Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Hudson
“It’d be better just to gut everything and start over.” I ran my hand through my hair and looked over at my contractor, Frank. The man had been in the business for longer than I had been an adult and knew what he was doing.
He was also the father of one of the men I had fought beside. He’d lost his son the same day I took two bullets to my side and shoulder. I’d only spoken to the man a few times since, because what else were you supposed to say when you weren’t quick enough to save your friend?
But Frank wanted to be part of this project, not for me, but for his son.
It would’ve been good for everybody, if his son would’ve been able to stay here.
Instead, his ashes lay on his mother’s mantle, and she dusted and polished the wood every day, and told her son exactly what had happened the day before, as if he could hear her.
She spoke to his ashes more than she had ever been able to speak to her son, and that was why his father did this. Because Frank and his wife deserved to stay here as well. Or maybe to just be able to fucking breathe after finally learning what grief was.
“The outbuildings and a few parts of the foundation are still good. The mudslide didn’t take those away.
“You’re right. And breaking into the side of the mountain like that to build something sturdy isn’t going to be good for the land itself. So let’s see what we can do. How many cabins are we thinking of?”
I took his tablet and tapped a few buttons on the screen. “I’m not the builder, you are. I can slap a couple coats of paint on after.”
Frank gave me a look over that large mustache of his. “From what I know, you can do more than just slap on a couple coats of paint. I want to thank you again for letting me have that painting though. You should have let me pay.”
I shrugged as I handed over the tablet, then put my hands into my pockets.
“Josh’s sister was having a baby. And she’d always wanted something other than a print in her house.” I remember Josh mentioned something like that.
“Katie loves it. And I got to be the best damn father out there for getting it for her. In reality, I lucked out.”
“It was just a couple of weeks of work, so I don’t mind.”
“You need to start valuing yourself more than that.” He let out a breath. “You seeing anyone yet?”
I frowned and turned to the older man. “What?”
“You settling down? I hear things about your family. Hard not to when they’re always in the news.” He raised a brow, but I didn’t say anything. “I see some of your siblings are out there getting married. Having babies. Protecting the Cage legacy.”
I snorted. “Some legacy.”
“You’re making your own. They hardly talk about your dad anymore. Now it’s about the new set of Cages.”
“My siblings are procreating enough for the rest of us. Don’t you worry.”
“So you’re still single.” I opened my mouth to say something, and a small smile spread over Frank’s face. “Damn. What’s her name?”
I shook my head. “It’s…it’s new. And it’s not what you think.”
“It never is until it slaps you in the face. But good for you. You deserve happiness, you know.”
“I was happy before.”
It was Frank’s turn to snort. “We both know that you weren’t.
So you don’t have to lie. You out here doing this thing for us?
For your people? That is what will bring happiness to others.
So maybe do it for yourself. With whoever this woman is.
She has you confused and stuttering over your words. I like her.”
“You don’t even know her.” I paused. “But I like her too. It’s probably why it won’t last.”
“Because you like her?”
“Because she’s fucking amazing. And it’s early yet. I’m not good at keeping women. You know that.”
Frank knew the story but not many others did.
I had told Josh about Michelle and Jefferson, and the accident that had happened afterwards.
Of course, Josh had only known part of it when he’d been alive.
I had to tell his tombstone the rest. But in a moment of weakness, and far too much whiskey, I had told Frank.
And he hadn’t judged me for it. If anything, he had been disappointed I’d not been able to finish everything with my own hands.
Maybe that’s why I talked to Frank more than I talked to my brothers about certain things. And I talked to him a hell of a lot more than I ever talked to my father. Frank wasn’t a father figure, but he’d lost his son, and I’d lost my best friend.
We both stared off into the distance, and I had to wonder if Josh was on his mind, or the future that we were trying to make.
“When do you think you can be out here again?” I asked, clearing my throat.
“Give me a couple of weeks to finish our current project, and then we’ll be out here in force. We will take down whatever needs to be pulled away and start with zoning. You got all the permits that you need?”
I nodded. “I do. Thank you. Isabella helped there.”
“Your sister-in-law is good at the whole spreadsheet thing. I liked the email she sent.”
“Of course. She was good at it.” I paused “I might ask Scarlett to help with a few things. She’s a resort manager.”
“Scarlett is it? Fascinating.”
“Frank,” I warned, and the other man just laughed.
“Come on, let’s do one more round, and you can head out. I promised Mary that I would have lunch with her down at the diner. She’s shopping now with a woman named Ms. Patty.”
I couldn’t help but laugh. “Your wife’s been adopted by the town’s Mrs. Mayor.”
“Her last name is Mayor?” he asked, confused.
“No. Let me tell you a story about the small town of Cage Lake.”
Frank just shook his head, and I laughed for the first time in a long while in this man’s presence.
I mourned my friends, I mourned Michelle. But I didn’t wallow in it. At least I didn’t think so. Yet when it came to figuring out what would come next, sometimes I couldn’t help but be stuck in the past. That was why we were making this retreat. Or whatever the hell we were going to call it.
Taking something broken, used beyond measure, and trying make it for good.
By the time Frank and I finished, it was noon, and I was hungry.
I put together a quick sandwich, and planned on heading back to the studio, figuring I’d get a few hours of work in.
The art show had done tremendously well, surprising me.
My agent hadn’t been surprised at all, and so I had more work to do.
But I didn’t have a direction. I could go anywhere I wanted with it, and I couldn’t get Scarlett’s face out of my mind.
I wasn’t into portraits, but maybe it was time to start.
Before I could go out the back door, my front door opened.
“You should lock your door, twin.”
I rolled my eyes and got out all of my sandwich fixings again to make Flynn one of his own. Even though he might’ve already eaten for all I knew, he’d want a sandwich if he saw one in my hand.
Flynn grinned and handed me a bottle of Coke.
“I got the fancy bottles too, with real sugar. How did you know I wanted a sandwich?”
I rolled my eyes. “I didn’t, but I was having one, so I knew you would whine until you got one.”
“You say the sweetest things. Thanks.”
I bit into my sandwich and took a sip of the crisp, real sugar Coke.
“Damn that’s good. My teeth are going to rot, but worth it.”
“It’s like candy.” Flynn grinned.
I rolled my eyes. “You are the vice president of a billion-dollar corporation, and you’re over here with a deli sandwich and a Coke like a kid.”
“Hey, this is way better than Wonder Bread and off-brand Coke.”
“True. This shit is fancy.”
“Damn straight.”
“Not that I don’t love having you here, but why the hell are you here?” I asked, confused. It was the middle of the work week, and it wasn’t like Flynn to show up like this. Oh, he showed up unannounced all the fucking time, but he usually didn’t take off work.
“I was going through my mail and realized that I had something for you.”
I frowned, confused. “What? People get us confused in person, but not when it comes to mail.”
“I have a feeling our lawyer did it on purpose. Probably on Dad’s request just to fuck with us some more.”
I stiffened when I realized what Flynn held in his hand.
Our father had mixed us up constantly. It wasn’t like with Sophia when she was exhausted and had to blink a couple of times to get the girls situated.
And even then, now that the girls were getting older, and their faces were changing ever so slightly, even though they were identical, Sophia didn’t make that mistake anymore.
But our father had purposely not cared enough to figure out who was who.
Though of course he’d make sure that the letter that I wanted nothing to do with would go to Flynn first. Fucking with us had been his favorite pastime in life, why not in death?
“I was wondering when that was going to show up,” I said in lieu of anything else.
When our father had died, not only had we realized we had another set of siblings, but there had been countless addendums to the will.
The main one being that we had to have dinner once in a month as a group as we had been doing for the past few years. If anything, we’d made it our own, and I’d even participated enough that I’d learned to like them.
There were other parts of the will that some of my siblings had to deal with personally, ones that I knew they were keeping close to the vest or not wanting to speak of at all. I didn’t blame them, not when my father could be so manipulative.
Another major component were these letters.
Each of our siblings had received letters from our father. Some more than one.
Our father could barely stand talking to me when he’d been alive, why would he bother when he was dead? Other than to find some way to hurt us, which was something he was so good at.
“Did you read it?” I asked, not bothering to reach for the letter.
“No. I thought about it. Not because I was curious and wanted to have a one-up on you.”
“You’re not like that, Flynn. You may joke, but you’re not cruel. You’re not him.”