“Are you going to get all sappy on me in front of customers?”
“Don’t be a dickhead,” his grandmother said, then moved away from the bar once she finished her order.
Roger, a regular who came in a few times a month for lunch and a drink had been sitting at the bar. “Got to love your grandmother being brutally honest.”
“You’ve known her for years,” he said. “Did you think she’d treat me any differently than anyone else?”
“Nope,” Roger said. “She’s always been able to handle herself and customers better than anyone I’ve known. Has their respect too.”
He was happy to hear that.
Once he grasped what her job really entailed, there were times he found himself stressing over her late nights, her safety, and all the risks that came with the work.
But the previous owners treated her well even if they worked her hard.
When they sold, he knew his grandmother would struggle to find another job, and at sixty-eight, she wasn’t ready to retire even though she could.
Maybe she didn’t think she could financially, but he was hoping he could change that for her.
“Anyone who gives my grandmother a hard time has to deal with me.”
He’d grown into his lanky six-foot-two height and packed on a ton of muscle with it.
He was ruthless and relentless in a fight and had his fair share of them in his early twenties.
Found his ass in a cell a few times to cool off, but there were no charges on his record.
He did a lot of stupid shit in his youth and was grateful it didn’t hinder his future.
The one he was trying to alter. Yet the hot Jocelyn McCarthy was quick to say he hadn’t changed.
3
ON HER OWN
“Are you set for your trip?” Jocelyn asked her mother the next day. “Anything you need to show me?”
“Now you want to ask me nicely,” her mother said. “A few days ago you said you had it all handled.”
She didn’t need the reminder that she did those things. Tell rather than ask. Assume rather than question.
She didn’t see herself as bossy, but concern for others often made her sound that way.
Her mother had been there for her through it all taking care of her when she needed it most. From painful breakups to fending off her meddling brothers from seeking a few well-deserved moments of revenge on her exes.
She just had poor taste in men. Two men she’d been in a long-term relationship with who her parents never cared for. You’d think she’d listen to them.
“I was wrong,” she said. “I admit it. There. Happy?”
Her mother reached her hand over. Jocelyn was standing behind her mother’s desk while they looked at the screen. They’d been talking about an order for Jocelyn to monitor next week.
“It’s hard for you to admit that,” her mother said, giving her fingers a squeeze. “I know that.”
“I just want you to enjoy life more. You did your job. You raised us. Both of you. You’ve worked hard too with the business. And in the past several years it’s grown even more with the investment in the rental properties with the Fierces, Olsons, and Kennedys.”
“And got your brother married and a baby on the way.”
She gave a little shoulder wiggle. Last night Gabe and Elise, who owned Kennedy Construction with her father and brother, announced they were having a baby mid-March. She was going to be an auntie!!
