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Alexei was right. It wasn’t jealousy he felt. It was shame, and that was the most useless of emotions. Shame had led him to believe he didn’t have a real place here, that the only way to live was to follow exactly in Jake’s footsteps.
“That was beautiful.” Callie was standing at the bar, tears in her eyes.
“It was, Pops.” Micky picked up a napkin and sniffled into it. “You’re going to be so good at this.”
“I personally liked the way he differentiated between jealousy and envy.” Stef Talbot sat at the end of the bar with his wife, Jennifer. They had two glasses of red wine and apparently were enjoying the show. “That’s a fine line not everyone understands.”
Jennifer wrinkled her nose his way. “We’re supposed to pretend we’re not listening.”
Talbot shrugged. “Well, everyone else was. For what it’s worth, Van, I don’t think Hale cares if you build him a grand mansion. I think he’s pretty happy where he is.”
“Uh, he’s living at the Taggart place,” Van pointed out. “I think we’re going to get kicked out soon.”
Talbot frowned. “It’s the Hiram Jones Memorial House. It’s in all the records.”
Jen’s eyes rolled, but she ignored her husband. “Talk to Marie. She’ll look for something you can afford.”
“I don’t want to be a bartender for the rest of my life,” he said because while he understood the emotional root of the problem, there was more to it.
“Hey, babe, before you leave tonight, could you check the books?” Zane walked in behind his wife, cuddling up close to her. “I’ve got quarterly taxes due, and my eyes are swimming. I’ll be here all night.”
“No, she won’t,” Van announced. It was time to take a damn stand. All these people wanted his ass to stay here, well, they were going to pay for the privilege, and he would make it worth their while because he would bet Zane hadn’t kept up with recent tax code changes. “But I will.”
Zane frowned his way. “Why would the hippy dude want to check my books?”
Was that how everyone saw him? Wear one tie-dyed shirt a couple of times… “Are you taking advantage of the deduction for all expenses related to training new employees? You can claim it for up to a year. How about the deduction for the new oven? It’s got new energy efficient tech, and there’s a rebate you can apply for.”
“There is?” Zane asked. “I think the salesperson mentioned that, but it got lost in all the paperwork. There’s so much paperwork and honestly, I hate math. I didn’t go into the DEA because I was a numbers cruncher.”
“But I am.” A weird sense of optimism bubbled up inside of Van.
“I thought you were studying marketing,” Talbot pointed out.
“Not anymore.” It wasn’t such a stretch. One extra semester and then he would have to hustle his ass off to find clients, but he could also make better use of the money they had. He would likely never have his brother’s wealth, but that wasn’t the important thing.
He’d been jealous because Adam would never leave Jake. But he was the one who was leaving. He was the one willing to walk away from what Hale needed. And what Van needed was—them.
“I’m changing my major,” he announced. “I’m going to disappoint my parents in a way even my brother going into the military couldn’t. I’m going to be an accountant.”
Alexei slapped a hand on his shoulders. “This is good decision. You will be very nice accountant. It will be good to have someone to put between Bliss and IRS. I fear often that Marie will kill someone when she does her taxes. You can be go between.”
“Good luck deducting the new Detector 7000. Mel paid for it himself, and I’m pretty sure he’s going to want that off his taxes,” Talbot said with a chuckle.
It would be awful. He would have to explain to his perhaps future father-in-law that he couldn’t take the cleaning bill from fighting alien invaders off his taxes. Marie would likely want to argue over every penny. Zane would need an explanation of every line of code.
He could make a life here. All he had to do was believe in himself. And get used to Bliss normal.
“What the hell, Hale?” Max shouted.
That was when he noticed Hale. He stood in the middle of the dining room, a fist raised against a man.
Bliss normal apparently started right now.
* * * *
Hale watched Van working the bar, a sense of deep unease permeating his system.
Something was going on in Van’s head, and he was pretty sure he wouldn’t like it.
Trio was hopping tonight, the whole dining room at capacity and the lobby full of people waiting for a table. Van was working with Alexei, keeping the drinks flowing. Hale had been lucky to get this table. The bar area was as full as the dining room.
