Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
D ewey didn’t think his morning could get any better but Bryce was waiting with coffee and warm cinnamon muffins.
“Mom just made these!” Bryce said as he backed through the bowling alley’s door with a Thermos and a Saran-Wrapped plate. “You have no idea how much I miss this when I have to go to English in the morning,” he told Dewey.
“I always miss you but you can suck it up for a semester or two. You’re gonna be rich and famous one day and you’ll be able to do whatever you want in the morning.”
“I don’t know, Doob…” Bryce said. “Most engineers aren’t famous.”
Dewey shrugged. “You will be. You’re already famous around here.”
“Maybe… I’d settle for clean energy and safe drinking water, though,” Bryce replied and nodded at lane 1 as Theo let Walter in through the side door. “I see he’s still here. How did your talk go last night? I was going to come out and check on you, but was afraid it might get awkward.”
“Our talk?” Dewey echoed, but none of the visions filling his head involved talking.
“You can’t keep him!” Bryce whispered, sounding exasperated. “He’s a nice enough guy and I might steal Walter, but Theo’s all wrong for this place.”
Dewey’s gut could have told Bryce that, but it was a little too late. “You let me worry about Theo,” he said with a stern look, ending the conversation as Theo joined them.
“Moagn!” Theo said cheerfully but Bryce pulled a face and pushed the plate at him.
“Mom made muffins. Help yourself.”
Theo slid Dewey a sympathetic wince as he took one. “Could we have a word, when you have a moment?”
“I’ll let Bryce oil the lanes,” Dewey said, recalling that Theo had wanted to talk about something earlier in the Winnie.
“On it,” Bryce muttered, but they all paused and leaned over the counter when they heard a car door slam in the parking lot and a young man pushed open the front door. He offered them a grin and tugged on the bill of his baseball cap.
Dewey recognized the cap’s logo from a large bowling franchise and wondered what had brought their guest to his humble alley. He offered the young man a nod. “You’re a little early but we should have everything up and running shortly.”
The younger man shook his head, chuckling as he held out a hand. “I’m not here for a game. I’m Chase Callahan. I was told to ask for Theo,” he said, scanning the alley around them.
“Yes!” Theo said as he hurried around the counter. “Thanks for getting here so quickly.” He put an arm around Chase, grinning at Dewey and Bryce. “Help has arrived!”
Dewey already had a bad feeling. “What did you do, Theo?” he asked while shaking Chase’s hand.
Chase grinned and his brows rose hopefully. “Found your new employee of the month? I’ve been managing an AMF alley over in Syracuse for the last four years.”
“Oh, wow!” Bryce leaned over the counter and snatched Chase’s hand, pumping it excitedly. “You’re hired!”
“Hold on!” Dewey elbowed him out of the way, shaking his head at Bryce and then at Theo. He narrowed his eyes at Chase, trying to guess what his salary was in Syracuse. “It’s $20 an hour and that’s a big commute,” he said and Chase’s face fell.
“Just a misunderstanding!” Theo declared, waving dismissively. “ I will match whatever AMF is paying Chase and he’s being compensated for relocating,” he explained and Chase nodded.
“Generously compensated,” he said with a snort. “$50,000 to relocate and manage a location a quarter of the size I’ve been running. I was sure it was a scam, but I just got engaged and we found out that Sam’s expecting so I had to take a chance.”
“Oh, it’s definitely a scam!” Dewey stared incredulously at Theo. “Are you out of your mind? You make $20 an hour and live in the alley behind the alley.” He clapped a hand onto his forehead to see if he was getting a fever. He was sweating and dizzy as he turned back to Chase. “I am so sorry. Theo’s heart is in the right place but he can’t pay you?—”
“Of course, I can,” Theo said. “I might not know that much about how to run a bowling alley—although, I have been learning—but I do know the state of my finances and I can definitely afford to hire Mr. Callahan.”
“What are you talking about?” Dewey rubbed his temple, confused and already exhausted and they had just opened.
“I can call my accountant. She can confirm that she’s already made the arrangements and that it won’t be any trouble at all,” Theo insisted.
“Your accountant?” This was why Dewey had a bad feeling. “Why would a man who makes $20 an hour need an accountant?”
Theo hissed and grimaced awkwardly at Dewey. “Right… I did plan to tell you. But my name is actually Theo von Hessen and I’ve been giving the money you pay me to Lidia Wells.” He whispered, “I’m so, so sorry Dewey! I wanted to tell you and I was about to, ” Theo widened his eyes and cleared his throat. “But I wouldn’t have lasted ten minutes if I had told you who I really was when I first arrived.”
“Lidia? From the animal shelter?” Dewey mumbled like an idiot while Bryce whipped out his phone. There was only one Lidia in Oslo.
“Holy shit!” Bryce whispered, his eyes were huge as they jumped to Theo. “He’s got a bio on Wikipedia. There’s even a picture of him!” He held up his phone and pointed at it. “There he is!” He bit down on his lips, muffling a shriek.
Dewey barely understood what Wikipedia was. But his heart slammed, lurching from beat to beat and throbbing in his head and his ears. “Why?” he mouthed, unable to make his voice work.
“It’s not that serious and I wish you would put that away,” Theo insisted, but Bryce cleared his throat loudly.
“This says, ‘Leopold, the Margrave of Hessen , and his brothers: Theobald , Matteo, and Elio, the Princes of Hessen and sole heirs of the von Hessen dynasty of Austria.”
“See?” Theo held up his hands. “Not a big deal. It’s a ceremonial title, really, and more of a tourism gimmick,” he attempted, but Bryce let out a breathless “Whoa!”
“Jesus fucking what else?” Dewey whimpered and considered sticking his head in one of the ball returns.
“This says Theobald’s worth millions of Euros.” Bryce threw Theo an appalled look. “He owns a castle and a chalet in Austria, an estate in England, and townhouses in London, Paris, and Rome.”
Theo blushed and waved it off. “I also have a villa in Follonica. It’s closer to my mother’s family in Umbria and it’s where I usually stay when I visit. I like to be close, but not too close. Too many elderly aunts and uncles and I don’t want to disappoint them,” he explained casually and whispered for Bryce to put the phone away.
“I see…” Dewey stared at Theo, still stuck on the word “prince.” How many times had he sent Theo to clean the bathrooms and check all the trash cans? He was mortified until he recalled all the things they had done in the Winnie. All the things he had done with an actual prince, apparently. “I think I’m gonna be sick.”
“Oh God! Is there a bag handy?” Chase asked as he looked around while Theo reached for Dewey.
“Everything’s fine! It’s not a big deal,” he repeated soothingly. “Why don’t we take a walk and I’ll tell you anything you want to know,” he suggested, earning a belligerent glare from Dewey.
“Do you promise?”
Theo nodded in understanding. “Bitte. I know you’re pissed off and you have every right to be. But I think it would be easier for us to process this privately,” he said as he waved between him and Dewey. “So we can both speak freely and say what’s truly on our minds right now.”
“Fine,” Dewey conceded. His tongue was tied because none of his questions were about the bowling alley, Chase, or Oslo.
Most of them were about him and why Theo was wasting his time with an Upstate New York nobody. Dewey was so embarrassed and mad at himself for thinking they could make sense, that something real was happening between them. And he was scared as he followed Theo out the side exit and closed the door, cutting the bowling alley, Bryce, Chase, and Oslo out of the equation so it was just them.
“What are you doing here?” he asked Theo.
“I told you, I came to help—” Theo began but Dewey cut him off with a hard look.
“I’ve already heard that fairy tale. You set out on a magical Greyhound to see the true wonders of America,” he said with a dramatic sweep of his hand, then sneered wryly. “Tell me another one. What was it about this little slice of bliss that made you stay? How long until you hop on another bus or hitch a ride to a new middle class fantasy so you can cosplay as a commoner?”
“First of all!” Theo raised a finger, looking unusually serious. “I wasn’t raised as a royal. My family was very middle class and we’re proud of that. Wikipedia doesn’t describe how difficult the years after our parents’ death were for me and Leo, how hard we worked to carry on and care for each other.”
That stopped Dewey in his tracks and he was momentarily breathless. “I’m sorry,” he rumbled softly. “I know how much you love your brothers and what it’s like to lose your parents. You never stop missing them.”
“No, you never stop missing them,” Theo agreed before taking a deep breath and brightening. “My brothers and I are extremely fortunate to have Maximillian von Hessen for a cousin and he changed our lives when he abdicated his title and made Leo the Margrave of Hessen. I was already sixteen by then and was caring for our younger brothers while Leo was at university. I went to university and served in the military as well, in case I had to be Margrave one day, but never wanted it. I was happiest when I was home, caring for my brothers.”
“You didn’t want to be Margrave?” Dewey asked skeptically and Theo gasped and shook his head.
“ Nee! Never. We saw how it had nearly ruined Max’s life and his family. But I would have done it to spare Leo.”
“Huh,” Dewey grunted. “I thought it was a good gig, being the spare, and that you’d want to get rid of the heir.”
“In this case, I was the spare’s spare and no one really wanted the crown. We despised the von Hessens growing up because our father had been disowned and disinherited for the terrible crime of marrying for love.” Theo rolled his eyes and flailed dismissively. “Leo and I saw a chance to restore our father’s and our family’s legacy and use the von Hessen title for good. My brother’s temperament is…not what the Foundation would have wished, but he has the heart of a margrave.”
“The Foundation?” Dewey asked, causing Theo’s lip to curl. For a man as easygoing and forgiving as Theo, that was very telling.
“The Foundation of the House of Hessen is the corporation that governs nearly every aspect of Leo’s life. Me and my brothers are the last of the von Hessens now. Max and his daughters want nothing to do with the Foundation. Understandably,” he added with a pointed look. “We never wanted back in after the way our parents were treated, but my brothers and I have made the best of it.”
Dewey hummed thoughtfully as he considered. He had never doubted that Theo was a devoted and loving brother. He talked about his brothers all the time. But Dewey never sensed that Theo was burdened by the wealth and privilege he had gained.
“Still doesn’t hurt to be a prince,” he argued, causing Theo to laugh.
“It often does!” he said as he tapped on the center of his chest. “The pain of injury, loss, hunger, defeat… There are different degrees of suffering and my brothers and I have enjoyed sheltered, insulated upbringings and have immense privilege. Now. That can only shelter you from so much and I would trade it all to have my parents back. And contrary to what you might believe, it feels terrible when someone reads your Wikipedia page back to you and looks up how much you’re ‘worth.’ I hope that I’m more than my brother’s spare, but you’d never know that if you judge me by what you read on the internet.”
“You are,” Dewey said, nodding firmly. “I haven’t been able to make much sense of you or why you’re here. Never doubted that you were a good and decent man who’d move mountains for his family, though. It’s one of the few things about you that actually makes sense.”
Theo pushed out a heavy sigh. “It’s all I was, unfortunately.” He shook his head, his eyes shimmering as they held Dewey’s. “Before we lost our parents, my mother and her sisters babied us. As Italian mammas and ziettas do. After we lost them and the Foundation took over Leo’s life, I did my best to fill the void for Teo and Eli. But they’re men now and they don’t need me the way they used to.”
“So, you’ve been wandering the world and New York because you’re looking for a purpose?” Dewey summarized, making Theo chuckle.
“It’s hard to explain, but when you have a brother like Leo, who’s destined for something that big, it consumes your entire family. We lived under that magnifying glass with him and we had to play our part or the Foundation would collapse. There was talk of restoring another line if Leo didn’t work out. But they were too distantly related for Austrians to swallow, so the plan was ditched. Our saving grace was that there were four of us , if Leo proved too difficult to control.”
Dewey’s brows jumped. “I didn’t know royals had backbones. I think I might like your brother.”
“You’re very alike,” Theo noted with a teasing grin. “You’re both surly and determined to carry the weight of the world, no matter what it costs you.” He dared Dewey to deny it.
“Someone’s gotta do it?” he attempted sheepishly, earning a knowing hum from Theo.
“That’s just the sort of thing Leo would say. He did it all for us and to save as much of the planet as he could. He’s a little too pragmatic and prone to biting the hand, so I had to be the perfect, charming one. To buy Leo time and to give the Foundation their insurance policy. I didn’t want our younger brothers under their thumb. They tried to tell Teo to be quiet and less of a communist and Eli to behave and it never went well,” he said with a delighted chuckle, but it faded as Theo stared past Dewey’s shoulder. “The only aspirations I ever had were for my brothers and I was lost until I came here.”
“You’d find your way no matter where you landed, but I get why you’d feel lost. I’d have a hard time too if I wasn’t needed around here anymore,” Dewey said with a sad nod, finally seeing Theo and understanding. He would struggle too if Bryce, Cassie, and Oslo had no use for him and the bowling alley had competent management. Being everyone’s big brother was Dewey’s entire identity and “hard worker” was all he had for a personality. “It doesn’t excuse all the lies,” Dewey said and Theo squinted at him.
“It doesn’t, but you hid things as well,” he reminded Dewey.
“It was a medical condition, because I didn’t want pity and for people to stop looking up to me,” Dewey argued. “You lied about damn near everything—your real name, your family, where you came from, why you were here… I feel like an idiot because I thought you were on the run and hiding from the feds for white collar shit, like tax evasion or insider trading. I thought I was aiding a penniless con man but you’ve been a rich prince this entire time,” he said, causing Theo to gasp and clutch his chest.
“You’d do that for me?”
Dewey threw up his hands. “That’s what I thought I was doing, and that you were worth all the trouble. I wish I had known this was just a game for you.”
“It was never a game. You were never a game,” Theo returned quickly, shaking his head. “I respected and admired you from the very beginning. That’s why I decided to stay and help as much as I could. It’s why I didn’t kiss you all the times I wanted to, because I knew you deserved more than a quick fling.”
“Right…” Dewey was flattered, except that they had kissed. And more. “What are we then? A…slow fling?”
“I hope not.” Theo held out a hand, smiling softly. “I was certain you’d run me out of town once you found out. I didn’t have a plan for after, if you didn’t fire me and evict us from the Winnie.”
A startled laugh burst from Dewey. “Evict you?” he asked, catching Theo’s hand and giving it a tug. He came easily, sliding into Dewey’s arms. He cupped Theo’s jaw and traced his lips. “Oh, you’re definitely getting fired as soon as I find a decent manager, but I’m not in a hurry to be rid of you and Walter.”
“That’s very funny,” Theo said as he wound an arm around Dewey’s shoulders. “I haven’t been the best because I was keeping secrets and I didn’t understand how seriously you needed help. But I understand now and I will be taking this— us— far more seriously.”
Dewey raised a wary brow. “Oh?”
“Trust me, I might have been terrible at bowling alley management, but I am very good at taking care of people and solving problems. You’ll see.”
“Ah.” Dewey snorted. “You’ve accepted that you aren’t cut out for the bowling alley so you’re going to take care of me? Is that it?”
Theo nodded quickly. “Ja! That’s exactly it. I might not be a perfect fit for Brooks Family Bowling, but I’m exactly what you need, Brooks.”
“Just you, though. I don’t need a prince or for you to throw more money around.” Dewey leaned back and pinned Theo with a loaded look. “You’ve already done enough with the plumbing and the animal shelter.”
“Ja! Of course!” Theo offered Dewey one of his big, blinding smiles.
“Whatever.”
There was no stopping Theo, especially when he smiled at Dewey like that. Not that Dewey really wanted to. He got nervous about the money part, but Dewey liked that he never knew what Theo would do next. Even if there was a minor catastrophe, Theo’s heart was always in the right place and he still managed to bring a smile to Dewey’s face. Or, something close to a smile, at least.
“Whatever you want, Theo. As long as we’re done with royal secrets and big surprises.”
“Jein…” Theo’s head rocked from side-to-side. “You know all the important parts, the other dings we can work through later. Ja?”
Dewey groaned. “I’m pretty dinged-up already, Theo. I don’t know how many more dings me or this bowling alley can take,” he worried, but Theo found that hilarious and laughed about it for the rest of the afternoon.