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She nodded.
“It’s paid off now,” she said. “He gave us a discount because he loved your father. But it took a lot of the money from insurance. Now… now, we either make the money to pay back everything, or we lose it all.”
The tears began again, and this time I ran to her, pulling her in and hugging her tightly. Together, we cried on the floor of our kitchen. But in those tears, there was more than sadness. There was relief. I finally knew the reality of the situation, and it made it so much easier to process.
It was hard seeing my father in this light. But knowing the whole him, and the full reason for his death, was better than the questions. He had been sick, and had made decisions that weren’t the best for him because of it. I could understand that. It was human. I missed him dearly—I always would. But at least now I didn’t have to worry about my mother being part of it. She was just trying to save him, then after, to save the one thing he loved more than anything other than us. His legacy.
She wanted to save the bar because she couldn’t save Dad.
After a long while, Mom pulled herself away and we stood. She wiped the tears from her face and then went to apply her makeup while I got myself ready. When she came out of her bedroom, I held out my hand for her and she took it. Together we walked down to the bar, opened the doors, and started getting things ready for the day’s service.
As we neared opening, I finally felt a little bit of peace. Sure, I didn’t really want to be working at the bar, but for right now, I needed to be with my family. I needed to help Mom carry on Dad’s legacy and make sure it survived this tough time. And since everything with Hunter and I was over now, I had no better place to be anyway.
When the doors opened and customers came in, I found myself playing the part. It might not be genuine, and it might not be what I wanted to be doing with my life, but at least I could make Dad proud. I’d figure myself out eventually. Until then, I could do worse than slinging drinks for people who only ever stopped me to tell me something that they loved about my dad and remind me how much they missed him.
ChapterThirty
Hunter
“Hunter, what are you doing here?”
Sean looked surprised to see me, but I knew it was at least partially a lie. His army of assistants and secretaries surely told him I had been in the lobby and was on my way to see him through the elevator that only had four keys to unlock it. Of the four people who had those keys, Sean, Leo, and myself were the owners, with a backup being in a safe on the main floor, only accessible by the head of security. It was a one-way elevator directly to Sean’s office, and an idea so great that I was instantly jealous when I saw it. I wanted one of my own, and had already hired a contractor to see if he could shoehorn it into my current building.
I was half tempted to buy a whole new plot and build something there just so I could have the elevator built in from scratch.
No, Sean knew I was coming, but this was his way of making it seem like he was so busy he didn’t notice. Like I wouldn’t see theCall of Dutygame paused on his massive screen in the smaller office.
Sean was known for his unusual approach to management. A bit of a frat boy, Sean never seemed to grow out of his adolescent stage, and it suited his business. As a hotel magnate, there were only seemingly three types. The gilded tower Hilton style was one, always preening and wearing as much gold as a person could manage to carry. The slumlord type who wore cheesy suits and always had an escort around who looked impossibly out of their league was another. Then there was the third type, the frat boy. Known for partying in their own hotels and showing up to conferences in T-shirts and shorts, half-lit already and becoming the life of the party immediately.
That was Sean. He didn’t have the little golf putting toy in his office so he could work on his short game, and he didn’t truck with escorts. No, Sean had a couple of beers with lunch and played video games, inviting anyone and everyone on the floor to spend their break with him, killing Nazis or whatever the game was about.
“I had a proposition for you,” I said. “If you don’t mind.”
“You’re coming to me for business?” Sean asked, completely thrown. “Hunter, you know the rules. If we’re going to do business together, the three of us, we all need to be in on it, and we all need to be present when it’s pitched.”
“I know,” I said. “That’s why Leo will be here in about ten minutes.”
“Nope,” a voice behind me said, cheerful, if a little out of breath. “I was determined to beat you, but I forgot my elevator key.”
“Did… did you run up the stairs?” Sean asked, as Leo collapsed into one of the chairs nearby, dropping the jacket he’d been holding in his hands and sweating profusely.
“Yup,” he said. “Damn lot of stairs you got here, Sean. You should get rid of some of them.”
“How would I do that, Leo? It’s a building. I can’t just get rid of stairs.”
“S’too many,” he panted, leaning his head back on the chair and staring at the ceiling. “Too damn many.”
“Getting old there, pops?” I joked. He was technically older than Sean and me, but only by a few months. Sean and I never let him forget it, though.
“Oh, yeah, you know me, Old Man Leo,” he said. “Which one of us got carded last time we were out? Was it you? Oh, wait, no…”
“He will never let that go,” Sean said, shaking his head. “The damn woman was eighty. She would have carded Methuselah.”
“I think you just won the Old Man card for referencing Methuselah,” I said.
“Har, har,” Sean said. “Everyone’s very funny. Now, will someone tell me why we are having this impromptu meeting that was so important that Leo had to ruin my leather chair?”
“I could ruin your chair,” Leo said, bringing his head up to look at Sean, who was leaning back in his gloriously expensive office chair. He bought it from a friend who had acquired it from a former President. You couldn’t wipe the beaming smile off his face for a month after he got it.
