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Kora swivels her barstool toward me, already chewing on a big bite of her burger. “What do you need Mike for?”

“Hayden and I want him to be our bartender for the funeral. And help us organize the alcohol and everything.”

“Good thinking,” Kora says in between bites. “Wait, so am I actually invited to this funeral?”

“I’m pretty sure it’s open invite.” I sigh. “I’m planning on sending out invites tomorrow, but I have a feeling a lot more people than just those invited will show up.”

Kora nods. “Definitely go double on the alcohol.”

“I can’t wait for it to be over. I mean, I do kind of enjoy planning it,” I say quickly. “I’m just so overwhelmed with the apartment search and everything. It’s bad timing.”

“Death usually is,” Kora says wisely.

“She’s not actually dying. Well, I don’t think she is. I’ve been telling myself she’s fine, because otherwise it’s so morbid.”

“Honestly, this whole thing has flipped my idea of funerals,” Kora says, taking a sip of her water. “I feel like the next time I get a funeral invite, I’ll get strangely excited.”

I almost choke on my burger. “Let’s pray for very few funeral invites in general.”

When we finish our food, Mike is still busy behind the bar. The patrons that took refuge here due to the heat have been replaced by trivia fanatics, and the drink orders won’t stop.

Kora finds us a table near the stage, claiming she needs to be closer to the host to get into her trivia mindset. I trudge behind her, two vodka cranberries in my bloodstream, a treat to myself after the insane week I just had.

I whip my head around to see if anyone else I know is at trivia tonight, quietly hoping Hayden showed up. I saw him just last night, but now that I know he’s close with Mike, I wouldn’t be surprised if he came.

“Looking for someone?” Kora says, giving me a knowing smile.

“Just seeing if Mike will be ready soon,” I lie.

“You’re looking in the wrong direction for that,” she counters. “You could text him and ask him to come by, you know. I’m sure he’d race his little motorcycle here in a heartbeat.”

“Shut up.” I cross my arms. “And his motorcycle is not little.”

“I’m sure nothing about that man is little.” Kora waggles her eyebrows.

“Oh my God.” I laugh. “You are horny tonight. I think you do need to get into that storage room with someone.”

“Girl, I wish,” Kora mumbles, taking a sip of her beer. “Do you think Mike would be mad?”

“Would be mad at what?” Mike appears to our right, looking exhausted and slightly concerned.

“Oh, nothing. We’re just exchanging girly fantasies.” Kora winks.

Mike exhales deeply and gives me a look. “Do I want to know?”

“Nope,” I say, scooting over to the next chair so Mike can take a seat beside me.

He places his own drink on the table and heaves himself into the chair with a loud groan.

“You okay?” Kora asks him.

“Yeah, just exhausted. It’s been so busy, and one of our servers called in sick, so we’ve been understaffed too. That’s why I haven’t been able to take a break until now.”

“That sucks. And then you have to deal with horrible customers like Kora,” I say.

“Hey!” Kora protests, slamming her drink on the table.

“You’re both equally horrible,” Mike mutters, but there’s a fondness in his voice.