Chapter 51
FIFTY-ONE
AUSTIN
“Of all the gin joints,” he says after opening his front door and leaning against the frame in that annoyingly attractive way men like to do.
I narrow my eyes at him, crossing my arms and hiding my wince. Technically, I’m not supposed to be out of my sling yet, but technically I don’t think I should be trying to sell Chase Cartwright my bar either.
“You don’t drink gin, and I’d bet Quitter’s that you don’t even know what that’s from.”
“The thing about betting is you’ve gotta have the ability to pay up if you’re wrong,” he drawls.
“Funny, that,” I say, flashing him the papers that were on the breakfast bar this morning when I woke up.
Maddox had signed the bar over to me on the dotted line, and all it took was a flourish of the pen he left behind to do my part.
I’d loaded my shit in my truck while he was working, and with any luck, by the time he got home tonight, I’d be long gone.
I guess it depends on how long Chase intends to diddle-fart around though.
Chase squints and then opens the door wider to let me pass by into his trailer. It’s cleaner than I’d expected it to be, not that I was one to throw stones when it came to the cleanliness of anyone’s home.
“Mind telling me what this little visit’s about before the town starts gossiping? Not sure who’d be angrier—my girl or her brother.”
“Well, last I heard, you don’t have a girl and I’m not sure why Colt would give a fuck about Cedar Creek drama.”
He snorts and I slap the papers on his coffee table. “How would you like to be the owner of your favorite drinking establishment?”
Chase’s brow raises. “It’s the only drinking establishment and I haven’t been there since…” He trails off and I know exactly what he was going to say. His eyes flick up to the angry pink scar across the right side of my forehead.
“Thanks for that, by the way. You’re a bit of a narc, but I guess it saved my life, so.”
“So I saved the world a bartender.”
“A bar owner, actually, if we can get back to the point. I don’t have time to shoot the shit with you.”
He hums, grabbing the papers and flipping through them. “All this says is that Maddox signed the bar over to you yesterday. Christ almighty, you stop going to the bar for a week and new management moves in. Twice.”
“Funnily enough, I read them before I signed them so I know exactly what it says.” I hadn’t read them at all.
“I’ll write a note or record a video or something saying I’m selling it to you, I don’t fucking know.
I just need to sell the bar and figured I owed you for the whole…
” I wave my hand through the air as though a life-debt is inconsequential.
“Giving me the bar would be paying me back for that. What makes you think I’ve got enough money to buy a bar set aside?”
I roll my eyes at him. Everyone knew the Cartwrights had money. After the Whittakers, they were probably the richest family in this town and Chase was their only kid.
When I don’t humor his banter anymore, he jerks his chin at me. “How much do you want for it?”
I’m honestly a bit surprised he took the bait, so I don’t have a number ready for him. I have no clue what honkytonks in small Montana towns go for, nor how much revenue the bar even brings in. World’s worst bar owner, I am.
“$150,000,” I spit out and he snorts immediately.
“Nope. Sixty.”
“One sixty? Well damn, Cartwright, you’ve got yourself a deal.”
“$60,000. Cash in hand.” He tilts his head like he can see right through me, like he knows how desperate I am to have ‘cash in hand’ and he knows I don’t have time to be picky.
“A hundred grand and you’ve got yourself a deal. Cash.”
“I only have eighty in cash.”
“Then fucking Venmo me the rest,” I tell him through gritted teeth. “Do we have a deal at a hundred grand or what?”
Chase sighs, tossing the papers back on the coffee table.
“What the hell, I was bored today anyway. Sure.”
“Welcome to Broken Spoke Feed, let me know if there’s anything I can help you find!”
Just her voice is making me tear up again. I can’t fucking stand crying and it feels like I’ve done a year’s worth in the past two days alone.
Kenny rounds the corner, coming from the little closet off to the side of the register. Her already-gleeful expression brightens further when she sees me, but it doesn’t take long at all for it to fall.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, quickly setting the rolls of receipt paper she was holding down on the counter and rushing over. She hugs me gingerly, much more so than her brother did last night.
We never hug. We’ve been best friends forever, but hugging is where we draw the line usually.
I fall apart against her shoulder, the back of her shirt clenched in my fists.
I feel something wrap around the backs of my calves and look down to see Callie’s concerned little face looking up at me as she hugs the two of us.
Despite everything, it makes me laugh. The tiny blonde smiles in return, though it looks pretty unsure, like she can’t figure out why I’m laughing and crying at the same time. Fair as fuck, to be honest, neither can I.
Kenny pulls back and squats down to the little girl’s level, fixing the hem of her dress, which is hitched up on one side. “Callie, can you go find Daddy for me? Let him know I’m gonna take a little break to hang out with my friend?”
The little girl eyes me again and I wipe my face. I can’t imagine how I must look to this kid—crying, laughing, bruised. No wonder she’s concerned about me.
She turns her head to whisper in Kenny’s ear, her tiny hand covering her mouth and her eyes still locked on me.
My best friend leans in to her, smiling at her antics, before it turns into a sympathetic frown.
She tucks the girl’s hair behind her ear and thumbs her pudgy cheek.
“She’s fine, sweetheart, but you’re so sweet for worrying.
She’s just having big feelings at the moment, like you do sometimes.
Can you go tell Daddy what I said, please? ”
Finally, Callie nods, but not before tracing her eyes over me again like I’m going to fall into tears again any second.
“Are you okay?” Kenny asks quietly the second the little girl disappears. “Where’s your sling?”
I sniff, looking down at my fingernails. They could use a trim. “I’m gonna be unfair again and ask you to be my friend and not Maddie’s sister for a minute.”
Kenny lets out a breath and even from my peripheral, I can see the way her body slumps. She knows what’s coming. Maybe I can get out of saying it like I got out of it with Maddox. “Aus—”
Shaking my head at her, I grab her hands and force myself to look up at her. She’s crying now, too, which only makes me start up again. “No, Ken. I’m not gonna spend this time fighting. I just wanted to say goodbye.”
“Goodbye?” she asks, voice breaking. Fuck.
“For now,” I amend quickly in hopes of combatting more tears. “Just for now. We’ll still text every day, FaceTime whenever you want. I’m sure we’ll visit each other too, eventually.”
Kenny sniffles and nods, using the sleeve of her hoodie to wipe at her eyes. It’s huge on her and I’d bet all hundred thousand of my dollars that it’s Theo’s.
“Where are you heading?”
“I don’t know yet,” I tell her truthfully. I’ve never really gotten this close to leaving before and a huge part of me always thought I never would. The plan was to just leave. Nothing outside of that. “But as soon as I get settled in a motel tonight, I’ll give you a call.”
“You can’t drive far,” she argues. “You’ve got broken ribs and a messed up shoulder. Just wait a couple more weeks until you’re healed all the way.”
I’m already shaking my head before she can finish. “No, Ken.”
“But—”
“No,” I say again, harsher this time. Her brows furrow, peeved at me now. That’s sort of what I was going for. As much as I hate it, if she’s mad at me, she won’t keep trying to stop me.
“Fine,” she grumbles, crossing her arms, her shoulders curving in. “Then I’m not going to pick up when you call tonight.”
I have to smile despite everything. They call me a brat. “I’ll call anyway.”
Kenny hums and it’s awkward suddenly. It’s time to go and yet…
Theo walks in from the back room, clearing his throat. Kenny turns and I watch the tension in her face relax. My stomach twists. Kenny’s gonna be just fine here without me. “Callie has to go potty and is insisting on waiting for you because ‘girls go to the potty in groups.’”
My best friend laughs and rolls her eyes fondly. She turns back to me and I smile sadly at her, reaching back out for a final hug. “Love you, Ken.”
“I love you, too, Aus,” she whispers, pressing her eyes against my shoulder. I can feel the wetness of her tears through my shirt. “Call tonight. I’ll answer, I promise.”
I nod and let her go. She turns on her heel, hand squeezing Theo’s forearm as she passes him to take Callie to the bathroom.
My eyes flick to Theo’s and it’s obvious by how he’s looking at me that he heard a good portion of our conversation. “You gonna rat me out?” I won’t make the mistake of underestimating how quick Maddox can catch up to me again.
He shakes his head, pulling off from where he was leaning against the wall. “Nah, that’s not my place,” he says. Relief and disappointment flood me in equal measures.
“Thanks.” Guess it’s time to go. I’m almost at the door when Theo speaks up again.
“You know, I’d give anything in this world, save Callie, to have my wife back for even a minute.
Any amount of money, this store, anything.
” I stop, hand on the push bar of the door.
“Life is short and you’ve only got so much time on this planet with the people you love.
You never know how much you have—sixty more years or sixty more seconds. ”
I turn to look at him, holding back the bratty retort I’d like to throw out. He rewards me by continuing his little monologue.
“If you’re leaving Cedar Creek because you can’t stand it here after everything you’ve gone through, I think that’s fair.
I think you deserve that peace. But if you’re leaving because your daddy taught you that men can’t love you without hurting you and you’re just trying to keep yourself safe from accepting Maddox’s love…
well, then I just think you’re a coward. ”
I sneer at him. He has a lot of fucking gall. I don’t know that I’ve ever spoken more than ten words to this man before today and he thinks he has the right to act like I’m just a little girl with daddy issues?
“And I think you’re a coward. You might wanna take your own advice and stop taking Kenny for granted before she wises up and decides to stop playing step-mommy for a little girl whose daddy won’t let himself move on from a ghost.”
In hindsight, that was—potentially—a shitty thing for me to say. I leave before the guilt can catch me.