18. Ben #2
Beaming, she led me inside the seafood restaurant, which didn’t look much different than anything else. It was when she took me into the back that I finally understood what was really going on here.
“Holy shit,” I murmured, taking in all the gambling tables. “Is this legal?”
“Not strictly speaking, but the local law has turned a blind eye to it.”
“So…the whole town has been coming in here since you opened just to gamble in the back?”
“Well, it’s certainly not for the food,” she laughed.
“You don’t have a good cook?”
“Oh, we do. We just don’t normally have seafood.”
I looked at her funny, trying to understand that. “But you named it Seafood & More.”
“Yep. It’s the More part that draws people in.”
I shook my head, still not understanding, but I guess it didn’t really matter. They were making money.
I spent the rest of the day with Krista as she dragged me around, explaining all the various revenues of income she had built up with Jeff. Even Liam had started going in on rental properties with them. They had quite the setup going, and it had nothing to do with the ranch.
They had built something for themselves, and I couldn’t have been prouder of them.
“Where are we going now?” I grumbled as night fell over the town.
“The Beaver and Boot.”
“I was just there last night. I highly doubt going again would be good for me, considering what happened.”
Glancing over at me, she smirked. “Tonight is not for you. There will be no drinking. Only observing.”
“What exactly will I be observing?”
“Oh, you’ll see,” she chuckled.
I didn’t like the sound of that. Then again, the bar was owned by Lizzy and Liam, so it couldn’t be that bad. Or so I hoped.
“How’s Rob and Blake’s…detective agency going?”
“You would know if you bothered to show interest in anything other than yourself,” she remarked.
There was no bite to her tone, only proving a point that I had been absent from my family for far too long.
“It’s slowly building. They’ve gotten a few jobs, and Rob has set up a consulting side to the business.”
“Consulting? On what?”
“Cyber security. He’s flying out to New York next week.”
“To set up—” I stopped myself before I could make an idiot out of myself. “What exactly is cyber security?”
“Basically, anything you do online can be accessed by anyone if they know what they’re doing. Like mobile banking.”
“Why would anyone do banking online when the bank is right in town?”
“Because it’s easier,” she pointed out. “If you just want to transfer money, do you really want to drive into town when you could just do it with the touch of a button?”
I grunted, not at all liking any of this. “Obviously, it’s safer if I just drive into town.”
“Well, not everyone is an old curmudgeon like you.”
“I am not a curmudgeon. And I’m not old!”
Laughing, she pulled into The Beaver and Boot. “Is that why you were asked if you wanted to use the senior citizen discount last week?”
“Fucking ridiculous,” I muttered. “I don’t look that old.”
“No, but you act like it. Seriously, you and Mom walk around like you’re already in your seventies. You need to lighten up and live a little.”
“I do not act like I’m seventy!”
“Yeah? When was the last time you had any fun?”
And with that, she parked and got out. Rolling my eyes, I followed, but not because I wanted to. I was proving a point. I could hang out at the bar for fun and not drink. I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to do in a bar full of young people, but I wasn’t about to prove my daughter right.
To my surprise, the bar was already full of life, and right at the center of it was my wife.
I almost didn’t recognize her, not because she was having fun, but because half her head was shaved off, and instead of her long, silky strands, all that was left was a mop of hair side-swept off her face.
She was fucking beautiful, and the smile that lit up her face said it all. She was happy. I’d never seen her laugh so much or beam so bright. It was like I was staring at an entirely different person.
“Come on!” Krista shouted over the music, tugging me to the dark corner where we wouldn’t be seen.
As I slid into the booth, I took in the entourage surrounding my wife. Lizzy was slinging drinks like it was the wild west, and Blake and Bailey were up on stage, singing their hearts out.
But that wasn’t where it ended.
My wife seemed to have collected women from around town. Ellie May was at the table, along with Josie, Delaney, Cheyenne, and even Bea from the police station.
“What are they doing?”
“Having fun,” Krista laughed, as if I was the stupidest person alive.
“I meant, are they celebrating something?”
“Nope, they’re just having a girls night.”
“Then why aren’t you with them?”
“Because someone had to look after you, and make sure you understood exactly what you were missing out on.”
For the better part of the night, I watched as my wife laughed, sang karaoke songs, and drank as if she was twenty-one.
I’d never seen her so carefree or young at heart.
All the years of raising the kids and taking care of everyone else had taken their toll on her, but tonight, I could see the woman I married.
By the time eleven o’clock rolled around, my wife was wasted, stumbling around the bar, but still laughing and having a great time.
“Maybe you should take her home.”