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She huffs. “Hayes didn’t go to college.”
“And look how he turned out.”
My jaw drops. “I’m right here!”
Mom giggles, blowing me a kiss while Devin sticks her tongue out at me.
“Besides,” Mom continues. “You have nowhere to live. Sold the house, remember?”
It’s a sore subject for Devin. She doesn’t remember a lot of the bad memories from that house. Whether she blocked them out or she wasn’t home for most of them, I’m not sure. But it wasn’t a hardship for me to have it sold.
“Ugh, I know,” Dev groans. “How’s that going with Marc, anyway?”
Shortly after Mom learned that living alone probably isn’t the best while dealing with brain cancer, Marc ran into some trouble. A business partner had been screwing him over by making some questionable deals under the table. Of course, he wasn’t about to take the blame for it, so when he started feeling the heat, he pinned it all on Marc.
And he losteverything.
Thankfully, he was able to sign the bar over to Cam and me before it all went down, but his life was drastically changed. His house, his business, he had to sell it all just to break even. While he may have looked well off, I learned he was actually not the best with his money. He spent a lot just maintaining his lifestyle.
Mom, being the caring and good-hearted woman she is, felt like she owed Marc. After all, he not only paid off the mortgage on her house, but he saved me from what probably would have ended up being a very dark path. So, when she told me to sell the house and give him the money for him to start fresh, I didn’t argue.
“Last I heard from him, he’s got a small place on the beach in Costa Rica,” I answer. “He sounds good. Checks in from time to time.”
Mom sighs. “I still hate what happened to him.”
“Me too,” I say honestly.
No one deserves to have everything ripped out from under them, but especially not someone as kindhearted and hardworking as Marc. He was so genuinely good-hearted. To know someone fucked him over like that infuriates me.
“Well, I’d say I’ll live with Hayes,” Devin starts. “But apparently, he’s selling his place, too.”
Ugh. “Devin.”
Mom’s eyes widen as she turns to me. “You’re selling your house?”
My sisterso kindlyanswers for me. “Sure is. I drove past it today and saw the for sale sign out front.”
Maybe Laiken should have let Mali follow us upstairs.I’m just saying. Being knocked around a little might do Devin some good.
“Hayes Beckett,” Mom says warningly. “If you’re selling that house to pay for my expenses, I will haunt you for the rest of your days.”
I huff out a laugh. “First of all, you’re going to haunt me anyway. Who are you kidding? And second, I’m not selling it to pay for anything of yours. I just simply don’t need a four-bedroom house. I’m only one person.”
She looks at me hopefully. “Unless you want to give things with Laiken another shot.”
Devin makes a noise of disgust. “Can I just say that I hate that you are Team Laiken?”
“Well, if Hayes wants to be Team Laiken, too, what other teams are there?”
With a dark look, she tosses a tater tot into her mouth. “Mine. TeamYou Made Your Bed, Now Lie In It.”
For the love of fuck.
Tonight should be interesting.
WHEN CAM MOVED OUTof his parents’ house, we quickly realized we were going to need a new place for the weekly bonfires. My backyard was considered, but being as I wasn’t living there and really couldn’t hack looking at it, we kept thinking. And then Cam came up with the brilliant idea of building a patio with a firepit right outside the bar.
It took a while to get all the correct permits, and for the town to allow us to have the fires in the first place, but it’s been a hit with all of the customers. The only problem was that Friday nights in the summer are one of the busiest at the bar.
