“I’ll encourage her to do it more,” he grumbled.
She went into the storage room, came out again with a couple of new bottles and started restocking the bar. Was she purposely giving me and Teller space? Or was I invading her work and expecting her to cater to me instead of doing her job?
Teller rotated his glass on its edge. The air between us wasn’t strained, but it wasn’t light.
I should stay away from the sale topic, but I didn’t. “Did you ask Hank to fix fence?”
Teller continued swirling his glass. “He asked if we’d mind. I figured he wanted to keep himself busy before the holiday season.”
I pushed the words back. I was not going to ask the significance. “What about the holiday season?” Lost that fight.
“His charity work?” He took a long sip, glanced at me, and did a double take. “You don’t know about the charities?”
Other than what I’d heard the Baileys mention, no. I didn’t know a lot about what Dad was like since I’d left. “We don’t talk.”
He wiped off his mouth. “I don’t get that. I talked to my dad every day until he died.”
“Did he get drunk every day and ignore you? Forget to buy groceries or treat you like hired help that didn’t get paid? Did he yell at you for five minutes straight when he was the one who’d spent the grocery money on beer?”
Teller’s jaw tightened.
“Did he neglect everything that meant anything to you until it died?”
I got a small shake of his head as a response.
“I don’t have to mention the sale on top of it all. He drank away everything else, and he’s selling what should be mine, what my mother wanted to go to me. So excuse me if I’m ignorant about what he does for charity.”
“He plays Santa at the senior center,” Teller said. “He’ll dress up for the school’s field trips when they sing for the residents. He works at the food pantry year-round. It’s usually only open once a week, but between Thanksgiving and New Year’s, the office hours are three days a week. Then there’s the toy drive. I heard he can wrap a mean gift.”
“I wouldn’t know.”
Teller’s right cheek twitched and he took a big gulp that was more like a shot.
He polished off his drink and glanced at Autumn like he was making sure she was still across the room. “The man you know isn’t who the rest of Bourbon Canyon know, and I think once you understand that, maybe you’ll understand his motivations. What you experienced was wrong. But if you truly fell that madly in love with my sister, and she was suddenly taken from you, would you keep your shit together? Or would you lose it until the pain dulled enough to face it?”
That’d never happen. I’d have to fall in love first. “I was a kid.”
“I know.” His voice was soft, compassionate. “I’m just saying you might understand him. Look, no one knows why he’s not turning Percival over to you. I looked up what you’re worth. God knows you can pay him for it. Maybe it’s pride? He doesn’t want to live offthe son who didn’t have a chance to live off him? I don’t know. No one does. But reminding him of every way you hate him probably isn’t going to soften him up to stop the sale.”
I didn’t hate my dad. That was part of the problem. “And you’ll go through with it if he does?”
“Better us than some rich out-of-stater who doesn’t give a shit about Montana and thinks the local residents are quaint and disposable little peasants.”
I didn’t want to see Percival going to some stranger either. I didn’t want hunting cabins built, and if I heard the word “rental” thrown around in regard to the property, I’d burn every structure down. Pretty rich coming from a corporate city guy like me.
In Bourbon Canyon, I wasn’t as much that person as I had been over a week ago. Each step I took in town shed one more layer of polish. “I’ll agree with you on that.”
He shrugged like it didn’t matter. “How are things with you and Autumn?”
I drank a mouthful of eggnog. Fucking hot. That wasn’t what her brother wanted to hear. “She hasn’t kicked me out yet.”
“You also haven’t moved in.”
What’d he mean by that? How would he know? Had he gone into her bedroom and seen my suitcase open on her dresser? Had he judged the new clothing that I hung on a folding chair next to it?
He was trying to trip me up.
Autumn breezed back, dropping off glasses from the customers who had just left. Only Teller and I were left in the bar.
