39
Thad could tell something was off the moment he walked into the Bywater house. Tension hummed all around him. Von stood hunched over Micah Samuels, who sat on an overturned five-gallon bucket. They were both intensely reading over the sheaf of papers Micah held.
“What’s going on?” Thad asked.
Von’s and Micah’s heads whipped around simultaneously.
“I thought you said you would be late?” Von asked.
“I am late,” he said. Although not as late as he’d thought he would be. His grandmother had called early this morning, letting him know that she was on her way to the ER.
It turned out that the new nurse at the assisted living facility had blown a tiny cut on Gram’s foot way out of proportion. One butterfly bandage was all it took. When Thad left, she and several of the other residents were settling in for an all-day marathon of The Fast and the Furious franchise.
“This morning’s crisis was averted,” Thad said. “Now, what’s going on? Please don’t tell me even more damage was caused by the fire than we first thought?”
“So you’re saying you want me to lie to you?” Von asked.
Thad closed his eyes. “Shit.”
The current reconstruction permit they were operating under required that a city inspector tour the area affected by the fire. Even though the fire had been contained to one room, it had exposed just how highly combustible the original materials used to build the house were. He and Von had made the expensive, though necessary, decision to replace all the walls with fire-resistant materials.
“What is it now?” Thad asked.
“HVAC is toast,” Von said. “As the inspector searched through it to make sure there was no lingering toxins or smoke damage, he discovered that most of the ducts are corroded. He said the previous owners probably didn’t do any kind of maintenance, which isn’t good with the level of humidity they deal with here in New Orleans.”
“Did he give an estimate of what this will set us back, both financially and timewise?”
“Well, here’s the bad and the good news,” Von said. “It’ll clean out the remainder of the contingency fund, but Micah said he has a friend whose company can get it all done in less than a week. And we wouldn’t have to stop any of the work we’re doing.” He hunched his shoulders. “The guy isn’t military, but this situation calls for an exception.”
“I agree,” Thad said. He took in Von’s expression and didn’t like what he saw. The lines around his friend’s mouth remained rigid, as did his shoulders. “There’s something else you’re not telling me.”
One side of Von’s mouth tipped up in a humorless grin. He slipped his hands in his pockets and said, “So who’s reading whose mind this time?”
Thad’s scalp prickled with unease. “What’s wrong?”
Von blew out a breath and ran a hand down his face.
“Look, Thad, I know this isn’t working out the way we thought it would. All these problems that have cropped up, the added expense…”
Thad couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “Are you bailing on me?”
“Me?” Von asked. He shook his head. “No. I’m giving you the chance to bail if you want to. I give you shit for it, but I know how hard it’s been for you since retiring. A buddy at the VA told me about a job opening. It’s a civilian position, but it’s exactly the kind of—”
“Von,” Thad stopped him. “I’m not looking for anything other than being co-owner of The PX with you.”
“But this position—”
“I don’t care about any other position,” Thad said. He clamped a hand on Von’s shoulder and squeezed it. “I’m in this with you.” He thought about what Ashanti told him in New York and realized just how true it was. “The PX is how we will both continue to serve our military family. This thing we’re doing here, it’s going to benefit veterans in the same way any position I find through the VA would.” He tapped Von in the center of his chest. “You don’t have to worry about me going anywhere. I got you. We’ve got each other.”
Von’s relief was palpable. He chuckled, letting out a huge breath. Then he gripped Thad by the shoulder and said, “Well, let’s get back to work, because we’ve got a shit ton of it to do.”
It was well past eight by the time Thad made his way to Barkingham Palace. Ashanti, Duchess, and Puddin’ were waiting on the porch. Even the dogs gave him side-eye, but then Puddin’ ran up to him and started jumping around like he was actually glad to see him.
“Does sorry mean anything at this hour?” Thad asked Ashanti.
“Only if it’s accompanied by dinner,” she said.
“In bed?” Thad added.
She grinned. “That sounds even better. Come on, Duchess.”
They were at his house twenty minutes later. They had each other before their dinner arrived.
Thad pushed up from the sofa at the sound of the doorbell, surprised that he had the strength to stand. He pulled on his jeans and made his way to the door, tipping the delivery guy extra for having to wait. He returned to the living room and found Ashanti sitting up on the sofa, the blanket that was normally draped on the side chair wrapped around her.
“Do we need plates?” Thad asked.
“I’m okay eating from the carton if you are.”
Thad settled in next to her and ate Chinese food bare chested in his grandparents’ living room. He barely tasted the food. This was sustenance, its sole purpose to recharge his body so that he could take Ashanti to his room and go another round. Or two.
Fuck, he could go the entire night and into the morning, despite having spent much of the day doing backbreaking work. She was like an elixir, capable of curing all ills.
Ashanti had eaten maybe a third of the chicken lo mein when she set the carton on the coffee table and stood.
“That’s about enough of that,” she said. “You ready to go again?”
“Okay, I love you,” Thad said. The words slipped out before he could rein them in.
Ashanti threw her head back and laughed loud enough to wake both Duchess and Puddin’ from a sleep that the smell of Chinese food hadn’t been able to disturb.
He hadn’t been joking, but Thad let it slide. He had the rest of his life to tell her how much he loved her. For now, he would show her.
They went through two more condoms before Thad finally admitted to himself that he was getting too old to go all night. Ashanti was in this for the long haul. He would pace himself.
He pressed a kiss to her bare shoulder before settling his chin in the soft spot between her shoulder and jaw. How could someone who’d spent their day around dogs smell this damn good?
“Now that we’ve gotten that out of the way,” Ashanti said, turning so that she faced him. “I’ve got some news to share. I’ve had quite the interesting day.”
His brows quirked. “Share away,” Thad said.
“I called Fido Foods and informed them that I am willing to sell Duchess Delights.”
Thad jerked his head back. His mouth opened, but no words came when he tried to speak.
“It’s the right thing for me. I’m at peace with it,” she said.
“Wait, wait, wait,” Thad said. “When you said you had an interesting day, I thought maybe one of the dogs got out of the gate or something.”
“No, thank goodness.” She laughed. “This is a good thing, Thad. They can take Duchess Delights places that I could never, and I realize that I don’t want to take Duchess Delights anywhere. Last night, I sat on my front stoop with my dog and a glass of wine and examined where my life is right now and where I want it to go in the future. When I took stock of everything, I came to the conclusion that my sisters, my dog, and the daycare are what’s most important to me.”
“Does this have to do with the situation with Kendra’s teacher?”
“It has everything to do with it,” she said. “I let her stay home today because Principal Keller was at the State Board of Education in Baton Rouge, but I’m going to the school with her tomorrow, and she is telling the administration everything.”
“That’s going to be rough,” Thad said.
“This entire thing has been brutal for her, and I hate that she felt she couldn’t be honest with me. Kendra and I should have had that conversation a long time ago, and maybe we would have if I didn’t have so many things vying for my attention. I knew it was more than just teenage moodiness, but I had treats to bake, and kennels to clean, and a stupid online contest to win.” She shook her head. “I failed her.”
“You didn’t, Ashanti. Come on,” he said, pressing a kiss to the top of her head.
“No, I did,” she said. “The same goes for Duchess getting hurt by that Akita. I haven’t been able to give my full attention to the things that are most important to me, and too many have been made to suffer because of it. I’m just not willing to do it anymore.”
“So where do you go from here?” Thad asked.
She smiled up at him. “To the Lower Garden District.”
His brows shot up again.
“You know those meddling friends of mine?” Ashanti asked. “Well, Ridley convinced Deja to give her access to the accounting system while we were in New York. I told her I would have her arrested, but after she laid everything out for me, I forgave her.”
“What did she do?”
“She called in a favor and had one of her friends do an evaluation on Duchess Delights. That same friend will also handle the negotiations with Fido Foods once we reach that stage of the acquisitions process. Ask me how much that little side hustle of mine is valued at?”
“How much?” Thad asked.
“Four point six million.”
“Are you fucking serious? For dog biscuits?”
“There’s big money in those little doggy treats,” Ashanti said. “I will be able to buy that building in the Lower Garden District outright. Who knows, maybe I’ll eventually open a full-scale doggy café on the bottom floor. Once the girls are off to college,” she added.
“That’s amazing, Ashanti.” Thad pressed a kiss to her lips. “One word of caution, though. It’s probably best if you don’t tell my grandmother about the sale. You did say that she was the one who gave you the idea to turn Duchess Delights into a business. I wouldn’t be surprised if she asked for a cut.”
Ashanti burst out laughing. “She would deserve it.”
“Actually, I think she’ll be satisfied that she didn’t have to do all that much matchmaking to get us together. If I know Grams, she’ll say what we have here is worth more than gold.”
She lifted her mouth up to his for another kiss.
“And she would be right.”