Marlene and Bonnie, who were finally speaking to one another again.

And Ed Kessler, sitting on stool three.

Everyone sang.

I blew out the candles.

Then Chad stepped forward.

He held out his hand.

“As long as there’s a Gus’s, there’s a Bev,” he said. “You’ll always have a place out front.”

I stared at him.

Those were Gus’s words.

The promise he’d made fifteen years earlier.

Chad smiled.

“Ed told me what Gus said. I wanted to make the same promise myself.”

I looked at his hand.

It wasn’t soft anymore.

There were calluses on his palm.

A small burn near his wrist.

It reminded me of Gus.

I shook it.

And for a moment, it felt as though the old man was standing beside us again.

That morning, I did something I’d never done before.

When Ed sat down for breakfast, I handed the coffee pot to Madison.