"Why can't you guys take me?"
"We actually have a meeting at the bank today,” Gavin says.
"At the bank?” I ask. "What for?” They frown as if deciding how much they can trust me with. "Look, I cook and clean for you. I take care of you guys. At least you can treat me like I'm old enough to know what your deal is at the bank. Are we having money problems or something? Because I’m the one who's buying all this food. And let me tell you, you guys go through a lot of bacon."
"No, we don't have money problems, Marley. The house is paid off from Mom and Dad's life insurance,” Dylan says, "and we appreciate your contribution with the groceries. But we’ve told you a hundred times, you don't need to do that."
I pour myself a cup of coffee and join them at the table with my plate of food. "I know," I say with a smirk. "You guys are really good to me even if you are really good at sabotaging all my potential relationships."
Jett rolls his eyes. "Are we still talking about that Maker guy? Come on, Marley. He's all wrong for you. You need a nice guy. Maybe some guy who is a widower, with a ready-made family."
"That's not what I want," I say. "Not that I have anything against it, but there's only like one widower in Riverside and that's Jenkins. He's twice my age."
My brother nods sheepishly. "I know there are not a lot of options, but Maker isn't one of them."
"Look, I don't want to talk about Maker right now. I want to talk about you guys and whatever you're doing at the bank," I say, adamant.
"Fine," Jett says. “We're trying to get a loan.”
"For what?” I ask.
He shrugs. "Look, we have a large chunk of money saved, a couple hundred thousand, but we need more."
"What kind of loan are you looking for?" I ask, the sum of money overwhelming.
"We need an investor if we can't get a loan. So we're going this route first. Seems easier since we don’t know anyone with that kind of cash.”
"An investor for what? What kind of business are you starting? What do you need that amount of money for?"
"We want to start a distillery," Dylan says. "A whiskey distillery."
My eyes grow wide. "You mean using that old recipe of Dad's? Come on. No one wants his moonshine."
"It's good, Marley. You just never drink hard alcohol enough to know. But it'd be nice, wouldn't it, to be our own bosses, not go out for weeks, months at a time doing dangerous work on the crabbing boats? Hell, I don't want to get in some accident and die over fish. I want to do something that I care about. That I believe in."
I smirk. “And you suddenly believe in whiskey?"
"Hell, having a nice glass of liquid courage never hurt anyone. We're right by the Whiskey Mountains. It's kind of meant to be, right?”
"Maybe," I say. "Look, I don't really know what to say, to be honest. I want you guys to pursue your dreams, but sometimes," I swallow, "it would be nice if you'd be happy for me to pursue my dreams too."
"What kind of dreams do you have, Marley?" My brothers all seemed to ask.
"I want to be happy. And today that means going to visit my friend Bellamy. So I'm just going to go down to the docks and charter a boat. Okay?”
My brothers nod in understanding. "That's fine with us. Look, take some money from the drawer to pay for it."
"Oh, so now you're being all chivalrous to me?" I say, taking a bite of my pancake, my appetite arriving in full force. Maybe it's the fact that I know I'm leaving for the day, going out on the sea, getting fresh air and getting to see my friend. I need to talk to a woman. Talk to her about everything that's been happening. "Look, I hope the meeting at the bank goes well."
"All right," Jet says. "And if you happen to know anybody who has half a million dollars lying around, let me know, will ya?"
I roll my eyes. "Sure thing. You know, because of all those millionaires hanging out in the Whiskey Mountains."
Maker
The house is very nearly done. It's not much, a modest three-bedroom cabin, but I was able to ship in nice doors and windows along with high-end appliances. I even had a concrete company come out and pour a patio and a nice long driveway, and a contractor came with a crew and built a deck overlooking the water.
There are plenty of finishing touches that the place needs — like furniture. But for now, I have a mattress on the floor and a roof over my head and it's something. My friends tell me it's more than something, that it's goddamn gorgeous. I didn't pull any punches when it came to expenses. I hired the best to finish the job once I realized that I may be able to hammer in some hardwood, but I'm no master carpenter.
My friends, Jameson and Beam, and my brother Walker helped me out quite a bit, but they have lives they needed to get back to. Now they're off the hook. The job's nearly done and I'm getting in my boat for a day out at Beam and Bellamy's place. We're all meeting out there for a barbecue, and even though it makes me sad to be headed that way without Marley by my side, I'm feeling a little more courageous than I did even a few weeks ago. I'm beginning to feel like maybe I do have something to offer Marley.
I plan on heading to Riverside tomorrow after the barbecue. I figured I'll go to Beam’s, have a burger or two, spend the
