The following days I remained emotional, and as I worked my hours at the bar, the regulars noticed my preoccupation. Whispers of my inheritance had spread through the bar's patrons, casting me in a new light—and it was one I wasn't sure I liked.
Rumors had always filled the space between the tables, and I had always paid them little attention. However, the whispers that always circulated about others, were now aimed toward me. Though I knew my life was now food for their fodder, I remained steadfast in my resolve to use the money for the bar and the people who had become my family.
One night, as the final chords of Burning Down the House played out, and the last of the patrons stumbled out into the night, Tannin and I sat in the empty bar, the echoes of laughter and clinking glasses slow
