Page 5 of Mother Parker
Just what I needed after such a long trip. To listen to two bunnies going at it all night.
“Welcome to Mayberry Holm, Parker Hawkins,” Goodman said, emerging from the bar to embrace me.
For his age, Goodman was a healthy, good-looking man. His years in the Navy SEALs had helped him keep a great physique even a year into his retirement, although his hair looked a lot whiter than it had the last time I saw him.
“Thanks,” I said and patted the old man on the back.
Wyatt Goodman pointed to the stools in front of the bar, and I made my way to the first one I saw, scanning the room full of people intent on watching my every move.
They were all men.
Great.
Even if I were looking to date, the pool didn’t look very promising.
I shook my head and put that thought to rest. I wasn’t going to let Autumn’s comment get to me.
I wasn’t here to meet or date anyone. I was here to do a job, earn money, and start again. Find some different meaning to my life that wasn’t tied to combat and killing the bad guys.
Again, I didn’t hold out much hope. Being a SEAL had been a lifelong dream and my only career choice.
But after everything, even that had lost its appeal. So how I could possibly find a new passion in life at this age?
“So, what kind of poison do they make in this…place? I think my hosts will be busy fucking for a while, so you better get me drunk.”
TWO
HWAN
Iscooped a generous spoonful of bibimbap and savored the tangy, spicy sauce mixed with rice, zucchini, beansprouts, and beef before swallowing Halmeoni’s delicious food.
“Mas-issni?”
I looked up at my grandmother, her aged but always-hopeful, always-smiling face awaiting my response as if it could be anything other than “perfect.”
“You know it’s alwaysbeyondgood, Halmeoni,” I said. “Everything you cook is perfection.”
She rolled her eyes with a dismissive laugh as if she hadn’t been hanging off my response and lifted the plate of gamja jorim so I could grab a glazed baby potato with my chopsticks.
If there was one thing I certainly, undeniably, unequivocally missed while living on my own, it was eating Halmeoni’s food every day.
But with the bubble tea shop up and running and trying to get both young and old generations of Mayberry Holm residents to taste and trust my drinks, it was near impossible to stop by every day so we could have lunch together like we’d done for years.
“Did you close the shop?” Halmeoni asked.
She lifted her cup of boricha to her lips and took a sip.
“No. Carson is covering me,” I told her.
Carson had been my boss and friend for years. He had his own restaurant on Main Street, and I’d been a host at his grill since I finished school.
Halmeoni sighed.
“What, Halmeoni? I can’t close the shop. I only just opened!” I told her.
She set her teacup down and looked at me with a serious pout.
“Hwanchan-ah, you only open for a week, and you already running yourself to the ground!”
