this was a familiar routine for ivy. waiting ( impatiently ) for one of the bartenders to fish around in the lost & found box for her mothers keys. why they even bothered giving them back at this point was beyond her. head buried in her palms out of sheer frustration, ivy looked up to see another figure at the bar. “oh — you go ahead and order, i’m not drinking.” she said immediately, constantly fretful that someone would think she was picking up a family habit. “not that i would judge you if you were,” she trailed off, eyes flitting to her watch. late afternoon — maybe she would judge them just a little.














