Chapter 103
I walk into the Cowherd Whiskey shaking water out of my hair. I’m soaked just from those few seconds outside.
“Really coming down, isn’t it?” George says.
“Really is.” I go around to the back of the bar and use some paper towels to dry my head. “You all punched out?”
“Yep. I’ve fed the kitty, and he’s all safe and sound in his bed. I’m gonna go home and enjoy a cold beer, watch some sports on TV, and go to bed early.”
“Good for you,” I say.
“You’re leaving for Florida soon, right?” George asks me as he puts on his hat.
“Yeah.”
“Good luck with that one,” he says to me. “And remember, she may have the ring, but it doesn’t mean she’s got his heart.”
I smile and wish I could believe him.
Because of the rains, The Cowherd’s nearly empty. As the hours go by, it never picks up. It’s starting to feel more and more like a never-ending shift when Skips pops by for an unplanned—and clearly uninvited—visit.
“Didn’t you squeeze enough information out of me and this old bar already?” I ask him.
He takes off his glasses and dries them off on his shirt before he takes a seat on a stool. “I’ve been thinking.”
“Well, whatever your request is, the answer is no.”
Skip holds up his hand for me to let him finish. “You and Logan are a real-life love story. What you did for him—silently and privately sacrificing your own heart so he wouldn’t suffer—that’s what legends are made of.”
“Skip, please.”
“I’m serious. You didn’t even want him to know. You did it all for him, not yourself. That’s true love.”
Yes. I do love him.
Fuck. I love Logan. I love him so much it hurts.
But—
“Sometimes love isn’t enough,” I say, my voice cracking.
Skip’s gaze searches my face. “And sometimes it is. Ever think maybe he’s doing the same for you?”
I tilt my head. “What do you mean?”
“Do you believe that Logan Wild would silently and privately sacrifice his heart so you wouldn’t suffer, Ms. Henwood?”
His tone is neutral, but something in his face…
“Is that a rhetorical question?” I say in a rush of words.
“Just a question.” He changes tacks. “Do you know Gigi’s mother has been to Darcy before?”
A chill goes down my spine, and I lean over the bar.
“She has?” I say, trying to ignore my racing pulse.
“She has. Four years ago. Do you know what you were up to four years ago?”
Let’s see. Mama and Daddy were separated, and Daddy was in the middle of a terrible streak of picking up single women passing through town. And Mama was fit to be tied.
“I think I do,” I say slowly. “But I’m not sure what that has to do with Gigi’s mother.”
Skip’s tone is light, breezy almost, when he says, “I’m sure you can figure it out. You’re a smart woman, and you know people. Just like I do. Remember, bartenders and reporters—we should stick together.”
He’s presenting me with a riddle he already knows the answer to. A puzzle he’s already completed. And I’m…stumped.
“Maybe when you left our state behind for your little trip to Las Vegas, your vow to never marry stayed behind too?”
I stare at him.
“And that’s why you did in Vegas what you never dared to do here. Revealed what’s really in your heart. Think about it, Ms. Henwood.”
Skip tips his cowboy hat and leaves as Daddy walks inside with Evan and Ben. All three of them shake off the rain and then glare at Skip menacingly as he bows and scurries out the door.
Evan escorts Daddy carefully behind the bar so he can lift the encased contract off the wall where it’s been hanging on a sturdy nail for the last ten years.
I look at Ben, who shrugs. “He just pulled me off the living room couch and said we were going on an errand.”
“Kids.” Daddy beckons Ben behind the bar with us.
“This is a momentous occasion. I am going to hereby void this contract with my eldest daughter.” Daddy bows his head toward me before turning the frame over in his hands and unhinging the backing.
He pulls the contract out from the frame and places it on the bar in front of us.
“Are you ready, baby?” he says to me. “Your future will be wide open after this, but it will also be totally uncertain and up to you to figure out. You won’t have this bar to fall back on anymore. Are you sure that’s what you want?”
I don’t expect the tears to start falling from my eyes like waterfalls.
“Happy tears,” I say quickly when my father’s face contorts. “I swear, happy tears. And yes, I’m sure this is what I want.”
He takes the thick paper contract in his hands and tears it in two then two again.
“We’ll go to the lawyer next week and make sure he voids it in my will.
” He turns to Ben. “We’ll get a new contract made up for you, son, stating that you are to succeed me as the rightful owner of The Cowherd Whiskey Saloon & Chapel.
I won’t be able to run this bar any time soon, but Macey will be here to guide you until you graduate from college.
She’s the best mentor you could ever ask for. ”
“Daddy…” I choke up and can’t continue.
He nods at me. “You kept this place on two feet every time I was on my back, darlin’. And this old bar thanks you for it. I know that ghost does, too.”
I hug him, and then we pull Ben in and put our arms around him, too.