I nodded. “Amazing.”
It was amazing for a two-faced liar. Not that I had too much room to talk but still … these were apples and oranges.
He swallowed hard. “Kay … see you at breakfast.” Then he turned tail and moved to go into the next room.
“Oh, Ashton?” I called out, and he turned.
“Hmm?”
“We have five hundred RSVPs for Saturday night. Isn’t that exciting?” I smiled and his face took on a look of complete and utter guilt.
“Yeah … that’s … full capacity.” You could almost see him start to sweat.
Would he tell me? Now would be a good time.
Tipping his head to me, he left the room without a word.
I couldn’t wait for him to find out his Gran sold me her half of the bar.
Ashton
She knew. Millie fucking knew I was going to sell the bar. I could tell by the cagey way she was acting. How she felt the need to mention she’d fed the chickens with my Gran. I wondered what they talked about. And then to tell me five hundred people were coming on Saturday. I didn’t think that bar had seen more than a hundred people in one night in over ten years.
Of course her breakfast was delicious. Quiche, waffles, bacon, all of the fixins. Gran looked ready to ask her to move in and become her personal chef.
Gran stood and called her back to her office. “Millie, follow me, dear.”
Anxiety spiked in me.
“Ashton, dishes.” My grandma waved her hand at me as Millie gave me a calculating look and walked down the hall.
“What are y’all doing back there?” My voice reached a high pitch I wasn’t proud of.
Gran winked. “Just girl stuff.”
Was Gran going to innocently show her some baby pictures or were they up to something? I scrubbed the dishes in scalding hot water and kept my eyes peeled on the hallway. What was taking them so long? Was Gran telling her about Jenna? I wanted to do that in my own time.
Laughter pealed down the hallway and my frown deepened. What were they up to? This was going to drive me insane. Gran couldn’t be trusted, and she’d only agreed to sell the bar last night because I’d begged.
My phone rang and I shut off the tap.
It was the mechanic. “This is Ashton,” I answered, my gaze still glued on the hallway that led to Gran’s office.
“Hey, Ashton, your truck is ready and purring like a kitten.”
And gonna cost me a fucking arm and leg. “Alright, I’ll be right over.”
The second I hung up, my phone buzzed with a text from Darcy.
Darcy: The client walks completely if you don’t respond by tonight. Should I meet you at the bar with the papers?
Shit. For the hundredth time I wished my twin was alive to talk to. We talked about everything and she gave the best advice. But I knew what she’d tell me to do. She’d want me to hang on to dad’s shithole bar because she had always had a soft spot for him. She was a daddy’s girl through and through, and it made what happened to her, the way she died, all the worse.
I just wanted to be free of this weight that I carried. Jenna, the bar, my fucking dad. I wanted to light a match to it all and watch it burn. I wanted to walk away and start something free of the memories that place held … but one thing held me back.
Millie.
What if we could make it work … together? With a new menu and all the other ideas she had, maybe it could be a new start, a new dream. My dream. Her dream. Jenna’s dream.
I just wasn’t sure I wanted to gamble the only decent offer I’d gotten since I put the bar on the market eight months ago, on a girl I met last week…
This was insane.
Me: Meet me at the bar at eight PM tomorrow night.
I would tell Millie on the drive back and she’d understand. Right? I’d sign the papers tomorrow night and then drive them back over to Gran the next morning for her signature and then it was done.
Finished with Wayne’s Place. On to Ashton’s life without that ball and chain fucking bar.
Walking down the hallway, I called out, “I’m going with Jackson to get my truck.”
Gran called back, “Okay,” before she and Millie erupted into laughter again.
I didn’t like this. I didn’t like this one bit.
After paying an eye-watering sum to pick up my truck, I’d gone back to Gran’s to grab Millie. Boy, were those two thick as thieves. Laughing, sharing recipes in the kitchen when I walked in. Of course I wanted them to be close but I was starting to get nervous that Gran and Millie were plotting.
“Millie, wait in the truck for me, will ya?” I asked her as she said her goodbyes to my family and slipped out the front door. Shit, twenty-four hours and they’d adopted her. Gran even let her keep her lucky cooking apron. With Millie outside, I cornered Gran in the kitchen as she went to go back to her office.
“What are you up to with her?” My mother died when I was young, Dad was in and out; this beautiful, old, ornery woman before me was my everything.
Gran reached out and grasped both my shoulders. “What’s best for you, son.”
My brow furrowed in confusion. “And that is?” I was gonna shit my pants with this suspense. “Gran, what did you do?”
She smiled sadly at me. “I saw my old Ashton on this trip.” She patted my hair as I shuffled on my feet uncomfortably and chewed two pieces of that awful nicotine gum.
“Okay…”
“Sweetheart, I sold Millie my half of the bar.”
I reeled backward, nearly choking on the gum. “You didn’t!”
I should have burst into her office earlier and demanded to know what they were doing, but never in a million years had I thought she would do this.
“Honey, I never wanted to sell.
