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“What do you mean? The money?”
“The money,” Shane murmured, his eyes turning toward the jagged Tetons. “Yeah. But not really the money. When Gideon Bishop left me this little plot of land and gave everything else to that damn ghost town... Fuck, it was just another slap in the face. You remember how cold he was after Dad disappeared?”
“Well, he was right about Mom being unstable,” Alex said.
“He was. But that should’ve been more reason to reach out to us. To help.”
Alex grunted in agreement. One day they’d been a stable, nuclear family. Mom and dad and two rowdy boys. The next day they’d been free-falling. A dad who’d run off, a mom who could barely take care of herself, and grandparents who considered her nothing more than trash with two brats to support.
“When our grandfather died and thumbed his nose at us in the will... Shit. I thought I’d moved past a lot of it, but it came rushing back, and all my anger came down to that damn will. I wanted to make him pay. Maybe because I couldn’t make Dad pay. Or Mom. Or this whole fucking town. I don’t know.”
Now instead of watching the mountains, Alex watched his brother. They’d been close in their early years, and less close as teenagers, but as adults? As an adult, Shane was a complete stranger to him. His face looked different, of course, harder and older and a little sadder. But it wasn’t just that. Alex didn’t know anything about who he’d loved and lost and what his struggles had been.
“So you sued them,” he pressed.
“Yes. I didn’t really care about the money, it was just the idea that that asshole would rather give it all to a tourist trap than leave it to you and me. I guess he felt closer to ancestors who’d been dead for a hundred years than he did to us.”
That sounded about right. His grandfather had been a hard, intimidating man. He’d considered his own son a weak failure for marrying the woman he did and then getting mixed up with someone even worse. No doubt he thought Shane and Alex would end up just like their father. Or worse, turn out like their mom.
“But I figured it out,” Shane finally said. “I got to know Merry, and suddenly all that anger felt as wrong as it was.”
“That’s good,” Alex said, though he didn’t understand it. He’d loved a woman, too, but he’d never felt any better about his family.
“I hope you can accept that I gave up the fight for the money.”
Alex shot him a confused look.
“The money that went to the historical trust. If I’d kept fighting the will and won the lawsuit, part of it would’ve gone to you.”
Alex shook his head. “I don’t want that old man’s money. I don’t want any of this.”
“Still,” Shane murmured, his eyes roaming over the landscape. “It’s a good place.”
“It is.” He’d meant what he’d said. His brother belonged here. Alex couldn’t begrudge him that, even if he did feel a twinge of longing. Not for the place, but for the feeling of being home. He’d never had that anywhere. It was something missing in him, and it always would be.
Even in his earliest childhood, when things had been good, he’d had little in common with his dad. Ranching and handyman work hadn’t held Alex’s attention at all.
Shane cleared his throat and shifted, warning Alex that things were about to get awkward. “I hope it doesn’t bother you that Merry is the curator for Providence.”
Alex raised his eyebrows in question.
“I don’t want you thinking I dropped the lawsuit just to support her work.”
Alex finally realized what he was saying. Their grandfather’s money had gone to the Providence Historical Trust, and Merry had her job thanks to that. Alex kept his mouth shut for a few heartbeats just to make his brother squirm, but then he finally grinned. “Brother, if you’d pay millions of dollars to win her over, then I’d say that must be some awful sweet loving, and congratulations.”
“Ha!” Shane slapped him on the back.
“Are you blushing?” Alex asked.
“Fuck you,” Shane shot back, but he was definitely blushing. Not to mention grinning like a fool. “Speak of the devil,” he said.
Alex turned to see a car driving up the long road. The brunette behind the wheel waved, and they both waved back. He’d only met Merry briefly at their mom’s house yesterday, but her enthusiasm for life was contagious.
As soon as she’d skidded to a stop on the gravel drive, Merry jumped from her car and held up a bag. “I brought Chinese food!”
“Wow,” Alex murmured. “She is pretty awesome.”
“I know.” Shane stepped forward to take the bag and give her a kiss.
