“Hey,” I said, slightly out of breath.?
“Magnolia, I am so sorry—why do you sound like you’ve been jogging?”?
I plopped down in my office chair and ran my hands through my bedhead. “I’m downstairs. We sort of all assembled for an impromptu brunch, and I ran into my office to talk to you.”?
“I suppose I’m not welcome after what I said last night, am I?” He sounded almost upset with himself, but I could tell he was more upset with me. Or maybe I just felt that way after the conversation at the brunch table.?
“It’s not that, Dane. I’m not that petty,” I lied.?
“Is my brother there?”?
I paused, covering the phone to muffle the deep sigh that escaped. “He’s here. Ryan had to crash in Cole’s room last night—he was too drunk to function. Lee showed up to take him home.”
“Aha, and then the rest of our friends just happened to show up? And no one called me?” His voice grew slightly louder, tinged with agitation.
“Well, frankly, Dane, I didn’t expect you to be awake so early after last night. We should have sent a message, so I apologize.”?
“That’s a good girl,” he cooed like I was a Goldendoodle who had learned how to sit pretty. “I’d like to take you to lunch this afternoon. Can you be ready by 1:00? I’ll send a car. I want to talk to you about what happened last night.”?
“Which part?” I laughed.?
“All of it. If you don’t want to get engaged now, that’s fine, Magnolia, but I do think we should move in together. Living above that dirty old bar has got to be getting old, and besides, if you decide to sell it, you’ll need a place to live when it’s all said and done.”?
I leaned back and ran a hand over my face. “I can’t do lunch today, but I’ll call you later. I’ll think about it, alright?”?
Dane cleared his throat, the sound sharp with agitation. “Fine. I’ll talk to you later.”?
I slipped back into the bar, the buzz of conversation and clinking glasses filling the air around me. I set my phone down with a soft click, the sound sharp in the quiet of the moment. As I sank back into my seat, my gaze drifted over the room—Lee was gone. Ryan’s head had fallen onto the table, his slow, steady breathing the only sign of life.
“Where did he go?” I turned to Sutton, whispering.?
“He didn’t say, but I bet we can both guess.”?
After finishing up our brunch and throwing Ryan in a cab with Sutton so he could go nap it off in his hotel room, Charlie and I took the leftover pitchers of mimosas into my office to look over some more paperwork.?
It was coming up on crunch time, and I had a decision to make, and soon. Dane and Vance had me all but convinced I should sell the bar and the property, and it was probably the best decision, but my heart wouldn’t—couldn’t—put a for sale sign on something that had been in my family for so long.?
“I think we talked about this before, but what about knocking down the back half of the bar and putting a kitchen in? You could open it up to a lunch crowd, or even brunch. Our little shindig went just fine today.” Charlie was absentmindedly scrolling through social media, not paying attention at all to the stack of papers in front of him. “You should be posting more on the bar’s Instagram. I told you, use hashtags.”?
I whirled around in a circle in my chair and then sunk my forehead into my palms. Still in my brunch outfit, sans bra, I looked and smelled like a dumpster.?
“Where am I going to get the money for that kind of renovation? My trust fund from when Cole sold Mom and Dad’s store went to part of your tuition, and I’ve had to drain the rest to keep this place open. You used your share for the part of the studio. I don’t know…”?
“The Wilders will loan you the money, but it would be more like a dowry for marrying Dane, I suppose.”?
I growled at my brother. “I brought it up to Eunice and Vance over dinner a few weeks ago. Just to put out some feelers. Dane brought up that the building itself would give me enough money to sit pretty for a while until I figured out my next move. Eunice and Vance agreed. They don’t want to help me, Charlie. They want me to cash in what I have, move into that high-rise of Dane’s, and plan my wedding over tea with the rest of Savannah society. Eunice invited me to bridge.Me. Tobridge.”
Charlie let out a small chuckle and leaned over my desk, locking eyes with me. “Don’t do anything you don’t want to do, Magnolia. You’re not shackled to this place or to the Wilder family. You don’t owe anyone anything.”?
My brother meant well, but he was flat out wrong. I owedeverythingto the Wilders. When I tossed my application for UGA in favor of going tocommunity college and letting Charlie have part of my trust fund, they offered to pay my tuition, no questions asked.?
When I left community college and started working at the bar full time, Eunice filled up my social calendar quickly so that I could network and make connections with other local business owners to help me bring the bar to the next level, instead of remaining a divey, hole in the wall.?And when Uncle Cole died, and I was short on funds for the funeral, they hopped right in and helped me and Charlie pay for everything.?Not to mention the fact that, over the last eighteen years, they’d made us feel like family.?
I owed a lot to them. I owed them everything.?
“I just wish things weren’t so damn complicated,” I finally blurted out.?
“Like with the bar or the fact that your ex-boyfriend just waltzed back into our lives and it’s throwing quite the wrench into everything.”?
