3. Evan
“What the hellare you doing here?” Pappy asked. “Isn’t it the first day of school?”
“Nice to see you, too.” I took a seat on a barstool at the counter of Pappy’s Last Call. Even Pappy knew I was supposed to be out with Frannie tonight. She’d never canceled on me for her dad before, though family always came first as far as both of us were concerned.
Pappy slid a pint of beer in front of me. “What did you do, son?”
“What do you mean?” I wrapped my fingers around the glass and lifted it to my lips. The bitter taste of hops raced over my tongue as I took a long sip.
The older man scrubbed his palm over his sparse, grizzled beard. “You and Frannie aren’t fighting, are you?”
“Why would we be fighting? Sounded like she had something else going on tonight, that’s all.” How sad was it that my routine was so predictable that everyone in town knew about it? And how doubly sad was it that at the first sign of trouble, Pappy automatically assumed I was responsible? He wasn’t the only one who’d jump to a conclusion like that. Frannie was the golden girl of Beaver Bluff. At least she would have been if the official title existed. She was the first one to step in when someone needed help and was always organizing meal trains and food drives and all kinds of other shit. Her heart was made of solid gold.
“Hmpf.” Pappy leaned his elbows on the bar.
I couldn’t tell if he doubted me or if it was just his general disgruntled nature that had him frowning. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing. I just keep waiting for you to get your head out of your ass and tell that woman how you feel about her.”
I bristled, immediately going on the defensive. Beyond my brother Miller, who’d recently called me out on my feelings for Frannie, I’d never admitted them to anyone. “I think you need to get your eyes checked, Pappy. Or maybe it’s time to retire and let the next Pappy take over. You’re way off base.”
Rumor had it the current Pappy was looking for a replacement. He’d been talking about auctioning off his whiskey collection and retiring to the Caribbean. If he did, I had my eye on a couple of bottles that we didn’t even have at the distillery, so I wasn’t about to piss him off.
“My eyes are fine. It’s my heart that ain’t been right since the summer of eighty-seven.” He nodded at someone sitting at the end of the bar and moved to the tap to pull a pint.
I didn’t know much about Pappy’s past. One day, the last Pappy was gone, and a new one had taken his place. No one knew how they decided when to leave or who would take over. It was another one of life’s mysteries that happened in my small hometown.
“Are you going to elaborate on that?” I asked, not sure if I wanted the lowdown on Pappy’s love life.
He delivered the beer to one of the guys I recognized from the brewery in the next town over, then came back to stand in front of me.
“I wasn’t always just a guy who pulls beer for a living. Once upon a time, I had a regular nine-to-five job, just like you.”
I didn’t want to interrupt him to tell him my job was anything but nine-to-five. Working for the family business meant I had to be available at all hours. We’d even run shifts around the clock in the warehouse when we bottled up that new anniversary blend my brother put out.
“What did you do before you took over as Pappy?” I didn’t have anywhere to be tonight, so I leaned against the back of the barstool and settled in for story time.
“You ever see those sorry suckers running around the stock exchange like chickens with their heads cut off?” One of his wiry brows shot up.
I tried to picture the weathered, grizzled guy in front of me in a suit. When the image didn’t appear right away, I shook my head. “No way you were a stockbroker.”
“You’re right. I managed quite a few of those assholes working the floor. Thought if I could build up my bank account, I’d be able to finally tell the love of my life how I felt about her.” Pappy crossed his arms over his chest. “She deserved the best.”
I narrowed my eyes, trying to figure out if he was bullshitting me or not. “What happened?”
He huffed out a breath. “While I was working on amassing my fortune, she met someone else. Last I heard, they just celebrated their fifty-second wedding anniversary.”
“You didn’t fight for her?”
“I missed my chance, son. Don’t miss yours with Frannie. You don’t want to end up like me.” He grabbed a rag and turned to wipe down the counter behind him.
“What happened, though?” He’d sucked me in, and I was invested in his sob story. “You must have had a ton of cash saved up. Did you find someone else?”
His eyes filled with regret. “There was no one else. It’s not like I could just pick someone else and force my heart to change. I donated most of my money to a few different charities and left New York with the clothes on my back. Like I said, you don’t want to turn out like me.”
I’d never thought of Pappy as having any kind of life outside the bar. For a split second, I wondered how things might have turned out for him if he’d made a play for the woman he loved instead of letting her go without a fight. He walked away, and I took another sip of my beer while I mulled it over.
We were nothing alike. He’d given up on love while I was doing everything I could to get myself all patched up so I could tell Frannie how I felt about her. True, it was taking longer than I wanted, but I wasn’t about to mess up the friendship we had by coming clean with her too soon. She already had enough on her plate with work and taking care of her dad. Neither one of us was seeing someone else. We were in a good place—a great place, actually. I had time.
Confident Pappy and I were nothing alike, I finished my beer and tossed a few bills down on the counter. Maybe I’d see if one of my brothers wanted to grab a burger or pick up takeout from Jackie Jay’s. Though with Cole’s wedding coming up and Miller spending all his time with his new fiancée, I was running out of available brothers.
Vaughn was probably still working behind the big desk that used to belong to our dad at the distillery. All he cared about was work. That left my baby sister, Ruby. No doubt she already had plans, even on a Monday night. Out of all of us, she was the extrovert and the one who couldn’t stand sitting around at home.
Hell, I’d figure something out. Maybe even put in some time on the weight machine I’d picked up to help me work on muscle tone at home. My phone pinged with an incoming text as I settled behind the wheel of my truck.
Miller: I thought you and Frannie had a standing date for the first night of school?
What the fuck? Did everyone in town keep tabs on my social life?
Me: Nothing official, but she had to help with her dad tonight.
Three dots appeared, indicating Miller was writing a response. I waited, wondering what the hell he was up to and why he suddenly cared about my Monday night plans. Then the dots vanished. Maybe he wasn’t going to continue giving me shit. Whatever. I started up the truck and was about to shift into gear when my phone pinged again.
Miller: I swear I just saw her at Bella Cucina.
He had to be wrong. Frannie didn’t even like pasta. She’d been doing a low-carb diet for the past couple months, saying she wanted to lose a little weight. I thought she was absolutely perfect just the way she was, but once she got going on something, it didn’t do any good to try to change her mind.
Me: I don’t think so. Pretty sure she was going over to her dad’s.
I’d barely sent my text when an image popped up in our chat. I clicked on it, not sure why he’d be sending me a picture of two random strangers who appeared to be on a date. Only, it wasn’t two strangers. I enlarged the small image. Frannie had on a red dress and sat across the table from someone I didn’t recognize.
Me: Who the hell’s with her?
Miller needed to learn how to use the camera on his phone. The image was out of focus. Not so much that I didn’t recognize Frannie—I’d fantasized enough about those curves that I’d know them anywhere. But all I could tell about the person with her was that he was a guy and his wardrobe was basic. He had on khaki pants and a navy blazer. No one around here dressed like that, not even for a place like Bella Cucina.
Miller: I don’t know. Tall, black hair blue eyes. A new teacher?
Whoever the hell he was, I knew one thing. He sure as fuck wasn’t her father. She’d lied to me. I didn’t know what hurt worse: knowing she was out with some random guy or that she lied to me about it.
Me: Doesn’t matter. Have a good night.
I sucked in a couple of breaths, trying to regulate my pulse. Frannie and I were just friends. She had the right to go on dates. Only, she never had.
I could remember back in high school when she got asked to senior prom. I’d wanted to ask her myself, but knew we’d both be leaving town right after graduation. She was headed to college, and I’d been so eager to get away from Beaver Bluff that I’d already enlisted in the Army. There wasn’t any point in starting something with Frannie knowing I’d never be able to see it through. Wasn’t worth risking our friendship. Sometimes I let myself imagine what my life might be like today if I’d had the balls to go for it back then.
Miller: You okay, bro?
Staring at the small screen on my phone, I wasn’t sure how to respond. My chest felt like someone had stomped on it with a steel-toed work boot. Then squashed my heart until the blood stopped flowing and dark spots muscled in at the edges of my vision. No, this wasn’t going to take me out. I’d survived two deployments to the Middle East. Survived playing football throughout high school and being taken down by linemen with biceps bigger than the hundred-year-old tree trunks lining my drive. I could get through this, too.
I fired off a reply to Miller that would put a stop to the questions.
Me: Why wouldn’t I be?
Then I pulled up Frannie’s number and sent her a text to check in on her dad and make sure he was okay. Now that I knew she’d lied, I wanted to see if she would own up to it. Maybe her dad decided he didn’t need her, so she was grabbing dinner with another teacher. I suppose she could have called or texted me instead, but she probably figured I’d already made other plans. I was more than willing to make excuses for her. Anything to save me from the thought that she might be involved with someone she really liked.
She replied a minute later.
Frannie: Thanks for checking! He’s good.
Clearly, she didn’t want me to know she was out with some mystery man tonight. We’d always told each other everything. Well, almost everything. I didn’t tell her every detail about my deployments. It wasn’t because I had anything to hide, though. I just wanted to protect her from the horrors I experienced firsthand. And I hadn’t been totally truthful about the extent of my injuries. But that was because I planned on working my way back to one-hundred percent so I could be the man she deserved and not someone else she had to fuss over.
I squeezed the steering wheel so hard my knuckles turned white. Jealousy swirled around in my belly, leaving a hollow ache that threatened to drag me down. Before I jumped to the worst-case scenario, I needed more information.
First, I had to figure out who the guy was. Then I could decide exactly how badly I wanted to rearrange his face.