Chapter Fifteen
June
S imon couldn’t keep the grin off his face as he handed Max the scissors that would cut the giant bright-red ribbon, complete with a gaudy bow, that currently hung across the front double doors of the new Spotted Cow.
Gabe stood just behind them, a fancy folder in his hands and a strangely suspicious smile tweaking his face.
Focusing on Max, he ignored his younger brother.
Gabe could be all mysterious and weird in his own time. He had people to serve.
Well, he would when Max finally opened the damned door, that is.
The Cow was fully stocked and ready to go. He hadn’t been allowed inside yet; only Max had gone into the kitchen, behind the bar, and into the storeroom to make sure all the stock had arrived and been put away in its proper places. Anyone else had been on a strict no-go .
Honestly, Max had been so damned cagey about it all. It didn’t make sense. Unless he was being superstitious, which didn’t really wash.
Max took the scissors and his massive grin in Simon’s direction made his own leak all over his face. They’d waited for this for so long. So much heartache, so many sleepless nights.
And now it was here.
Max motioned with his head to the wide ribbon beside the bow. “Cut it with me.”
Simon held up his hands. “You have the scissors, dude.”
“Then I’ll hold the top and you hold the bottom and we cut together.”
“You’re nuts.” Simon laughed and shook his head. “If you insist.”
He glanced at Eva, excitement sending goosebumps all over him. Her own smile was so big it sent a swarm of butterflies into the pit of his belly.
Simon took hold of the bottom jaw of the scissors and looked at Max.
“Cut!” Max exclaimed.
He cut and the ribbon fell to the sides of the doorjamb where it was attached. He couldn’t help the huge grin that flooded his face as they both faced the crowd, people busy taking pictures with their phones, and the local news reporter doing the same with some fancy traditional camera.
Max put his hand to one of the doors and glanced at him, jerking his head. Simon placed his hand on the other and they pushed the heavy wooden doors inward.
The lights had already been turned on, the air conditioning already doing its thing.
Simon looked around and fought the sudden rising emotion that insisted on choking his throat. Luckily, no one was paying him any attention as they all filed inside, heading toward the bar area.
It looked exactly the same.
Even down to the downlights in the ceiling over the booths that surrounded the parquetry dance floor.
“It’s a bit surreal, isn’t it?” Max’s voice interrupted his thoughts.
He nodded, unsure if he would be able to do much more than say a simple yeah .
Swallowing to moisten his tight, dry throat, he forced words out. “It’s bloody bizarre, mate. It’s like it’s been here the whole time.”
He breathed deeply. Fresh wood polish and the scent of new carpet and paint assailed his senses. “Except it smells new. That’s the only difference I can tell.”
Max nodded in agreement. “I know. It almost feels like I’ve stepped out of sync with the world and turned around to find nothing has changed after all.”
A small A4-sized brass plaque on a gleaming wood background caught Simon’s attention, where it hung on the wall to his right.
“You got your plaque remade.”
Max followed his gaze and grinned. “Sure did. Check it out.”
Simon sent him a querying look, one eyebrow raised. “Yeah. ’Cos it’s so different.”
He stepped forward anyway. Obviously, Max wanted him to ooh and ahh over it, so he might as well before he was expected to head behind the bar and pick up where they’d left off so many long months ago.
He hid his grin. Not that he minded. He’d missed the place something terrible. Looking at the plaque, he noted the little icon at the top, the outline of the hotel itself, then dropped his attention to the words beneath it.
He took his time reading. He knew what the last one had said, had seen it every day of his life for the last twelve years. This one looked identical.
Business name.
Licensee.
Owners.
His eyes caught on that word. Why did it say owners?
Ahh. Millie. Of course. Max must have added her name to the official documents. He kept reading.
Maxfield Jameson.
Simon Jameson.
Simon frowned, blinked, then read it again.
There was his own name, etched in brass, right in front of his face. He turned to his brother, confused beyond reckoning.
“Max?”
The grin on Max’s face was so huge it was surprising it didn’t encompass his whole face. He stepped closer and grabbed Simon’s shoulder, his grip light, reassuring.
“What do you think?” Max asked, one eyebrow raised.
Simon glanced at the plaque again. The names etched in brass stared back at him, the same as before. “It would help if I knew what was going on.”
Max chuckled. “Well, it lists the owners.”
Simon sighed and sent his brother a long-suffering look. “No shit, Sherlock.”
Max’s laugh rang out around them. “Then it should be obvious, Si.” His gaze softened. “The Cow now has two owners—me and you.”
Simon’s gut clenched and twisted. Was this really happening?
“I don’t understand,” he whispered as his gaze searched Max’s face.
Max’s arm went around his shoulder, and he spun Simon to face the interior of the Cow. “I thought it was time to make it official. You’re here all the time, just as much as me. Other than the whole burning down thing, that is. You treat her like the precious old lady she is… was. You know this place inside out. I don’t want you as my manager, I want you as my business partner. Who better than my brother who loves this place like I do?”
Simon’s mouth worked. He swallowed to moisten his Sahara-levels of parched throat. “But…”
Max’s brow raised again. “But? Why is there a but?”
Simon gestured to the room. “She’s yours. You built her from the ground up. Business-wise anyway. She was a tip when you bought her. I don’t have the cash to—”
“That isn’t a concern.” Max’s arm tightened. “I told you when she burned that I’d sort it out, that I’d look after you. Who was there with me from day one when I came to look at this place to buy, all those years ago? You. Who got in and hauled junk and rubbish and painted and sanded by my side? You. Who was always the first person to put up their hand any time I needed someone or something, and the last to leave? You .”
Simon’s gut somersaulted. He was having a hard time rationalising what his brother was saying. Max faced him again.
“It’s all done. The paperwork is all drawn up, all the legal stuff. The deed has your name on it, along with mine. All you have to do is sign.”
Simon gasped and doubled over, his hands on his knees, and shook his head. Dizziness made his head spin and his ears ring.
Max hunkered down in front of him. “Breathe, Si. Just breathe.”
Memory twigged. Those were the same words he’d said to Max when he’d gotten the email from the insurance company that day.
He sucked in a huge breath to try to stop the spots swirling behind his eyes. “I-I don’t know what…”
Max’s compassionate face entered his eyesight. “I want to do this, Si. If you want it too. I couldn’t ask for a better business partner. Fifty per cent, split straight down the middle. I’m financially secure. I’m in the position to do that for you. Let me. You can have the apartment upstairs. I live at Millie’s now.” He laughed again and scrubbed his jaw. “Mil hates me saying that. She says it’s our place, not hers. But anyway… The point being, I don’t need the apartment. It’s yours if you want it.”
He stood and rubbed Simon’s back. Simon sucked in a few more deep breaths and forced his body upright.
Max’s offer was everything he’d ever wanted. His own place, his own business. He’d given up all thought of it, all hope that one day he could have that. He wasn’t educated like the rest of them, like Max with his business degree, Gabe and his veterinary practice.
Learning had always been difficult for him. He could do stuff; he just couldn’t read it. Not easily, anyway.
And Max knew that. All of it.
“You’d really do that for me?” he whispered.
Max reached up and gripped the back of Simon’s neck, forcing him to look at him. “You’ve given the last twelve years of your life to making my dream come true. Not once have I heard you complain, or whine, or put the place down. You treat her as if she was already yours, and you treat the customers like friends.
“And most of all?” Max’s face softened from the determined lines it had set into. “You’re my brother .”
They’d all been through so damned much. Gabe, with his broken heart shutting him off from anything good and warm and meaningful—at least, until he’d met Emma. Max, with losing Luce, in one of the most awful ways possible, but then finding happiness with Millie.
Then Amy.
He breathed deeply. Amy would always mean the world to him; he wouldn’t apologise for it, couldn’t diminish what they’d had. His gaze lifted to see Eva standing a few metres away, a wistful smile on her face, happiness brightening her eyes.
But now he had a new, possible future. One that shone so brightly he’d worried he didn’t deserve it.
She was as different from Amy as the stars to the moon. And he adored every single thing about her. Just thinking about her put a silly, goofy smile on his face.
He sent her a beaming smile, which only made her own bigger, more open.
Gabe stepped into his peripheral vision and held up the fancy folder he’d been carrying, that happy, devious smirk even bigger on his mouth. Gabe held out the folder toward him.
“Here you go, big brother.”
Simon took it and opened the cover, read the letterhead.
Trey Cruikshanks, Solicitor.
He read as quickly as he could, then looked up at both his brothers.
Max nodded, confirming his suspicions. “It’s the documents.” He leaned over and pointed to the line at the bottom of the page. “Here, and the two other places are a few pages over. If you sign those, this is all legal. The Cow will be half yours.” He looked back at Simon. “Get a lawyer to look at it with you. Make sure it covers everything you want. If there’s something you don’t like in the clauses, I’m happy to come in with you and nut it out. We tried to think of everything that you might want and went from there.”
That brought Simon’s head back up. “We?”
Max grinned and Gabe nodded. “Gabe and Dad and me. We sat down with Trey and tried to make sure we got it right.”
Simon leaned his back against the wall near the door, unsure if his legs would continue to hold him up if he didn’t, and stared at the paperwork in his shaking hands. “You’re all in on this?”
He glanced up when they didn’t answer. Gabe’s grin faded. “You deserve it, Si,” was all he said.
He started nodding, then looked up at his brothers again. “Yes.”
One word.
One simple word that would change his life.
Max’s face broke wide in a massive grin. “Really? Yes?”
Simon’s own humour pushed through. “Yes, all right? I’ll do the lawyer thing, because I know you won’t accept it without that, and Darb’d have a heart attack. But, yes. I couldn’t think of anyone better to have as my partner than you.”
Max grabbed him in and squeezed the air from his lungs. Gabe hauled him from Max and did the same. Simon pushed back, laughing, trying to get some much-needed oxygen. “Quit it, you two! Anyone would think I was destitute or somethin’.”
Their smiles faded. “We know you’re not a charity case, Si,” Gabe said. “That’s not what this is about. But it is about taking care of family, and that’s what we Jamesons do best.”
Simon closed the folder and nodded, too emotional to do much more. Max spun around and stepped onto the dance floor, put two fingers to his mouth and let a piercing whistle rip. Simon winced at the high-pitched sound, along with more than a few patrons.
“Hey, everyone! He said yes!”
Hoots and clapping erupted around the room and back to the bar.
How many people knew about this?
“Ya know, Max, I hate to be the one to tell ya this, but ya can’t marry ya brother. Especially since ya already have a wife.”
Simon barked a laugh and stared at Joe Junior and shook his head as chuckles peppered the crowd. Sometimes his friends’ senses of humour beggared belief.
“You numbskull!” his twin brother Gerry interrupted. “He isn’t talking about marrying him. It’s the Cow thing.”
“I know that! Just thought it’d be funny,” retorted Joe Junior.
“Always knew there was something odd about you Jamesons,” Mick Pierson offered, a cheeky grin on his face.
Gabe groaned. “Not you too.”
Max hauled Simon onto the dance floor by his bicep and threw his arm round his shoulder. “You’re all looking at the new co-owner of the Spotted Cow!” Max pointed at Mick and Joe Junior, standing close together. “And you two can behave yourselves, or he will throw you out on your asses.”
That brought more laughter and congratulations as people came up to them. Someone turned on the jukebox, a pumping hit from the nineties booming out, until Gerry yelled for them to turn it down. The noise reduced significantly, and Simon shook his head, grinning.
He looked around for Eva, worry that she would slip out chasing around his gut. But there she was, standing at the back away from all the fuss, just watching the room. Matty was with his grandmother for the opening. They were going to go get him and show him the Cow the next day before opening hours, so he could look around properly and not be overwhelmed.
Max stood still and waited until she noticed his attention, and jerked his head, holding out his hand.
A faint pink flush washed up her cheeks.
Heck, he loved that blush.
He reached behind Max as his brother moved and headed for the bar, and took hold of her hand, drawing her closer. The press of people around them forced them closer together and he grinned at her.
“You’d better get used to this.” He gestured around them. “This lot can get really annoying, ” he said loudly over his shoulder, with a large grin, “but they’re pretty harmless.” He lowered his voice and leaned down toward her. “Welcome to the Cow, shortcake.”
He stroked her cheek, so incredibly happy she was here with him for this. “Did you know?”
Beautiful ebony eyes held his as she shook her head slightly, keeping the contact with his hand. “No. I knew they were up to something, but he didn’t tell me what it was. Just that he had a surprise for you and to keep you from coming in before today.”
His thumb rubbed gently over her cheek. He couldn’t seem to stop touching her, even here.
“Come over to the bar with me? I’ll have to serve for a while, but we’re only keeping her open for a few hours today.”
A whisper of a smile and she nodded. “Of course.”
Simon took her hand and wove his way toward the growing crowd surrounding the long wooden bar. Max handed a drink to Mali, and she slipped off the corner barstool, and winked at them.
“Grab my seat before someone pinches it, Eva. You gotta be fast here!” Mali said.
Eva’s hand slid from his and he couldn’t help the sense of loss that washed through him as he continued to where his brothers were hard at it.
“Thanks, Mali,” Eva replied as she climbed up onto the stool.
Climbed. That brought a smile to Simon’s face as he stepped in front of her, the gleaming wood of the bar between them.
“What can I getcha?”
Eva frowned at him. “Stop laughing at short people, mister. It’s rude.”
That just made him actually laugh. “Sorry, shortcake, but no dice. Watching you climb up there is cute-as. I can’t help that it makes me smile.”
Eva tilted her head and pointed at the bottle in Gabe’s hand where he stood beside Simon, pouring a drink. “Dry red, please.”
Grabbing a wine glass, he pointed it toward her, then took the bottle from Gabe, filling it for her.
Gabe looked at him from where he’d started pulling a schooner of beer. “So, you finally decided to join us back here, eh?” he teased, his eye on the rising level of golden liquid.
Even after so long away from the taps, Simon was impressed. Gabe had always drawn a good draught.
“What are you insinuating, brother?”
Gabe’s eyes glittered with amusement in the downlights above the bar. “You still have to work, you know. Don’t go getting all high and mighty now that you’re a partner.”
Simon’s bark of laughter drew eyes from all around them. He shrugged and pushed the base of Eva’s glass gently toward her, his stomach somersaulting with the contentment on her face. “Well, the way I see it, I’m now your boss. At least on Fridays, anyway.”
Max’s sardonic reply sounded from behind them. “Dear God, what fresh hell have I created this time?”
Gabe’s response was to grab the soda water gun and spray Simon, who jumped backward, laughing as it soaked his shirt. “That’s coming out of your pay, bro.”
“Damn, I’ve missed this.” Ryan’s voice sounded from behind Eva where he leaned against the wall.
Eva glanced at Ryan while taking a sip of her wine, then back to him and his brothers. “Are you lot always this nuts?”
Simon’s grin grew and Gabe leaned on the bar to pretend to whisper to her. “Get out while you can. Seriously. Or else he’ll drag you into this ratbag family and you’ll be stuck forever.”
Eva’s laughter curled satisfaction deep in his belly. “I can’t see a problem with that,” she said, her gaze glued to his.
Emma bumped Eva’s shoulder, her eyes glittering with humour as she looked at her husband. “That’s a good thing, then. Don’t listen to Gabe. He’s just sore they made him tend bar today and he can’t go socialise.”
Gabe pointed the soda gun at Emma. “Is that a dare?”
Emma stuck her tongue between her teeth and winked at Eva. “I wouldn’t think you’d be so rough with the mother of your child.”
Simon blinked. Gabe’s hand dropped, the soda gun forgotten. Max’s mouth fell open.
All around them, the conversation petered out.
“What?” Gabe whispered, eyes wide.
Emma’s grin encompassed her face. “So, I may have done a test just before we came here…”
Gabe let out a whoop so loud Simon winced, then rounded the bar to grab Emma, swinging her in a circle. “You… Really? You’re…”
Emma nodded.
Gabe crushed Emma to him in a tight hug. “I don’t know what to say. This is…” He shook his head and bent his forehead to hers. “Wow.”
Simon’s heart constricted. He knew they’d been trying on and off for a while now. Even though fear doused him—irrational and immediate—happiness for them both eclipsed it, erupting as a massive grin on his face.
Gabe’s head suddenly jerked around, his gaze clashing with Simon’s. Concern furrowed his brow.
Simon’s stomach somersaulted that his brother would let worry for him diminish his own happiness at a moment like this. Simon shook his head and mouthed, “ I’m good .”
Obvious relief brightened Gabe’s eyes and a slow grin widened his mouth. He spun to the room and yelled, “We’re having a baby!”
Cheers and whistles bounced around the bar and into the dining area that surrounded the parquet dance floor. Simon watched his mother and father come through the crowd from where they’d been talking to friends and wrap Emma in huge hugs, kisses to Gabe’s cheek and slaps on his back taking over.
Simon looked at Eva, her own happiness at what was happening around her obvious. She and Matty had spent more and more time with all of them and it was clear to anyone looking how well she fit into his family; how well she fit him .
Love for all of them threatened to swallow him whole as he stood there watching their lives move forward. Surpassing all of it was love for a particular red-headed bombshell. Nervous fingers went to his jeans pocket and traced the outline of the hollow round shape at the bottom.
It was still there. Thank goodness.
He just hoped she’d say yes.
Max’s arm went around Simon’s shoulders and Simon looked at his older brother, jabbing him in the ribs with his elbow. Both Max and Gabe knew what he’d planned for today. So many good things had happened in this place over the years since Max had owned it.
“The Cow is back, man.”
Max’s grin expanded, the happy glint in his eyes brightening. “She sure is, Si. She sure is.”