Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
The damage done to Honky Tonk Heaven wasn’t nearly as bad as Jaxon had thought. According to the fire department, the electrical fire had started in a wall in the kitchen. Which explained why the kitchen was gutted and the rest of the dancehall only suffered a small amount of smoke damage.
Still, rebuilding the kitchen wall, fixing the electrical and making sure it was up to code, and cleaning up the smoke damage would set the dancehall's opening back by at least three weeks.
Which would be a week too late.
Jaxon had thought he hated Honky Tonk Heaven. Now that he was losing it, he realized how wrong he’d been. It wasn’t the dancehall he’d hated. He’d hated all the time his mama had spent there. All the attention she’d given to a building that she couldn’t seem to give her kids.
Unless they were there working side by side for her dream. Then she had been different.
Jaxon almost forgot those nights they’d spent together closing up the bar.
While they placed the chairs on the tables, totaled out the registers, swept the floors and mopped them, they’d bitch about what slobs people were or laugh about some funny thing that had taken place that night.
It was the most attention he’d ever gotten from his mama.
As he stood at her gravesite, he realized he missed her. He wished he’d been there with her at the end. He wished he’d gotten the chance to tell her what she could never tell him.
He placed the bouquet of wildflowers he’d picked at the base of the gravestone, then stepped back and smiled at the angel who sat so arrogantly on top.
“Guess what, Mama? I love you.” He swallowed back the tears clogging his throat and glanced at the plain headstone next to his mama’s.
“And you, too, Daddy. I complained about y’all being piss poor parents, but now I realize that parenting isn’t an easy job.
I’ve certainly screwed up big time. First, by leaving Dawson, Poppy, and Huck when they needed me.
And then, by not trusting Dawson. As it turns out, I wasn’t any better at parenting than y’all. ”
“Yes, you were.”
He turned to see Poppy standing there. She looked like she did on most days.
She wore some country concert T-shirt, uneven cut-off shorts, and scuffed cowboy boots.
Her light brown hair was in a messy bun on the top of her head, her Hennessy golden eyes peeking out from her long bangs.
Those eyes were filled with as many tears as his.
When one rolled down her cheek, she dashed it away angrily as if mad it had dared to fall.
“You were a much better parent than mama and daddy. Yeah, okay, you made a few mistakes. Leaving your cute baby sister was one of them and not trusting Dawson another. But, for the most part, you loved us and fought for us and took the blame for us better than any parent could have. Which is why we pretty much worship the ground you walk on . . . and why I’ve been so angry.
” She sent him a teary scowl. “I missed you, dammit!”
He held open his arms and she didn’t hesitate to step into them. She buried her face against his chest just like she had when she’d been a kid. He held her close and kissed her head next to her messy bun.
“I missed you too, Pops.”
She sniffed. “I know. Who wouldn’t miss me? I’m a little ray of sunshine.”
He laughed and rocked her from side to side. “You certainly have always been mine.”
She snorted and shoved him away. “Liar.” Just like she had as a kid, she grabbed the hem of his T-shirt and used it to wipe her nose. “Dawson is pretty hurt, you know? So hurt he’s packing to leave.”
“That might be for the best.”
“The best? What do you mean?”
“Tully was there when Dawson brought up the gas station robbery.” Just saying Tully’s name made him feel like someone had taken a sledgehammer to his heart.
While he was mad at himself for hurting Dawson, he was equally mad at himself for hurting Tully.
There was little doubt he had hurt her. Those brown eyes had held an ocean of hurt.
But he had only spoken the truth. She would always put her daddy before a Hennessy.
Any Hennessy.
Poppy eyes widened. “You think she’s going to arrest Dawson?”
“She can’t. It happened too long ago. But I do think she’ll tell her daddy. And we all know how the townsfolk will treat Dawson if they find out. It will be best if he leaves town . . . if we all leave.”
Poppy’s eyes narrowed. “Wow. You really don’t trust people, do you?
You don’t trust Dawson. You don’t trust Tully.
You don’t trust the people of this town.
I get it. When we were growing up, you didn’t have anyone to count on but yourself.
You certainly couldn’t count on our parents or your three wild-ass siblings.
But we’re not kids any more, Jax. You can trust Dawson.
And you can trust me and Huck.” She paused. “And I think you can trust Tully, too.”
He was surprised. “You call her Tully the Tattler.”
She shrugged. “She’s grown on me.” She reached down and jerked a handful of flowers from the bouquet Jaxon had placed on their mama’s grave and placed them against their daddy’s headstone.
“But you’re probably right. There’s no reason for us to stay in this one-horse town now that we can’t meet the deadline.
Although you still need to get things straight with Dawson. ”
He knew she was right. Especially when he got home and saw Dawson’s duffel sitting on the porch. When he went inside, Dawson was nowhere around.
Jaxon figured he knew where to find him.
As soon as he stepped off the rope ladder to the treeboat’s main deck, Dawson spoke.
“You aren’t going to change my mind about leaving, Jax.”
He glanced up and saw Dawson sitting in a metal lawn chair on the level of the tree house Dawson had christened the Ship’s Library.
While all the Hennessys liked to read, Dawson treasured books.
For some strange reason, their daddy had known this about his son even before he was born and had built floor-to-ceiling shelves in his room.
Or maybe the shelves were the reason Dawson loved books.
He’d needed to fill them with something and books were the most likely things.
“Can I come up?”
Dawson shrugged. “It’s your treeboat too.”
While the main deck had a rope ladder, the other decks had various ways to get to them. Huck’s Crow’s Nest was a perilous climb through the branches. Poppy’s Princess level had winding stairs that ran around the trunk. The Ship’s Library had a knotted rope.
The rope had been easy to climb as a barefoot kid, but not so easy as an adult in slick-soled cowboy boots. Jaxon’s feet slipped more than once as he climbed. If not for sheer arm strength, he wouldn’t have made it to the top.
“Shit,” he said when he flopped onto the deck like a beached whale. “I need to work out more.”
Dawson didn’t laugh. Or even smile.
Jaxon got up and took the other chair, nodding at the book in his brother’s hand. The same book Jaxon had bought at Time To Read. “So is it good? I started it, but didn’t have time to finish.”
Dawson closed the book and set it down on the old sea chest between the two chairs. “The writing is mediocre and the plot predictable.”
“So why are you still reading it?”
Dawson shrugged. “I’m hoping it will get better. But that’s probably just wishful thinking. Nothing ever gets better.”
Jaxon couldn’t argue. “It sure seems that way for the Hennessys, doesn’t it? Just when you think things are getting better, they get worse.” He looked at Dawson. “I’m sorry I thought you started the fire, Dawg.”
Dawson shrugged. “You had every right to believe it was me. I’ve always had a preoccupation with fire.”
“Yes, but with liquor crates and piles of old tires. You’d never intentionally destroy something that mattered.
Especially to the people you love. I was just upset that all our hard work was going up in flames .
. . that, and Tully and I got in a fight and I was feeling hurt.
But I had no business taking that hurt out on you. I’m sorry.”
Dawson waited a long moment before he spoke. “But you still believe I robbed Mickey’s.”
Jaxon wanted to lie, but couldn’t. He reached out and placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder. “I love you, Dawg. I really don’t blame you for what happened that night. We had a tough childhood. We all did things we regret to get through the pain. So let’s just let the past go, okay?”
Dawson stared out at the river for a long time before he spoke. “I don’t know if I can.”
Jaxon wished he had something wise to say, but he had nothing. He was struggling to let the past go too. He leaned his head back and looked at the canopy of green leaves above him.
“You want to hear something funny? I thought I hated Honky Tonk Heaven, but damned if I’m not disappointed as hell that we won’t be able to reopen.” He paused. “Do you think maybe our names are in the envelope? Maybe mama just wanted us to finish Honky Tonk Heaven in her time frame.”
“Maybe,” Dawson said.
Jaxon lowered his head and looked at his brother. “Or maybe she just wanted us to get back together—to make us realize we’re the only family we have.” When Dawson cocked an eyebrow, Jaxon laughed. “Yeah, that doesn’t sound like Mama, does it?”
“What doesn’t sound like Mama?” Huck’s head popped up over the deck. Once he finished climbing up, he glanced between Dawson and Jaxon. “So? Did y’all make up?”
Since he wasn’t sure, Jaxon looked at Dawson.
His brother sighed. “Yeah, we made up.”
“Great!” Huck crowed. “Now let’s talk about how we’re going to finish Honky Tonk Heaven in ten days.”
“It’s impossible,” Dawson said.
Huck frowned. “Would you stop being such a Dawg Downer? We can do it! We just need to hire more workers and pay them overtime to get the job done.”
“Just where are we going to get the money?”
“Tully, of course.”
Jaxon didn’t want to talk about Tully. He didn’t even want to think about her. Of course, that was impossible. Even when he was thinking about other things, she was there. The backdrop of every thought. The center of every subject. The huge weight in his chest that wouldn’t go away.
“I don’t think Tully will be willing to loan us more money,” he said.
“That’s where you’re wrong, bro. Lucky for us, Tully’s not holding a grudge over your little tiff.
She’s more than willing to help us finish Honky Tonk Heaven.
She’s getting a loan from her grandma. Of course, Birdie wants twice the interest.” He chuckled.
“I love that old woman. So all that’s left to do is take a vote.
Poppy and I vote yes on continuing the renovations. What about you, Dawg?”
Before Dawson could vote, Jaxon cut in. “When did you talk to Tully?”
“Just this morning when she stopped by. She wanted to talk to you, but you weren’t around so I went to Honky Tonk Heaven with her and we talked about what needed to be done to get the renovations finished on time.” He paused. “Until she burst into tears.”
Jaxon felt like Huck had just kicked him in the stomach until he realized why Tully had cried. “I’m sure the fire damage was upsetting.”
Huck stared at him. “You know I always thought you were so damn smart, but you’re sure dumb where women are concerned.
Tully wasn’t upset over the dancehall catching fire.
She’s upset over you, Jax. Upset that you haven’t even tried to talk to her since the night of the fire.
And why is that? With the way you look at her, I thought for sure you’d fallen for her. ”
He had. He’d fallen hard. But that wasn’t enough.
“Sometimes you need more than love to make things work, Huck.”
“Like what?”
“Like your families’ approval. Her daddy is never going to accept me. Hell, she couldn’t even tell him we were seeing each other.”
“Well, she has now.”
He stared at Huck. “She told her daddy about us?”
“Yep. She also told him she wanted to quit the sheriff’s office and buy Honky Tonk Heaven.
Although how she’s going to run it when she has absolutely no experience running a bar is beyond me.
” Huck looked at Dawson. “What you think, Dawg? Should we stay on after she buys it and help her out?” He looked at Jaxon.
“Seeing as how our big brother is too stupid to know a good opportunity when he sees it.”
Jaxon shook his head. “It’s not about me knowing a good thing. It’s about Tully refusing to know a bad one.”
“Ahh, now we’re getting to the nitty gritty. You think you’re not good enough for Tully.”
“I’m not. She needs someone who can love her the way she deserves to be loved. And I’m not sure I know how to love. Y’all should understand that.”
“Oh, I understand perfectly how fucked up our parents made us. But dammit, Jax. Why do you always have to be so negative? Can’t you for once just grab some happiness for yourself without thinking it to death?
” Huck glanced at Dawson. “Can you help me out here, Dawg? Do you always have to just sit there like a bump on a log and let everyone else do all the talking?”
Dawson’s features darkened. “What the fuck do you want me to say, Huck? You want me to say that I know for sure Jaxon can make Tully happy? How would I know that? I’m not a fuckin’ crystal ball.
What I do know is that Mama and Daddy did a great job of screwing us all up as far as love and relationships go.
Daddy thought love was something you showed whenever it suited you and Mama .
. . Mama was too scared to show love at all.
Too scared that she’d give more than she got.
The lucky bastard that I am, I got the same gene. ”
Dawson turned to Jaxon. “But you didn’t, Jax.
You’ve never been too scared to love. Which is why you were such a damn good parent to us.
You wiped our snotty noses and took the blame for all our ornery stunts and never once stopped loving us.
So I don’t understand why you think you can’t do the same with Tully.
In fact, I was kind of counting on it. Just like I counted on you to teach me how to ride a bike and .
. .” A smirk tipped his lips. “And start a good fire, I was counting on you to teach me how to be in a healthy relationship. Counting on you to be the first Hennessy to prove we could be a loving partner.”
He sat down and shrugged. “But if you can’t do that, you can’t do it. And unlike our overzealous brother, I’m certainly not going to try and talk you into it.” He picked up the book and opened it. “Now get the fuck off my deck, I’m trying to finish this shitty book.”