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I stood there blinking, my mind a swirl of emotions threatening to bubble to the surface.
I pushed them back down where they belonged.
“Masie,” he said, “I’m planning to retire soon, and I don’t have any children of my own. I want the businesses to stay in the family.”
“Why not Maybell or my mamma?”
He gave me a look.
Okay. Stupid question. My mamma was not in the frame of mind to take on anything this stressful, and Maybell wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed. Don’t get me wrong. I loved my big sister for her fun-loving ways, but she didn’t take anything seriously,especiallyher responsibilities. When we were younger, about eleven and thirteen, her idea of babysitting was locking me in the closet with a cup of juice while she went outside with her friends. Sad part was, she honestly thought she was protecting me. Mamma and Daddy were not happy when they found out.
Jimmie’s smile melted away. “If you don’t want it, I’ll understand, Masie. The Flaming Rooster is a lot of work. But that’s why I’m holding off on giving you the distillery. You need to get comfortable runnin’ the stable before takin’ on the entire farm.”
His whiskey “farm” was a lot of responsibility, but this was…wow. Just wow. “I wasn’t expecting this. I-I don’t know what to say,” I stuttered.
“Say thank you.”
Thiswasthe nicest, most generous thing anyone had ever done for me. Plus, it meant he trusted me. I was truly honored. I wanted to cry and thank him from the bottom of my heart, but as I tried to let it all out and form the words, nothing happened.
Then suddenly, I remembered why I’d come here. I had a terrifying creature after me. I thought if I could get away, it would give me time to figure out what to do. Up until yesterday, vampires were mythical creatures found in horror movies or cheesy romances. Today, they were real.
“You wanna take a few days to chew on it?” Uncle Jimmie asked. “Honestly, I’d planned to tell you this summer when I announce my retirement, but I thought you should know before you skipped town and never looked back.”
I nodded, holding on tight to the whirlwind spinning in my stomach.
“It’ll take time to get over what happened with Deedee,” he added, “but you will. Someday, you’ll remember her, and those memories won’t hurt so much anymore.”
I swallowed hard. “I know.”
“So you’ll consider it?”
I already was. I loved this bar. I loved that it was a place where people could come and forget the crazy world for a few hours. The Rooster made people happy. Plus, if I was running the place, I wouldn’t have to worry about serving drinks and grabby cowboy hands during the evening shift. I could stay behind the bar or even hire a manager to help run things.
The distillery was a different animal, but if Jimmie wanted to teach me his craft, then I could make the effort to learn.
My only problem was Montgomery Stark.And he killed someone last night because I didn’t obey him.
“What? What’s the matter?” Jimmie asked. “You look like you just swallowed a bug.”
“No, no. I, uh, I’m just overwhelmed. That’s all.”
He came out from behind his desk and gave me a big hug—another unexpected gesture. He was never a hugger.
He let me go, and when I looked up into his warm brown eyes, they were filled with deep pride. My heart felt warm and gooey. Maybe someday, I’d be able to show him how much this meant to me.
“We’ll make the announcement and get started tomorrow,” he said.
Tomorrow.I replayed the word in my head. Did I want to stay or split town like I’d planned? If I left, it would break poor Jimmie’s heart. He’d think I didn’t want the Rooster—his pride and joy—when I actually did.
No, I couldn’t do that to him. And more importantly, I really did want to take over the bar.
Change of plans. I’m stayin’.I’d just have to find another solution to my vampire problem.
I smiled at Jimmie. “Tomorrow sounds great.”
“I hear congratulations are in order.” Sheriff Idiot took a seat at the bar while I worked on adding a new server to the ordering system. After shadowing Jimmie for a few days and also waiting tables, we both agreed the transition would go smoother if I found a backfill, so I’d made a few calls and hired my friend Claire. She was trying to save money to go back to school. Maybell said she could fill in, too, until we could hire more regular staff.
It was strange, but Maybell hadn’t batted an eyelash when I told her about taking over the Flaming Rooster. “That place is a dump. Good luck,” she’d said.
