Page 86 of While the Sun Shines

“Handsome but useless,” Cooper says. “Incidentally, something I myself have been called a time or ten. Good to know we have so much in common, babe.”

Penny presses the shaker into Drew’s hands. “Shake this, one hand on top, and put some muscle into it, farmer boy.”

“Well,” Cooper says, “look at this. Penny is trying to do the old ‘handsome dude with a shaker’ trick on our illustrious judges, but I’m sorry to tell both of you: I’m spoken for.” Cooper leans into the ketchup bottle and lowers his voice. “Still, Drew, excellent forearms, my man.”

“Thank you,” Drew says.

“Pour, don’t spill.” Penny taps the top of the glass in front of Drew.

“It looks like we have the first of three coming from Team Teamwork over here, folks,” Cooper says. “Whit, you’re driving home tonight because, yes, please, don’t mind if I do.” He takes a sip of the Moscow Mule and smacks his lips. “Delicious.”

“Don’t we have to make two drinks, if there’s two judges?” Whit asks as he pulls the top off a bottle of rye.

“Bourbon,” Courtney says and snatches the rye away from him.

“That is a fair point,” Cooper says, “because we’ve got to show our guy Abelardo a good time. But, will you look at that, team Penny is rounding the corner with the Old Fashioned, or at least that’s what I’m going to assume that is because it doesn’t look like a martini, and what’s this—? Courtney, are you, are you firing Whit? Yes? Extra points for telling me how you’ve done it because I fire him on average at least once a day and never have gotten any of them to stick.”

“And here’s number three,” Penny says, pouring out the martini with a flourish. “We’ll get all the points from this round, I do believe.”

“What happened to presentation and taste?” Whit asks.

“You gotta actually put something up for judging. Can’t compete if you don’t play,” Penny says.

“I have to agree with Penny, but also consider this, Whit: I love you,” Cooper says.

“Whit,” Penny says, “I’m deducting points from you and our judge for being sickeningly cute.”

“And I’ll allow that to stand,” Courtney says.

“I think I might need an explanation of the scoring system,” Abelardo says.

“No system, just vibes,” Cooper says. “And with that, we’re moving on to round two, trivia.”

“Didn’t you just admit you don’t know anything about cocktails?” Courtney asks.

“Seconded,” Penny says. “Let’s fast-forward to the third round.”

Cooper holds up a hand. “I’m going to strongly recommend you take part in the trivia round because nobody is going to be happy about the secret ingredient for the final round, except for me, ’cause it’s truly a horribly awful idea.”

Penny touches her fingers to her forehead. “Is that why you made Whit grab all that cheese?”

“How am I supposed to make a drink with cheese?” Courtney asks. She comes around her table to poke into the bag in front of Cooper. “What the hell is this? Cheddar?”

“These are the worst cheeses to even choose,” Penny says as Courtney pulls out a block of Parmesan and another of Gouda.

“And yet may the best bartender win.” Cooper raises his hand and brings it down with a flourish. “Go!”

“So are we not doing the trivia?” Courtney asks.

“Is this really all we have to work with?” Penny asks. “Can’t we even get a mascarpone or something soft? What the hell am I supposed to do with Monterey Jack?”

Drew points to a carton on the table. “We have cream.”

Penny elbows him gently, and he wants to press back into the pressure. “Not cheese, farmer boy.”

“Well, you’ve got lemon, too,” Drew says.

“No,” Whit says. “No, Drew, fully illegal, you’re not going to—”