The place looked the same as always. Even smelled the same.

It had been about two years since he had last been at Crossroads, but every time he walked in, it was as though he’d never left. It was midweek. He knew the place would be quiet enough to do what needed to be done.

There was a small brunette behind the bar that looked like Kelly, but it wasn’t her. Kelly quit bartending about six years before. She reached her ultimate goal and finally got that hit TV show, a highly rated, highly watched police drama now in its sixth season. She won an Emmy for playing, what else, a tough cop with a family that owns a bar. His kids watched it all the time. Love the fact that their dad knows a TV star. She still comes back every now and then to the bar and brings all her actor friends with her whenever she’s in town.

“Is Jack here?” he asked the brunette, as she was wiping down bottles.

“He’s in the office,” she responded. “Should be back in a moment.”

Brian nodded.

“Can I get you anything while you wait?”

Brian looked at Jen to see if she wanted anything. She shook her head.

“No thanks,” he said. “Well, actually, can I see your tip bucket?”

She gave him a quizzical look.

“Not the full one. The empty one at the waitress station.” Brian smiled. “It’s kind of a surprise for Jack.”

She went to the back of the bar and grabbed the metal bucket. She came back and handed it to him.

“Thank you,” he said as he put the bucket onto the bar.

Just then, Jack emerged from the back room and spotted Brian.

“So?!” he shouted from across the bar, making New Kelly and the remaining customers jump.

Brian nodded. “I got it!”

“You got it!”

“I got it.”

“They wanted the WOW Man?!?!”

“Yeah, we never did find a better name, did we? Still kind of dorky.”

“Very dorky,” Jen added.

Jack ran up and gave Brian a big bear hug.

“Incredible,” Jack said. “Just incredible for the both of you.”

Brian smiled.

“We can’t stay long, but we had to come in, since it’s tradition to come back here after our big moments. Also, we’re here for another reason. We wanted to share something with you,” Brian said, very seriously.

“Okay? You dying?” Jack asked.

Brian laughed. “No. Actually living. Living quite well.”

“We owe much of that to you, Jack,” Jen interjected.

“You once told me that a TIP is the result of the effort you put into anything you do. Right?” Brian asked.

Jack nodded. “Sounds like something I’d say.”

“I remember when I came in here for my first shift, and you told me that you left the corporate world and opened your own bar because you wanted to stand for something you could be proud of. Remember?”

“I do.”

“And you said you borrowed from whomever you could to buy the bar and didn’t expect to own it outright for a long time. You said you weren’t in it to get rich. It’s been 12 years. How much longer do you have to go to pay everything off?”

“If the crowds keep coming in, I’d say at this rate we’ve got another five or six years to go. The lease is up in three years, though. I’ve seen the big box chains come in and take over many of the street corners around the neighborhood. Hopefully the building owners decide to renew, otherwise I’ll have to look at starting over at another location.”

“Jack?”

“Yeah, Brian?”

“The building owner is going to renew.”

“And you know this because . . . ?” Jack asked.

“. . . because we bought the building,” Jen finished.

Jack’s jaw dropped.

“Oh, and all your investors and the bank . . . ,” Brian continued.

“Yeah?”

“You don’t owe them anymore. All debts are paid, and all investors have been bought out.”

Brian put a folder full of papers into the metal tip bucket and slid it over to Jack.

“I can’t own a bar due to my position in my company, so we’ve signed all of the documents over to you. The bar is all yours now and will always be all yours,” Brian said.

He pulled a dollar bill out of his wallet and slid it across to Jack. On the back of the bill, written in black magic marker were the words “Take It Personally.”

It was Jack’s same dollar bill from 12 years before.

“I’ve been hanging onto this for a while,” Brian smiled. “You can add it to next month’s rent.”

Jack shook his head in disbelief.

Brian continued. “This place, and you, changed everything for me and my family.”

“For that, we will be forever grateful,” Jen added.

“So, consider all of it a big TIP,” Brian said.

Jack’s eyes welled up. “I don’t know what to say. I can never repay this.”

“That’s the thing. You already have,” Brian assured him. “More than you know.”

There was a long pause as Jack thought of what he would say next.

“Well,” he finally broke the silence, “since you are now my landlord, can I at least buy you both a celebratory drink?”

Brian explained that they would love to stay but had to get back to the house and the kids. Brian also had to get ready for the next day since the company would make the announcement and he was sure to get media inquiries. They assured Jack that they would be back at the end of the week to celebrate properly.

“Wait a minute,” Jack said.

He then called to New Kelly and asked her to throw him a couple of the Crossroads T-shirts from the cabinet under the register. He handed the shirts to Brian and Jen.

“Dry-fit. Much better quality than what we used to wear,” Jack smiled.

Brian held the shirt up and immediately remembered that night when he put his first Crossroads T-shirt on and how nervous he was to start something new.

Jack walked over and put his arms around Jen and Brian and pulled both of them in for a goodbye group hug.

“Get home safe,” he said, “and I better see you both here this weekend. We have a lot to celebrate.”

Brian and Jen exited the bar, and as they were about to start walking down the block towards their car, Brian stopped and held up the black T-shirt with the stylistic typeface spelling CROSSROADS across the front. On the back was a drawing of a man and a woman standing at an intersection with their hands on their hips looking up at a road sign with arrows pointing in different directions.

Jen held up her own shirt, looking at the same image.

“That was fun,” she said.

“It was,” Brian smiled.

She again looked at the shirt.

“You ready for tomorrow?” she asked.

“Yes.” He paused and then took a deep breath. “It’s going to be more responsibility,” he said.

“Always is,” she responded.

“More travel,” he added.

“Get those miles,” she said. “We’ve got colleges to visit for the next eight years.”

He laughed as he put his arm around her, and they began walking down the block to the car.

“I’m thinking maybe the green tie for tomorrow,” he said. “Or the blue. What do you think?”

She paused. “I think I love you.”

He stopped and kissed her. That was the only thing that really mattered: the love and respect of his most important customer.

They got to the car, and he opened the passenger side door for his wife. As he walked around the back of the car to the driver’s side, he took one last look at the blue and red CROSSROADS sign down the block. He would definitely be back, but now it was time to get home and get some sleep. Tomorrow would be a very big day.

The end, and a new beginning.