Chapter 3
1960 Words
“Let me guess—you scared her away?” Jed comes to my side as I stare at the blonde walking out of the brewery. She pauses near Clara and almost looks as though she’s going to say something, but then she continues on.
Nikki steps between us. “You know, they say funerals bring out the dark secrets of people’s pasts.”
I raise my hand, not wanting to hear Nikki’s crap right now.
“Well your next segment is walking down the street right now,” Jed says. He picks up the glasses. “There’s obviously something wrong with her.”
“Why? Did she give any clues as to who she is?” Nikki asks.
“No, she was more into Cade than me.” Jed shakes his head. “Like I said, definitely something wrong.”
I scoff and push his shoulder. “You know I have more game than you.”
“Game? You don’t even have a man on the board.”
My brother Adam walks into the brewery, dressed in his forest ranger uniform, and stops at Clara, hugging her and offering his condolences. I’m sure most of the room is watching him carefully because we’re all still confused as to why Adam’s wife left him two weeks ago. He married too young. I told him that back when he was marrying his high school sweetheart. So maybe it’s not that big of a surprise that she up and left without a reason. At least not one he’s sharing with us.
My sister Chevelle heads our direction with concern on her face. “He’s got bags under his eyes,” she whispers because she wants me to fix it.
Another eldest son responsibility. I fix everything for Chevelle, but that’s because she’s my youngest sibling and has had a rough go of it since my mom died.
“I know, but he’ll get through it. He’ll move on,” I say.
The four of us stand there, watching our brother hug Clara, both of them looking on the verge of tears.
“We should do something to cheer him up,” Nikki says.
“How about a game night?” Chevelle asks. “He always loves card games.”
“I say the guys do a run to the strip club in Anchorage,” Jed says.
Nikki smacks him on the back of the head.
Adam separates from Clara and looks around the room. We all turn around as if we weren’t just talking about him. I collect dirty cups from some tables then carry the stack to the kitchen to get them washed, and on my way out, I find Clara in the hallway by the bathroom. Before I can say anything, she pushes the back door open and steps outside.
I glance down the hallway, not seeing Xavier, who’s been at her side the entire day. Going back into the kitchen, I grab a plate of our signature quesadillas that’s just come off the grill and follow her.
She’s sitting at a table we keep in back, separated from customer parking by a wall, for the employees when they’re on break.
“Hey,” I say, sliding in across from her and pushing the quesadillas toward her.
“Hi, Cade.” She looks up. “Is someone looking for me?”
I shake my head. “I saw you sneak away.”
She nods like she figured someone would. “I can’t take the sad eyes anymore. I mean, it was expected. She was sick.”
“It doesn’t make it any less hard.” I pull apart the quesadilla. Hopefully, if she sees the gooey cheese, she’ll be enticed to eat something.
“I think it’s more because I’m the last one. I have no more family.”
I squeeze her forearm. “You have us, the Greenes. You know that.”
She nods again as though she understands what I’m saying. Maybe I’d be better off to leave her alone.
“There’s so much to do. Her house needs to be emptied. And the store.” Clara shakes her head. “I mean, I have time when I’m not working at the library, but it’s all so daunting. I have to go to Trent Lawson’s office tomorrow to go over the will. It’s just a lot.”
“If you need help, we’re here. I can help with the store or help move some stuff from the house. Whatever you need. Xavier will be here for a few weeks since the season is over and tourist season isn’t for another two months. We’ll get it all handled.”
She stands and heads over to the store beside the brewery, digging the keys out of her pocket. She opens the back door. There are cobwebs and dust on the door because no one has stepped foot in there in some time. She swivels the key off the chain and holds it out toward me. I stand and walk over to her then open my palm.
She places the key there. “I have no use for this. It’s yours. I know you and Jed have been wanting to expand the brewery.”
“Are you sure? We’ll pay you of course.” Her mom would’ve bought this storefront decades ago, so Clara will get a good profit by selling it to us.
We step inside, and she flicks on the lights. It smells musty, and it’s obvious no one has been in here for a while, but when I look around, all I see is potential and profits for our business.
She picks up a spool of thread from one of the shelves. “We’ll figure it out, but she would’ve wanted you guys to have it. What am I going to do with it? I can’t thread a needle, let alone teach someone to sew.”
“Thanks, but it doesn’t seem right that we’re talking about it today.”
She smiles at me. “Maybe, but when then? I couldn’t be in that bar with all those people staring at me for any longer. Xavier’s all over me like a damn linebacker. I appreciate it, I do, but I just want to be by myself. Handle her affairs, remember her, and move on.”
I hug her. I was exactly where she was years ago. “I know it hurts and you want to move on and forget this pain, but believe me, one day you’ll think of her and it won’t hurt nearly as much.”
She squeezes me. “Thank you for that.”
I nod.
“There you are.” Xavier walks in, stepping over patterns and fabric that must have fallen at some point.
Clara smirks. “I’m here. Can you just take me home?”
Xavier nods and puts his arm around her. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
“Thanks, Clara,” I say.
She turns around. “You’re welcome.”
Xavier is babying her because we know what it’s like to lose a parent. Clara’s lost two and her grandma. As annoying as my big family can be at times, I can’t imagine having no one left.
As I’m about to pocket the key and keep this conversation to myself until I know she means it and wants to sell it to us, Jed walks through the door. “So is it true?”
“What?”
“That she gave you the key? That she’s going to sell us the space?”
So much for keeping it quiet and making sure it’s not just her grief talking.
I look around the space, trying to figure how much we’ll have to renovate, how we’ll manage the support beams by tearing down the wall.
Jed’s already got a pencil and an old pattern laid out, writing a floor plan on the back of it. “Do you think we need more seating? Maybe we should just expand our production so we can offer more flavors, more options for grocery stores.”
“I think we should expand the seating. Remember during tourist season how long the line was? We had to turn people away. Doubtful we could get a beer garden in here, but it might be worth talking to an architect.”
“Then we’d have to go to the town and get approval. Plus, we’re in Alaska. We’d only be able to use it less than half the year.”
“You make Alaskans sound weak. We’re used to braving the cold.” I walk to the front window and the foggy glass that Mrs. Harrison used to keep crystal clear. “This seems horribly disrespectful. Let’s wait to make plans until Clara has a few days to think this through.”
He drops the pencil and crosses his arms. Jed isn’t an asshole—he’s become my best friend over the years, which is funny since I hated him when he first came to town—but sometimes he gets tunnel vision and forgets his manners.
So I’m not surprised that after a moment he nods, agreeing with me. “Okay then, let’s talk about the blonde.”
“I don’t really care who she is.”
He jumps off the table and meets me at the window. “I’m not saying you care in the same way Nikki does, but you couldn’t stop looking at her.”
“Funny that you think I was into her, yet you went and tried to snatch her up first.”
He laughs and stuffs his hands into his jeans pockets. “Why do you think I did that?”
I glance at him. “Because she was more into me, you’re gonna act like you hit on her to spur me to make a move? Of course you’d play it that way.”
He chuckles again and holds up his hands. “I swear. I have no interest in the woman.”
I shake my head. “Yeah, okay.”
“She didn’t give off the vibe I like.” He shrugs.
“Vibe?”
“She looks like the kind of girl who has a stipulation of, like, four dates before she’ll sleep with you.” He smacks me on the back. “That’s more you than me.”
I tilt my head and wrinkle my forehead. “And what exactly does that say about me?”
“Come on, you were the steady boyfriend in high school. Reese?”
“I’m far from the guy I was in high school.”
“I’m amazed you got out of college without a fiancée.” He walks back, snags the papers from the desk, folds them, and puts them in his back pocket.
“I wasn’t looking for one. In fact, I purposely made sure not to go down that road.”
He turns around and points at me. “Exactly, and that’s the difference between us. I didn’t have to mentally tell myself not to get serious with anyone. I knew I’d never get to that point with a woman.”
I’m not going to call Jed out on his crap, but his parents’ divorce kind of messed him up. His dad was a complete douche and cheated on Marla, then he apparently cheated on his second wife too. I think Jed is worried that adultery is a genetic affliction or something.
“Tell me one reason why you aren’t married with two kids yet?” He crosses his arms and gives me a look like, “This should be good.”
“First of all, I’m only thirty. And I’m not getting married, maybe ever.” I brush past him toward the back door. I haven’t made my mind up completely about whether I’ll ever get married, but I’m damn sure not ready to open myself up for that anytime soon.
Jed stops before we exit and stares at me for a moment as though he wants to call me out, but he places his hand on my shoulder and doesn’t go there. Instead he says, “A date doesn’t mean forever. If you see the blonde again, ask her out.”
I say nothing. Presley’s and my conversation was easy. I love that she knows nothing about me. She doesn’t know I’m Cade Greene, once a twelve-year-old boy who lost his mother tragically. Cade Greene, son of handyman extraordinaire, Hank Greene, who took over the business from his dad. Cade Greene, stepson to Marla Greene, the woman involved in every fundraiser and committee in town. And Cade Greene, brother to four, stepbrother to four, and half brother to one. My family name in this town has a long past, and I never forget that. Neither does anyone in town.
I shrug. “Maybe if I ever see her again.”
He opens the door, the low light flickering through the trees behind the back parking lot. “Thata guy!”
Of course, I’m sure that woman is long gone by now.
- Writer
