My father took his glasses off and rubbed his face with exaggerated frustration. “Enough, you two. I’ve reviewed the paperwork the accountant from the Trust sent over, and it seems you have more than enough to buy some shares. But money isn’t the problem, Lee. Magnolia is the real sticking point here.”
Dane rolled his eyes. “If I didn’t believe Magnolia was secure in her relationship withme, sure, it might be an issue. But she is, so it’s not.” His smug tone only made my blood boil more.
“That’s not what your father means, Dane,” my mother said, voice laced with agitation. “He means that she might have trouble handing over more than half of her share to our family. As it stands, she can barely afford to own a quarter of the business. I’m thinking ten percent, and that’s generous.”?
I arched an eyebrow. “I’m going in as a silent partner. She’s not handing the bar over to me or to our family.”?
“That’s not what we drew up.” My brother forked a bite of steak into his mouth and then washed it down with a sip of red wine. “If you go in as a partner on this, it’s not just you that owns the bar, it’s the Wilder Family Trust. We will have control over the building and the bar as a unit.”?
“Are youfreakingkidding me?” I snapped.?
“What, Leland? If you’re going to continue to write music and have your career here in Savannah, you’re still going to need to travel and head into the studio. The Trust needs to be put into place to make sure the bar stays afloat. It’s obvious Magnolia can’t be trusted to handle it. She’s already run it into the ground.” My father didn’t meet my eyes when he said it. He just kept thumbing through the paperwork before him like he was casually reading off a lunch menu.
“Because the reality is,” my brother interjected, “if you didn’t offer buy into the bar—the building and the business—I was going to. This was almost a done deal before you decided to catapult your ass back into our lives.”?
A sudden shadow flickered in the corner of Dane’s screen, and before anyone had the chance to react, he quickly shut off the video.
A moment later, Momma casually glanced down at her phone. “Dane lost connection,” she announced, her tone just a touch too innocent. “Said he’ll call back later. Anyway, why don’t I talk to Magnolia tomorrow? She and I can go over this together.”
I raised an eyebrow, biting back a grin.Lost connection, huh?More like “his connection decided to join him in bed.”
I hadn’t heard a single word about Dane investing in the bar—neither from him nor Maggie. If he was so ready to swoop in and save it, why wait on me to invest through the family Trust? Why not just pull the trigger himself?
And who the hell had been lurking in the corner of his screen? I had no idea what Dane, or the rest of my family, was up to, but I was hellbent on figuring it out—and stopping it. I wasn’t about to let them sink their claws so deep into Maggie and the bar she loved that both ended up lost forever.
Chapter seventeen
MAGNOLIA
Imet Eunice at Rocks On the Roof, perched right above the river. We sprawled across one of those plush, oversized couches, a couple of small plates and a bottle of wine between us, the paperwork sitting in the middle like an unwelcome third wheel.
I stole glances at her from beneath the brim of her massive sunhat, trying to decode her expression. But with her oversized sunglasses and an air of practiced calm, she might as well have been a poker pro holding the world’s best bluff.
“You look like you’re feeling much better. Leland tells me he did some work on the apartment while you were ill. How very kind of him. It’s good he’s getting in the swing of fixing up that old building before he becomes partial owner,” Eunice rambled.
Something was up with the Wilder matriarch, and I didn’t think it had anything to do with her son buying the bar.?She handed me another stack of papers, and I’d finally had enough. “Are you going to tell me what’s really going on here, or are you going to make me figure it out on my own? Because you haven’t touched your food, or your merlot, and you haven’t hugged me. All of these things are bizarrely out of character for you.”?
She removed her sunglasses and shifted in her seat, taking a slow, deliberate sip from her wineglass. For the first time, I noticed how exhausted she looked. Her hair, barely visible beneath the oversized hat, was tousled and unkempt, and she wore barely a trace of makeup. It was clear that the weight of everything had been taking its toll on her.
A far cry from the always-perfect, well put together woman I’d known my whole life.?
“You know, I might be dating your son, and, you know, dated your otherson, but you’ve been a part of my life for so long… You can tell me anything, Eunice.” I reached over and grabbed her hand, and small tears pooled in the corner of her eyes.?
“I need to… talk to you about something,” she finally said, sniffling slightly and dabbing at her tired eyes with a cocktail napkin.?
“Anything,” I said confidently, but my heart was racing. Whatever was on her mind was big—bigger than Lee investing in O’Malley’s.?
“This is going to sound… Magnolia, this is really hard to say, and what I say today needs to stay between us. Do you understand?”?
I nodded and picked up our glasses from the table, handing one to her and holding on to mine for dear life.?
“Did you know your momma and I were the very best of friends once? You are so like her sometimes, you know? She was headstrong and smart as a whip. She had the biggest heart in the world.”
My stomach dropped. I had no clue that my momma and Eunice were friends. No one had ever mentioned it—not even Uncle Cole. It was like discovering a hidden chapter in our family’s history, a bond that had been quietly coursing through our veins all this time—a connection forged long ago by our mothers. “I had no idea. I figured y’all knew each other from around town, but…”?
“We more than knew each other. Our relationship was quite like yours and Sutton’s. We spent almost every second together until I went away to college. But we had the best times together. Summers on Tybee Island, stealing whiskey from O’Malley’s and drinking it after dark in Forsyth Park, exploring the tunnels beneath with nothing but a flashlight and a prayer.”?
I nodded, not wanting her to stop talking for one second about my momma. She paused for a moment and looked out over the river, letting the memories wash over her.?“So, did something happen?” I asked softly, wanting Eunice to come back to me and tell me more. But judging by the look on her face, whatever had gone down between them… it wasn’t good.?
