Chapter 6 Joey #2
The pictures behind the bar showed Casey, Henry, and the man I assumed was Hudson.
Henry and Hudson were both broad, Hudson only slightly leaner than his father and brother.
Hudson’s hair was lighter than his father’s while Henry’s was darker.
I got the feeling from the picture that Henry and Casey Joe were the more stoic and grumpy, while Hudson was more a people person based on his big smile.
The food was absolute downhome perfection, and the silence around us as we savored our meal was as easy and comfortable as sitting around the table at family dinner.
Casey Joe and Bryce talked to each other until Travis and I both moved our bowls away.
“Oh my god,” Travis groaned. “That was the best meal I’ve had in years. I’m gonna be huge if I eat like that all the time.”
Bryce leaned forward and smiled. “Almost sounds like you might want to join a gym to help you stay healthy and turn the roast and potatoes into muscle.”
Travis laughed. “Actually, now that you mention it, I did see your place this morning. Figured I’d stop by about a membership once I got settled in.”
Casey Joe pulled out a card. “You two come on in. We’ll get you set up with your first month free—not everyone gets a whole month, but the founding families have to stick together.”
“We’re both usually there from morning to afternoon, sometimes in the evenings too,” Bryce said. “It’s pretty relaxed. We’ve got all the equipment and machines you’d expect. I’m a certified personal trainer if you’re ever looking to add something more to your routine.”
Casey Joe smirked. “I’m usually behind the counter settin’ up memberships, sellin’ merch, lookin’ pretty, and checkin’ out his ass while he works.”
Bryce blushed but laughed and shook his head.
“We’ll definitely stop by,” Travis said.
I gave him a look. “Who says I want to join a gym?”
Something crossed over his face, and he gave me an up and down look. “You look that good without working out?”
My cheeks burned, but more from being turned on than embarrassment.
“That’s what I thought,” Travis quipped. “I need a gym buddy anyway.”
“Pretty sure there’d be plenty of folks ready and willin’ to be your workout partner,” Casey Joe said with a knowing gleam in his eyes.
“Nah.” Travis answered Casey Joe, but he kept his attention on me. “I think I’ve got my partner lined up.”
At that moment, before I spontaneously combusted right there on the bar stool, a gorgeous blond-haired, blue-eyed man approached us with a tray bearing four plates of chocolate cake.
“Jack, my boy, you are the only son I’ll ever need,” Casey Joe said.
“I can hear you,” Henry groused.
“That’s fine. You should know. Jack is gettin’ listed first in my will,” Casey said with a grin. “After Bryce. You and Hudson are third and fourth. Lance gets nothin’ since he already stole my kid.”
Jack, the beautiful man with the cake, gave a dazzling smile as he placed the plates before us. “Hi,” he said, biting his lip shyly as his cheeks pinked. “Raspberry chocolate ganache cake. The sauce on the plate is mint crème if you’d like to try it with the cake.”
“I could bathe in the shit,” Casey Joe said as he forked up a bite of cake.
I noticed Casey Joe and Bryce’s slices of cake were substantially smaller than the ones Jack brought to Travis and me, but the scent of raspberry, chocolate, and mint was too distracting for me to wonder about it for more than a moment.
Henry returned with steaming mugs of amaretto coffee. “If you want to take part of the cake home, we’ve got boxes.”
Travis glanced at the enormous slices. “You wanna split one and take the other home?”
As delicious as it all looked, I knew I’d make myself sick if I ate the entire piece of cake. “Good idea. We can have it for a treat tomorrow as we work.”
About twenty minutes later, Casey Joe and Bryce said goodbye after reminding us to stop by Armstrong Health & Fitness. Henry kissed Jack on the cheek before the younger man headed back toward the far side of the restaurant where I assumed he had his own little cake area going on.
I’d paid our bill, and we had a container of cake ready to go. “We didn’t get any planning done.”
Before Travis could answer, Henry brought the coffee pot over. “I’ll keep you in coffee until you get your planning done or we close, whichever comes first.”
Travis and I looked at each other and shrugged.
Free coffee, great atmosphere, friendly people?
Why not?
By the time I’d sipped enough coffee to have my eyeballs floating, Travis and I had sketched out a basic plan for our next steps with the campground and bait shop. We had a lot of work to do to have both ready for the coming spring and summer, but some jobs would have to wait until warmer weather.
Until then, we’d tackle one job at a time to prepare for opening day of camping season. Sure, we had a couple campers who paid for year-round spots and all the hook-ups, but winter definitely wasn’t the busy time for the campground.
The bait and tackle shop made a few sales from those who liked to go ice fishing, but those folks had to do their fishing through the ice elsewhere.
We’d never allowed for it on our lake because Haven Grove seemed to sit directly over a bit of a hot spot, and our lake never really froze over completely enough for Pete to feel it was safe.
Same reason we never encouraged ice skating on the lake. The icy lake was deceptive in the winter, and Grandpa never wanted the responsibility of an accident on his hands.
As the winter gave way to spring, the dedicated fishermen in and around Haven Grove would come to see what new items we’d stocked and put in their orders for all the gear they wanted for the new season.
Our grandparents used to joke that a grown man’s bait and tackle catalog was like a child’s toy catalog at Christmas time.
But we were only right then heading into February. That meant we had at least a month, probably two, before any actual spring-type weather started making an appearance, and around here, winter could hold on with her wicked claws dug in tight.
So, we had some time before the fishing and camping crowd hit hard.
We said goodbye to Henry. “Tell Jack the cake was amazing,” I said.
“He’d love to hear it from you,” Henry said with a nod toward the little side addition.
Travis and I made our way over. “Hey, thanks for the cake,” I said.
“Best damn cake I’ve ever had,” Travis added.
Jack beamed. “Thank you.” His eyes were as bright as his smile. “Oh! You guys should come to my Friday the 13th Valentine’s Day party.”
“Your what now?” Travis asked, a fond smile on his face for this guy we’d just met. But Jack was one of those people you wanted to drop in your pocket to cuddle and protect. Definitely easy to see why Henry fell for him.
Jack blushed. “This,” he gestured around the little extension of the Roadhouse, “is mine. It’s called Cake & Cocktails. I do custom order cakes, parties, and flights featuring perfectly paired cakes and cocktails.”
“Oh my god, if I wasn’t so damn full, we’d order a flight right this second,” I said with one hundred percent sincerity.
Jacked waved me off with a smile. “We do flights daily. Henry also added a bit to the bar menu called Have Your Cake and Cocktails Too where we feature weekly and seasonal cakes paired with cocktails, along with a cake and cocktail pairing for most of the menu specials.” He shrugged like a bar serving custom cakes and cocktails wasn’t one of the coolest things ever.
“They use our very own peach simple syrup.” The guy who grinned ear to ear as he walked into the little space held an older man’s hand.
“Hi, Hudson Riggs. Don’t let Jack here fool you with his humbleness.
He makes the best damn cakes in the country.
Anything and everything peach in this town is produced by our orchard.
Sorry, don’t think I caught your names.”
“Travis Dean Cooper.”
“Joey Morton.”
Handshakes were exchanged all around.
“I’m Lance Ingram, I own the Sweet & Creamy Dairy Palace,” the older guy said. Ahh, I suddenly had a deep curiosity about how Lance and Hudson ended up together.
“We used to bike into town and get ice cream there,” Travis said, bumping his shoulder against mine. “The cinnamon peach crunch was my favorite.”
We talked a bit about the years we lived in Haven Grove, our grandparents, and our reason to be back in town.
“Did you invite them to your party?” Hudson asked as he pulled Jack close to his side and kissed his friend’s head.
Jack grinned and bit his lip. “I was getting ready to.”
“Well, we’re going to go give Dad and Bryce shit about their elderly music selection,” Hudson said, jumping away from Lance’s elbow to his ribs.
“Careful who you’re calling elderly,” Lance said with a gentle growl.
“Anyway,” Jack said as we watched the pair walk away arm in arm.
“I started this thing called the Lemon Drop Social Club. We get together a few times a month just to hang out. Sometimes we take up donations for charity events, sometimes we do food drives or blanket drives. I think our next project is going to be hats, gloves, and coats for the school. I love Halloween, and since the day before Valentine’s Day is a Friday the 13th this year, I decided to have a Friday the 13th Valentine’s Day party.
I’m using it to test out some Halloween recipes, but I’ll mesh it together with Valentine’s Day.
Like ghosts with fangs and hearts, that type of thing. ”
“Sounds like fun,” Travis said. “We’ll be there.”
My brows shot up. “We will?”
Travis smirked and shrugged. “Why not? We’re back home. Better start getting to know the locals. Plus, I love Halloween and cake.”
I couldn’t help the warmth spreading through my chest melting my heart like an ooey-gooey mess. “Guess we’ll see you on Friday the 13th.”
Once we were in the truck, Travis fiddled with the radio for a bit. He was silent for a while, but as I eased the truck onto the long stretch of county road leading to the campground, he blurted out, “I’m sorry for the way things went down back then and for being a complete shit.”
I nearly gave myself whiplash turning to look at him, and the truck swerved. Overcorrecting, I almost took us off the side and through the guardrail.
“Whoa!” Travis gripped the oh-shit handle. “Jesus, Joseph!”
Tears pricked at my eyes because I was a complete sap who got emotional over my former best friend, who was currently, hopefully, my once-again best friend pretending to be all strict and serious by using my full name when I almost wrecked my truck with him in it.
“Sorry.” I ducked my head. “Just caught me off guard.”
“Because you think I’m some sort of asshole who doesn’t know when he was wrong and can’t own up to his shitty behavior with an apology?”
I shrugged. “Guess I just wasn’t expecting it. Thought maybe we’d ease into it. It was ten years ago, maybe Day One is too soon to bring it all up?”
“Fuck that shit,” Travis bit out. “I’ve spent ten years thinking about what an ass I was, and I want you to know how sorry I am. How sorry I was even back then.”
Easing the truck off the county road onto the gravel road leading to the campground, I did my best to focus on driving while my head and heart were performing a three-ring circus act. “Really?” I swallowed down the emotional anticipation.
“Which part?” Travis asked, his grin gleaming in the light from the dashboard.
“All of it.”
“Yeah,” he said on a sigh, rubbing his palms up and down his thighs. “I felt like shit the moment it happened. Been sorry for ten years.”
“Me too,” I whispered.
“What have you been sorry for?” Travis demanded.
I parked next to Travis’s truck and killed the engine. “For doing what I did.” I still couldn’t bring myself to say it out loud, the embarrassment and Travis’s reaction clung thickly even after all these years.
Travis reached for my hand and gripped tightly. “You didn’t do anything wrong. The way I…reacted…” He seemed unwilling to name his actions as well. “It was wrong of me.” He took a deep breath. “And honestly, it wasn’t even a sign of how I really felt.”
My heart slammed into my ribcage. “What do you mean?”
At that exact moment, a light in the houseboat turned on and diverted our attention just long enough to ruin the moment.
Travis whooshed out a breath. “I really hope that’s just their lights on a timer and not some weirdo hanging out in there.”
“As long as it’s not snakes, I don’t care.”
He snorted. “You remember when your grandpa found a Clapper on eBay and hooked it up to the lamp in their RV? The lights went on and off when anyone laughed or sneezed or coughed.”
“Oh god, I remember that,” I said. “Grandma would sneeze, then she’d get to laughing, and the lamp kept going on and off. The more it blinked, the more she laughed.”
Travis shivered. “It’s cold out here. We should head in, get some rest. We’ve got a shitload of work to do this winter.”
“And a Friday the 13th Valentine’s Day party to get ready for.”