Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Jasper
“Dad, it’s not like that. I promise. It’s nothing like my other jobs or my other relationships, for that matter.”
After Daddy and I wore each other out in the best kind of naughty ways, we showered and fell back asleep.
I knew my dad was an early riser, though, so I left Daddy sleeping in my bed and returned to the main house to start breakfast. If I were going to have guests at my new bed and breakfast, I was going to provide them a proper breakfast—even if it was just family.
I told Dad and Gage, who was likely just dragging in, to wait in the main area, but they didn’t bother to listen and instead dragged some stools into the kitchen, propping themselves up at the table while I worked.
At the end of the day, they were the only ones here, so it probably didn’t matter.
But in the future, I would make sure my domain was my domain. No guests allowed.
“You always say that, Jasper, and I know you mean it. But that doesn’t mean that’s the way it’s going to work.”
“You don’t know that it’s not going to work.” I felt like my argument was strong on that one.
“It’s never worked in the past, and as far as I can tell, you’re the common denominator.”
Well, damn. That one stung a little. I was really hoping that getting this bed and breakfast open would prove to my dad that I wasn’t the monumental screwup baby of the family they always thought I was.
Clearly, I still had more work to do because what he had seen so far wasn’t doing much to impress him.
“Baby brother looks like he’s on the verge of saying a bad word aloud,” Gage piped up from where he sat on the stool next to my dad. Dad shot him a quelling look, but I couldn’t imagine it would have any effect. It never had in the past.
“Gage, don’t you have someone’s marriage to be breaking up?”
“Oh my god, it was one time, and I didn’t know he was married.”
“Boys, that is absolutely enough. Jasper, you know your brother wouldn’t mess around with a married person on purpose.”
Oh no. It was the tone. I had heard that tone my whole life. The one that said, I’m not mad, Jasper. I’m just more disappointed in you than usual. Next to Dad, Gage looked smug as he gave me the finger. Naturally, I stuck my tongue out at him.
“Jasper, you are not in preschool anymore.”
“Dad, you’re right. I’m not in preschool, which is why I’m telling you that I am more than capable of running this bed and breakfast.”
That might have hit a little harder if I hadn’t sounded so whiny. I took a deep breath and tried again. This time, I forced myself to find the calmest, most neutral tone I could get my vocal cords to produce.
“I know you’re concerned, and I know you’re worried. But I need you to trust that I can do this. I’ve never been happier than I have been while working on this house, turning it into the vision I had in my head. Sissy trusted me, and I need you to do the same, Dad.”
“Son, it’s not about trust. It’s about competence.”
Dad looked sad when he said the words, as if they were painful even to speak. I guessed I appreciated that much of his control. He didn’t like calling me incompetent. He didn’t want to say it, but he had to for his own good and mine, I suppose. Maybe to clear his conscience?
“Come on, Dad. For someone who supposedly doesn’t know what he’s doing, Jasper’s done a pretty fucking good job so far.”
Gage might be a dick who accidentally dated married men, but he always had my back when it mattered.
“See, Dad? Even Gage thinks I can do it—and he doesn’t think I can do anything.”
“Oh, I think you can do lots of things, baby boy.”
“Gage, I swear to god, if you call me that again, I am going to fucking murder you.”
“Baby boy, that’s not language you should use,” Gage said, wearing a shit-eating grin.
He looked like the Cheshire Cat—sitting on a toadstool or something. I didn’t even know, but I was going to do him in, and in the most painfully embarrassing way I could manage.
“Let’s get something straight right now,” Daddy said as he strode through the kitchen door, boots echoing across the tile.
He yanked me to his side, pressed a firm kiss to my lips, and ignored my startled expression.
I probably looked like a deer in headlights, but I didn’t care. Awkward, yes, but oh-so-hot too.
“The only one who’s calling Jasper ‘boy’ is me.”
“Oh, is that so?” Gage smirked.
“Yeah, it absolutely fucking is.”
As Daddy spoke, his Texas twang deepened. For a second, I thought this might actually turn physical. Gage and Daddy locked eyes in a full-on stare down until my dad broke the tension with a clearing of his throat and a hand on Gage’s forearm.
“Gage, I don’t think Jasper’s friend appreciates the way you tease him. We might know it’s all in good fun, but he doesn’t. So maybe you want to get to a point where you can tone it down.”
“Fuck that shit.” Gage waved off that suggestion. “Some new boyfriend is not going to tell me what I can say to my brother.”
“I’m not his boyfriend.”
Two heads swung toward Daddy, and I jerked mine up.
“Whoa, you want to run that by me again?” I asked. What the hell was going on?
“I’m your Daddy. I’m not just some boyfriend,” Daddy said with a definitive nod. Oh my lord, please save me from a pissing contest. “Gage, you won’t be shit if you make Jasper feel bad,” Daddy warned, “because I will bury your ass under my barn.”
“All right, all right. We’re done. Gage, please stop antagonizing my boyfriend. And, Hank, please stop letting Gage wind you up.”
“Why don’t you call him what you usually call him, Jasper?” Gage sing-songed.
“Gage, that’s enough,” Dad roared.
Dad hardly ever raised his voice to Gage.
Out of all of us, it was Gage he had the most patience with and put up with the most from.
Probably because he looked so much like our mom, or maybe because he secretly enjoyed heartburn.
Anyway, it was well known in our family that Dad had a soft spot for him, and Gage played it to the hilt at every opportunity.
I liked to imagine that if Mom hadn’t died in that accident, as her youngest, I would’ve been her favorite. It was one of my favorite daydreams.
“Jasper, the only thing we have ever wanted for you—the only thing I have ever wanted for you, the only thing your mom would have wanted for you—is to be happy and successful. And if you choose to have a relationship, then it’s the right one for you,” Dad said.
I heard the sincerity in his voice, and I knew he meant it. But I couldn’t shake the idea that he thought I was going to be a failure. Again.
“Dad, I know you’re worried about this house and about what my relationship is with Hank, and yeah, we just met each other.
But I need you to know that I’m dedicated, one hundred percent, to making sure this place is successful.
A big part of the reason it’s come together so quickly is because Hank was here. I promise he’s not a distraction.”
“That’s what I thought about the coffee shop. You were doing so well, and then I was told you got fired for lying.”
I froze when Dad spoke. What the actual hell?
“Who told you that?” I asked incredulously.
“Your ex. He was seeing someone in my office building, I guess, and I ran into him in the elevator. I told him I was sorry to hear you’d broken up because you’d seemed so happy together.
And he told me the reason was because you lied at work and tried to steal something.
I was shocked. I told him it had to be a misunderstanding, but he said he tried to save your job.
The owner wouldn’t do it because they’d given you so many chances before. ”
“And you believed him? You actually believed him? Why didn’t you ever say anything?”
“Because after it happened, you were…I…I’d never seen you like that.
You weren’t yourself. You were angry and irritable.
And when we tried to talk to you about it, you said, and I’m quoting here, ‘I made the biggest mistake of my life,’ but you refused to tell any of us what that was.
So when he told me what happened, it made sense that you wouldn’t want to tell us anything. ”
My dad’s words sounded like English and, in theory, I should have been able to understand them. But I couldn’t.
“For the record, I believed then and still do that it was a wild misunderstanding. I know you’re not a thief or a liar.” After Dad’s revelation and the attempt at cleaning it up, no one moved. Heck, we all barely breathed waiting for the next shoe to fall.
“Did it occur to you that he might have been the mistake?”
“What? You two were so happy together.”
“We were, yes.”
“So how would that make it a mistake?”
“Because he tricked me into writing down my wildly successful recipes, passed them off as his own, and kept the money that the new owners paid to keep using them. And to make it better, my own Daddy”—my legit dad flinched at the word but didn’t interrupt—“got me fired.”
“He fucking did what?” Gage yelled from his spot at the counter. He jumped from his seat and rushed around to me. “Why the fucking hell didn’t you tell us?”
“And what? Have my big brothers beat him up? Bail me out again? There wasn’t anything you could do, and I didn’t want the pity or the lectures or, god help us all, another PowerPoint on the care and proper feeding of littles.”
“You’re like a gremlin,” Gage said with a stupid grin. He might be quick to get mad, but he hadn’t ever let a joke get by him.
“Your face is like a gremlin,” I grumbled.
“It’s okay, pookie. Daddy’s home.” Gage opened his arms toward me. Absolutely not. Done. I ducked under his outstretched appendages, like the monster he was, and headed for the kitchen back door.
“Eff off, Gage. I’m going to take care of my goats, and you can get your own damn breakfast.” With my head held high and a slam of the door, I headed off to the barn.
At least my ladies respected me, even if my family didn’t.