Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Teller
I stared out the new windows, then turned in a slow circle. The bar was almost done. I was proud as hell of the work we’d done, but I admired how dedicated Madison was. She didn’t give up, and I liked being by her side, helping her fulfill her plans and dreams. I hoped this was only the beginning.
The booths had been delivered. The benches and the tables were waiting to be installed. Cruz and Lane had said they’d help install those. Tenor and Tate had offered to get in on it. Then Myles, Gideon, and Jonah learned about our plans and decided to turn it into a guys’ night. I’d enjoy tonight, but I’d been having a good damn time every day.
The last couple of weeks had been domestic bliss. The bar had been installed, the security system, and the windows. I wasn’t needed at Flatlanders every day, so I was back to helping with baling and stacking hay and I kept more regular hours at the office.
If Madison wasn’t working, she spent some time here, cleaning and stocking. The storeroom was filled with paper towels, toilet paper, and various spirits she’d been ordering in. Sometime in the next two weeks, a plumber would install new tap lines and a soda fountain along the bar.
When she wasn’t here or at the nursing home, she was at my house, baking. I still got weekly cookies even though I preferred to taste the baker. She’d made bagels for Copper Summit too. They’d been a hit, as if I’d had any doubt. Then there were the cookies and cupcakes she’d made for the nursing home. Mama said the residents looked forward to events when Madison brought baked goods.
The guys would be here shortly. We’d waited for the weekend when Madison would be working. I wished she could do something fun with my sisters, but she’d had to switch shifts to get the wedding off.
Three pickups pulled up outside the bar. My brothers, brothers-in-law, and Cruz and Lane piled out and filed inside. I locked the door behind them.
Cruz whistled and spun in a slow circle like I’d just done. “Look at it. It’s a bar again.”
Madison’s comment about wanting to go to pastry school and open a bakery ran through my head. She didn’t want to operate a bar, catering to people getting tipsy and running their mouths. How much would she become a target of bad behavior?
How caveman would I turn if someone hurt her feelings?
But it was her decision, and as far as her plans went, it was solid. Cara, her real estate agent, hadn’t gotten an offer on the house, but only because she’d been a bulldog about property lines and what was actually included in the sale. Little details Sal had worked out with verbal agreements and handshake deals but hadn’t passed on to Madison, like the price she ought to sell it for. Cara was making it all official and it had added more time, but that’d be more money in Madison’s pocket.
Madison had balked at the two-and-a-half-million-dollar asking price, but she had the encouragement she needed. It was my mission to show her she deserved the best, and Ruby had been right about Cara. She’d fight for her clients and insult everyone else. There’d been a few lookers since Cara had made the listing public, but no solid offers.
Tate was behind the bar, the old distillery CEO in him unable to stay away from inspecting the bar and figuring out where Copper Summit products could go.
I walked toward the bar and propped my elbows on it. “I told Madison she needed to keep excluding our spirits. It’s Flatlanders’ signature move.”
He chuckled and nodded. “You’re right. She needs to. It’ll get the town talking. Enough people have witnessed you two together they’ll flock here to see if it’s true.”
I grinned. “That’s the plan. It’d make it even more gossip-worthy if the Baileys continued avoiding the place.” I’d love to be here, and maybe I’d hide in the office, but the absence of Baileys would maintain what Flatlanders was known for.
Lane took his ball cap off and set it on the bar. “Cruz and I are coming. We’ll be here opening night.”
“Wouldn’t miss it,” Cruz said. “Is she going to carry Foster House?”
“There’s a case already stocked,” Myles said. “I dropped it off last week as a bar-warming gift.”
Madison had balked at the gift, but Myles had only scoffed. Claimed they broke way more bottles than that in shipping. The cost was nothing. He was correct. The cost to people like us was nothing. To Madison, it was the difference between making her mother’s rent next month and eviction.
Having the Fosters here on opening night would be good. Madison would have support, and their presence would stoke the curiosity of the townsfolk further.
Jonah tapped a stack of big boxes with his cane. “You haven’t unpacked these yet?”
I had recommended Jonah’s woodwork for the stools. He would’ve poured a bar top, but she’d figured out the hefty discount he was giving her and refused, deciding to order polished wood seats from him instead. The boxes were a delivery from him. He’d ordered the stool supports Madison had chosen, made the seats, and assembled them.
“Let’s do it now.” I dug a pocketknife out and crossed to the stack. “We can have something to sit on.”
Tenor scratched his head and eyed the boxes dubiously. “You sure unbolted stools are the way to go? Isn’t that what Scooter used to destroy the place?”
“He used pool cues too.” Madison wanted to flaunt the chatter about those loose barstools. “But he’s not here to ruin it again.”
Tenor gave me an I know that, dumbass look. “It’ll give other jackasses ideas though, and I hate to point out that Flatlanders will draw jackasses. Every bar does, and this place has a reputation.”
I gritted my teeth. He had a point.
Tate took my pocketknife and nudged a box away from the stack with the toe of his boot. “Maybe the Baileys do turn out on opening day. Show the town we have her back.”
“She shouldn’t have to prove anything,” I said through clenched teeth. Anger that Madison would be worrying as soon as the doors opened piped hot through my blood. “No one should fuck with her in the first place.”
“You’re all afraid they will,” Jonah pointed out.
“Sounds like even Madison is concerned,” Myles added.
“I’m too old to really have known Madison and Scooter, but I remember their parents.” Gideon shuddered. “And I know all about grudges. We show up here on opening night. Pack the place with all of us. Everyone will know that if they fuck with Madison Townsend, they fuck with all of us.”
All the guys were nodding.
“None of you are worried?” I didn’t expect them to be, but we all had our own businesses. Even Cruz and Lane were attached to Foster House since Myles owned it. Hard feelings could spill over and affect everyone in this room.
What if Jonah’s orders went down? What if a negative post went viral about Copper Summit or Foster House?
Tate cut open the box at his feet. “‘Doing the right thing is never something to worry about.’”
Murmurs of agreement sounded in the room.
“All right, then,” I said. “Flatlanders is known for not carrying Copper Summit bourbon, but I now consider it under the Copper Summit and Bailey Beef umbrella of protection and support.”
“Percival Farms considers it the same,” Gideon added.
“And Foster House,” Myles said.
“Abso-damn-lutely,” Cruz said. Lane dipped his head in agreement.
Jonah lifted the first stool out of the box and tore the plastic wrap off it. He flipped it upside down. A JD was carved underneath the seat. “Anyone tips these over, they’ll see this and think twice.”
Jonah had been the recluse of Bourbon Canyon before marrying Summer. People knew his work more than they knew him. That hadn’t changed.
“That’s just us,” Myles said. “The girls are a whole different threat.”
Jonah barked out a laugh.
Gideon nodded, his expression solemn. “Don’t mess with Autumn. I tried to once and I ended up with all of you assholes as in-laws.”
Laughter filled the room and we started tearing open boxes. Everything was falling into place for Madison. Bourbon Canyon might not be where she wanted to settle down. She didn’t get to travel. But I’d make as many of her dreams come true as possible.
Madison
I stopped in the locker room at the end of my shift and grabbed my purse. I stifled a yawn. Sun streamed through the windows and the birds in the bushes outside were chirping up a storm. A gorgeous Montana summer morning that I’d sleep through. Another night when I wasn’t in Teller’s bed, next to his big warm body. I would be glad when I was done with night shifts.
I’d be a business owner. Not the type of establishment I would’ve chosen, but it was mine. A small tool for freedom that my brother had left me. He’d been selfish growing up. In death, he’d been generous. Or perhaps vindictive. Determined to make sure Wendi didn’t get a cent. But he’d chosen me to be his beneficiary, so that was something.
Raquel popped her head through the door. “Hey, Ramona called. The ambulance is coming for your mom. She fell getting out of bed. Might’ve broken something.”
Alarm made me go cold. “Thanks for telling me.” I hitched my purse and the empty tote bag I’d carried cookies in and rushed out of the locker room. I jogged down the halls and turned down Mom’s wing. Staff milled around Mom’s room at the end.
Ramona held her palm up toward me, silently urging me to quit running. I slowed but continued my rush.
“Hey,” I said, breathless. “How is she?”
“Of course I know what goddamn year it is!” Mom yelled from inside her room. “Only one of us doesn’t have a mind and it’s not me.”
Ramona gave me a flat look before taking a fortifying breath as she turned into the room. “Madison’s here.”
I entered the room, steeling myself for the view. Mom was sprawled on the floor, pillows supporting her, keeping her still and as comfortable as possible until the ambulance arrived.
“Goddamn late as always.” Mom’s words were tiny paper cuts over old scars. “Dammit! Don’t move my leg! Fucking hurts.”
“Cheryl,” Ramona said calmly, “the paramedics are on their way, but please don’t swear.”
Mom hissed in pain. She aimed her glare at me. “Why are you here?”
I was her daughter. Wasn’t that reason enough? “I can go to the hospital with you.”
“And do what? You’re not a damn nurse, are you?”
Shame burned up my face, but anger sparked behind it. I’d been around the Baileys so much that Mom’s insults weren’t hard to shrug off.
“Do you want me to pack a bag?” I asked before Ramona could make a retort that would further anger Mom. “At least one night’s clothing?” The hospital in town couldn’t handle a hip break. She might get transported to Bozeman.
Why couldn’t she have fallen after the house and land had sold? The ambulance bills wouldn’t have devastated us then. And if she had broken her hip or another bone, then the rehabilitative care would wipe out the rest.
Guilt ate its way up my throat. I was counting pennies while she was helpless on the floor.
“Might as well make yourself useful for once.” Mom made a shooing motion.
Jerking into action, I went to her little dresser and withdrew her underwear and a shirt.
The paramedics arrived, wheeling the stretcher behind them. I hurried to finish grabbing a few things.
“About goddamn time,” Mom snapped. “Did you walk here?”
To give them room to work on Mom, I filed out with the others.
Ramona looked me up and down, a twinge of sympathy in her expression. “You clocked out?” When I nodded, she gave me a rare sympathetic smile. “You can meet her at the hospital. It’ll give you some time to... prepare.”
To prepare for Mom’s berating in the single ER room at the tiny hospital. Me, the staff, it wouldn’t matter. “Thank you.”
Ramona gave me a thin-lipped smile. That flash of sympathy wouldn’t save me from the next round of bills and threats to toss Mom out.
The house needed to sell. Quickly. At this rate, if Mom lived twenty more years, she could go through four more nursing homes.
I rushed to my car, texting Teller as I went that I was going to the hospital with Mom. I liked knowing that he’d care. He’d also worry about me, and wasn’t that thought like being wrapped in a warm, cozy blanket. I drove to the clinic before the ambulance arrived and waited in the parking lot.
When the rig pulled up and unloaded a complaining Mom, I walked in behind them. The next hour was a flurry of questions she hated to answer, an X-ray that she yelled through. The poor radiologist had been near tears when she’d wheeled Mom’s bed back. Then the bad news came. Broken hip. Surgery. Hospital stay.
Then I was alone with her as the ambulance crew prepped to transport her to a bigger facility.
“I can bring you some more things tomorrow,” I said.
“Why not tonight?”
I crossed one leg over the other and ran my fingers along the seam of my gray scrubs. It was going to be a long night. “I need to sleep and you’ll probably be in a hospital gown.”
“You need sleep?” She snorted. Her sharp eyes bore into me. “You need to quit being a Bailey whore.”
I jolted, my leg sliding off my knee. My foot hit the floor with a thud. “What did you call me?”
“You know what you are.”
Shock clogged my brain. The small-town gossip line had gotten to her, and I wouldn’t be able to slough her off. People had seen me and Teller together. Plenty had passed me driving in the direction of the Bailey ranch. Riley had probably painted me in a poor light to everyone who’d listen. “It’s not like that.”
“Keep telling yourself lies. Ain’t nothing you got worth what?—”
“Shut up.” I snapped my lips together. Had I really said that?
Mom could only turn her head, or she’d risk making the pain flare up. “Listen here, you little?—”
“No. You listen.” My heart ricocheted against my ribs. Anger made my throat thick and that blood pressure spike from earlier returned tenfold. My temples pounded. I fisted my hands. “I can’t believe you called me that. I’m your daughter .” I glared at her. “Mae Bailey would never .”
Mom sucked in a righteous breath and pain puckered the corners of her eyes. Her pulse spiked on the monitor. “How dare?—”
“How could I not?” Adrenaline flushed through my veins. She’d humiliated me and she’d called me names. It wasn’t even noon. “All this time, I stuck around because you’re all I have, and I don’t get to see Logan. I wanted to take care of you because you never took care of me. To prove I’m not like you.”
I blinked rapidly, reality hitting me from all sides. Maybe I’d needed to prove it to myself more than anyone else, but that had been before.
Before I’d been treated with love and respect by people who took nothing from me. “You need me, Mom. I don’t need you.”
Her hard facade cracked, a hairline fracture. I’d hit on the truth. Was that why she resented me so much? The kid she’d never wanted was the one she had to count on? Perhaps it was one of many reasons.
“I don’t need you,” she said in a rough whisper.
“Good.” I yanked my purse over my shoulder. “You have a chance to prove it. I’ll make sure everything’s paid on time. Wait until the house sells to get kicked out, otherwise you’ll have to find a shelter to take you in. Don’t call me and don’t expect me to stop in. I’m done, Mom.”
I stomped out.
“Madison!”
I ignored her. A wide-eyed young nurse I didn’t recognize stared at me from the nurses’ station. She got to witness the infamous Townsends firsthand.
“If she wants to remove me from her contact information, let her,” I said.
“Madison, goddammit!” Mom yelled. “Get back here.”
I smiled at the nurse.
Her big eyes shifted toward Mom’s room. “O-okay.”
I breezed out of the hospital and nearly vaulted into my truck. I gulped down air and blew it out hard. My hands trembled on the steering wheel. When I glanced in the rearview mirror, tears were streaking down my face.
“Damn.” I swiped at my cheeks as I tore out of town.
At Teller’s house, I didn’t even pull into the garage. Sobs racked my body. Had I done the right thing? I’d cut off my mom. Wendi was being a manipulative hag with my nephew. I was alone.
I cried harder and rested my forehead on the steering wheel. Would Aunt Tilly be proud or horrified?
Was I proud or horrified with myself?
The door ripped open and strong arms gathered me to a hard chest. “Madison? What’s wrong?”
He was there for me. Concerned like I thought he’d be. Acting like I wasn’t an imposition. More tears fell. Faster and harder. I wept until my ribs hurt and my throat was raw.
Teller held me, stroking my back, rocking me as much as he could.
“She was so mean.” I hiccuped. “So mean.”
“Your mom?”
I nodded against his pecs. My face had to be a blotchy red mess and my hair was falling out of its braid. “She broke her hip.” I sucked in a shuddering breath. “And she called me a Bailey whore.”
He went rigid. “She did what?”
The obsidian edge to his voice cut through some of the rawness inside of me. It’d been so long since someone had told me her behavior was wrong.
I pulled out of his hold, but I only had the energy to stare at his chest. “I said I’d manage her care, but I’d never see her again.” I tried to inhale, but it sounded like I was driving over washboard roads.
He brushed loose strands of hair off my face. “Good for you.”
“I don’t want to be like her,” I whispered. “But I left her hurt and alone in the hospital.”
He kissed the middle of my forehead. “You’re a good person. The fact that you’re questioning what happened tells me you’re the exact opposite of her. I didn’t know your aunt, but I bet she’d be proud.” He smoothed his thumbs over my cheeks. “After you get some rest, you’ll see the situation clearer. You’ll see I’m right.”
“You’re not always right, Bailey.”
He placed his next kiss on my lips. “There was one time I was wrong, and that was about you. I’ll never make that mistake again. Right now, I just want to run you a hot bath, sit with you while you soak, and then tuck you in and hold you while you sleep.”
I cupped his face. Having his strength, his care, made doing hard things easier. Before, I felt like I was locked outside of a warm house, looking at the people like the Baileys. I wasn’t a part of them. But Teller had brought me inside. He’d carried me up his stairs and into his bed. He made me feel like I was worth loving. And I just might be falling in love with him.