Chapter 13 #2
“That man.” Sawyer shook his head. “He has more of our secrets locked inside him than anyone else in this family.”
They all raised their drinks to that.
“Did you arrest her father? It was never clear to us if that was you or Uncle Asher,”
Brody said.
“Me. I went into the house and cuffed him,” Dan said, unsure why he was bringing this up now, here, surrounded by people. But it felt right. He felt like he needed to get the words out and make sense of the turmoil that was going on inside him.
“And neither Leah nor Cassie had any idea their father was going to be arrested?” Ryder asked.
“None.”
Ryder whistled.
“I couldn’t tell her in case she tipped her father off. Then the feds arrived because we’d told them we were taking him into custody, and all hell broke loose. We lost control of the operation, and they took over,” Dan said.
He’d never forgotten the look on Leah’s face when he walked her father out of the house in cuffs. She’d been devastated, pale and crying, and all he could think was that she needed him, and he couldn’t go to her.
“Well, you need to talk this out with her now, bro. You and her, you have this connection. Anyone can see it, and Birdie is making my life hell because of it,” Sawyer said.
“Yeah, I can see how fucking hard this is on you, bro,” Dan drawled.
“Look. All we’re trying to say,” Ryder, the peacemaker, said, “is that you and her could have a future, and clearing the air is the way to make that happen.”
“Is that what we’re saying? Man, we’re good at this shit,” Brody drawled.
“I’m not talking about the rest of this with you. If I talk to anyone, it will be Leah.” And he would be talking to her.
“Has anything gone down between you two since she came back?” Sawyer asked, giving him a look he’d perfected by watching Uncle Asher.
Dan was a grown-ass adult and a deputy who had been making his own decisions for years. But he couldn’t stop the color that started in his neck and climbed into his face at his big brother’s words.
“No way!” Ryder said and then whistled.
“What?” Brody asked.
“I thought she hated you?” Sawyer said, ignoring the question.
“It’s complicated, and this discussion is over,” Dan said, picking up his beer and drinking deep to hide the color in his cheeks.
“Aww, come on, we need to live through you now, seeing as we’re happily coupled,” Ryder said.
“What did I miss?” Brody demanded.
“You are not that dumb,” Sawyer said.
Brody frowned and then smiled. “Oh, I get it now.”
“Happily coupled?” asked Red, who was pouring two beers. He’d been listening to everyone’s business for years, and probably knew more about the residents of Lyntacky than anybody else in town. “Is that one of those new things?”
“New things?” Dan looked at Red. “What new things?”
“New phrases like flexitarianism?”
The Dukes all looked at him blankly.
Red settled a beefy arm on the bar. “It’s like a halfway thing between eating meat every day and being a vegetarian. You still eat meat, but not all the time, which I personally think is a cop-out, but what can you do?” Red added.
“You’re shitting me?” Sawyer said. “And I’ll add, how do you know this crap, Red?”
The big man smiled. “Kids, bud. You have to keep learning so when they throw something at you, you’re prepared.”
“How did a word like flexitarianism come up in conversation?” Brody asked.
“One of the kids is dabbling in becoming a non-meat eater,” Red said.
“So, a vegetarian, then?” Dan said.
“Any chance of a drink, Red?”
“Yeah, hold yours, Beau!” Red roared back.
Sawyer raised his middle finger at Beau Keller, his mortal enemy since his first day of school, and Beau returned the gesture.
“And there will be no more talk about me or my love life,” Dan said when Red left.
“So there is a love life?” Brody added.
Dan ignored him and drank more beer.
They talked, he listened, and then he talked some more, and if he was honest, he did feel better inside because of it. His brothers were the best men he knew besides his uncle. They’d had their moments, and rebellions, but at their core, there were good values.
Around them there were noise and people, but Dan was with his people, and they knew him better than anyone else.
Dan took off his cone of silence. “I need the bathroom.”
The Rollaway bathrooms were as you would expect of a bar like this, with one exception. Written on most of the available wall space were quotes, and they were changed out weekly. He’d never asked if the girls’ bathrooms had those too.
Dan read the one on the back of the stall door he was now in. “The stronger a man is, the gentler he can afford to be.”
True, he thought, and a few men could be better by understanding that.
He’d always been a creature of habit, so he’d chosen the last stall on the right. From there, Dan heard someone talking while entering.
“Grill’s looking for somewhere else now that she’s back in Lyntacky with the kid.”
As there was no reply, Dan’s guess was that the man was talking into a phone.
“Yeah, well, chances were someone would want to live there sooner or later.”
More silence.
“At least we got everything out before she returned. Shame, as it was a good spot. Let’s hope she leaves again soon. But until then, we’ll keep looking.”
Dan stood where he was until the conversation had finished, and the man had left the bathroom.
Only then did he let himself out, wash his hands, and walk back to his brothers.
Tomorrow he would be having another conversation with his uncle about what he’d overheard because, though he couldn’t be certain, as no names were used, what if they’d been talking about the Reynolds farm?