opera? I don’t know shit about opera.”

“I don’t really, either,” I admit. I peruse the categories that are listed.

Opera masterpieces, world capitals, movie quotes, mythology, famous firsts,androck and role, whatever that means.

“I’ll take ‘rock and role’ for four hundred,” the contestant says.

“This ‘Ziggy Stardust’ rock icon played the Goblin King in the 1986 cult classic fantasy filmLabyrinth,” the host reads.

“Who is David Bowie?” I say.

“Impressive,” Steve says. “You couldn’t have been more than a toddler in eighty-six.”

“My father’s a huge Bowie fan. He used to blast ‘Space Oddity’ through the house, singing along with a beer in hand, no matter what time of day it was. His vinyl collection was impressive, though most of the records were scratched.”

And most of them burned up in the fire that destroyed our home, but I don’t mention that.

“Bowie was an icon,” Steve agrees.

I continue to talk and laugh with Steve as we finish our drinks and watch the game show. Steve seems to be a good guy and has a great sense of humor. He sucks atJeopardy!, though.

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