Travis and Nick make their way upstairs at Mean Mike’s, and spot Dizzy sitting at the top near the railing in a light blue dress. She is talking to a guy but stops when she sees Nick and Travis. She gets up to hug them both. Leaning in to Travis, she says in a low tone with a laugh, “Save me.”

Travis smiles and looks at her, keeping one arm around her waist protectively. “Well, where are Ian and John and Kristin?”

“Over there,” she says, pointing to a booth a few tables away.

“So, come and sit with us then, baby,” Travis replies.

“Okay. Let me get my drink.”

Leaning over, she takes her whiskey sour from a stool next to where she had been sitting. “Allen,” she says to the young man she’d been with, “I’m gonna’ go talk to my friends for a bit. I’ll see you later, though.”

Allen smiles seductively and points his finger at her, cocked like a gun, and winks.

Daphne and Travis walk over to the booth where the others are, both trying to keep from laughing, and Travis pulls up two chairs for them. Nick and John are discussing some facet of sex in the perverted uncle’s voice. Ian is talking at a fast pace about traveling, while Kristin just stares at him, mesmerized. They are both madly in love with each other, but neither in a position to do anything about it. Both of them benefit/suffer from qualities that made them faithful to others.

“Did you see that?” Dizzy asks Travis as they sit down.

“That was pretty fuckin’ cheesy,” Travis replies.

“I can’t believe that,” Dizzy says, covering her mouth as she laughs out loud.

When they sit down, Travis asks Nick, “I’m going to the bar—do you want anything?”

“Yeah. Get me a Jack and Coke, will ya’?”

“You want anything?” Travis asks Daphne.

She holds her half-full drink up in response. Seeing that everyone else is adequately full, Travis sets out for the bar. There are two, one upstairs and one downstairs. Spotting a space at the bar downstairs from the top of the landing, though, Travis heads down. Besides, Phil worked the downstairs bar and made a better gin and tonic than anyone else—or anywhere in town for that matter. Reaching the bar, Travis pulls out a twenty and fits into the space at the bar like a puzzle piece, snug between a pair of talkative girls and a young couple. Putting his bill out where the bartenders can see it, he waits while listening in to the surrounding conversation.

“Oh my God,” the girl to Travis’s left says. “I can’t believe that.”

“Seriously, though,” the girl’s friend responds, “isn’t that so disgusting?”

“Oh my God. I can’t believe that she is such a slut.”

Rolling his eyes, Travis shifts to his other leg, leaning imperceptibly towards the couple. “It’s not a bad deal,” the boyfriend says.

“I think you should go with the other one, though,” his girlfriend replies.

“Really?” he asks.

“Definitely. You’ll probably get a lot further in the long run.”

Travis isn’t paying attention when Phil walks up to him. The long run of what? “Hey!” Phil calls across the bar, waving to get Travis’s attention. “What’d’ya’ want?”

“Sorry, man,” Travis hollers, shaking himself out of a daze and turning to look at Phil. “How ’bout a gin and tonic and a Jack and Coke?”

Phil heads off to get them, hollering over his shoulder, “Six dollars!” Travis already knows this of course. One of the other benefits of being a regular was getting a discount for drinking too much. What a shame, Travis thinks, not sure if he’s sarcastic or not. For some reason he is always paranoid he might fall out of good standing with the bar for some obscure reason. Believing himself to have a forgettable face, it is always a relief to hear the discount price. Phil comes back in no time at all with the drinks. Travis gives him the twenty and waits for his change. When Phil returns, he asks, “Been good?”

“Yeah,” replies Travis, slipping a dollar into a green vase on the bar. Phil thanks him with a discrete nod as Travis finishes, “Summer’s my favorite time of year.”

“Good to hear it,” Phil says, before moving on down the bar.

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