Chapter 1
“Drink! Drink! Drink! Drink!” The heavy pounding of many exuberant hands thumped down on the littered table, rattling empty bottles and jostling what was left of the cheesesteaks they ordered earlier.
Pat tipped back his shot and chugged hard, nearly choking himself on the thick taste of black beer and Irish cream. He was getting too old for this shit.
He slammed down his empty glass and roared like a champ, but his victorious cry was cut short by a belch that seemed to come from the deepest part of his soul. As a full-fledged medical doctor, he had it on good authority that his liver might not survive the next week. Tomorrow, he’d be back home in Jasper Falls, reunited with his crazy Irish family, celebrating the end of this chapter in his life as well as his brother’s wedding. His insides would surely be fermented by then.
“Keep it down, Heaves!” his best friend, Jo, yelled, angering his sour stomach all the more with a hard smack on his back.
She’d called him Heaves ever since they were children, when they broke into his parents’ liquor cabinet. They drank so much it was a shock they hadn’t ended up in the hospital. He’d spent the next several days dry heaving, and Jo spent the next fifteen years not letting him live it down.
“No more.” He waved a hand over his glass as Dina attempted to refill it. “I have to drive in a few hours.”
He squinted at the clock on the wall, debating if it was two or seven in the morning. He misplaced his glasses sometime around the cheesesteak feast. No one did cheesesteaks like Philadelphia, though it was up for debate who made the best sandwich. To commemorate his last night in the City of Brotherly Love, they ordered several from all the greats like Geno’s, Pat’s, Tony Luke’s, and even Shank’s. He definitely did not want to see his dinner return.
“We’re gonna head home,” Jeff said, his arm slung over Shay’s shoulders as they staggered for a hug goodbye. “Don’t be a stranger, man.”
Pat kissed Shay’s cheek and gave Jeff a thumping, manly hug. “I won’t. Give me a call sometime next week and let me know how you make out at the animal rescue. Don’t let Shay talk you into one of those little dogs people carry around in their purses.”
Jeff laughed. “You got it.”
“We should go, too,” Dina said, nudging Brian, who had passed out on the table an hour ago.
The parade of goodbyes lasted several minutes, and soon their little apartment overlooking Broad was empty. Jo smiled at him, her dimpled cheeks the same as they were when they were children, mischievous and a great disguise to whatever was going on inside her always moving brain.
“What?” he asked, sensing she had something to get off her chest.
“Nothing.” She shrugged. “I just can’t believe you’re leaving me.”
“You always knew this would eventually happen.”
“I know, but I got comfortable here. I like living with you.”
He looped an arm over her shoulder and pressed an affectionate kiss on her cheek. “You know I’ll be back.”
“It won’t be the same. I know how Jasper Falls works. Once you return, you get sucked in, and you never leave. You’ll open your practice, be the town hero after you patch up a few scraped knees and stitch a busted face or two, then you’ll forget all about your friends in the big-city.”
He scrubbed a hand roughly over her short brown hair, mussing the stylish way she had it parted. “With that outlook, I might as well be living in a Norman Rockwell painting.”
“You love that small town cheese-dick shit.”
“True.” His mouth hooked into a half smile.
After years of med school and finishing his residency, his life could finally begin. It seemed surreal that it was actually happening. His title and credibility had changed in a blink, yet he still felt like the same, unsure guy but with a lot more credentials and money. It almost felt fake or undeserved. He had a lot to prove, once he moved back home, and he wanted to make his family proud.
His mother was over the moon to claim one of her sons was a doctor. And since Doc Jones passed, their hometown was hurting for a replacement. He’d always dreamed of owning his own practice, something that usually took years to establish. But in a small town like Jasper Falls, where everyone knew everyone and people rarely trusted outsiders or big fancy hospitals, his practice would be a welcome addition.
He helped Jo gather plates and trash, only slightly stumbling toward the kitchen. “I’m going to hate you tomorrow. Whose idea was it to shoot Fireball?”
Jo laughed. “Yours.”
“I’m an idiot.”
“That’s what I said. Where did you even find that bottle?”
He paused and scrunched his brow. “I think my brother gave it to me as a graduation present.”