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"I've got your table ready." Molly approached the couple Colleen had just served. "If you want to follow Janelle," she indicated the waitress behind her who wore a friendly smile, "I'll bring over your drinks."
The couple got up to follow.
Molly lingered behind, beckoning Colleen closer. "You know, if you want to keep this on the downlow, especially with your brother, you may want to stop looking at JT like you want to take him in the back and cover him with chocolate sauce so you can lick it off him."
"I wasn'tâ" Colleen stuttered, then thought about how she was mentally rhapsodizing about JT's wrists.
His wrists, for Chrissake. She looked down the bar again, but this time her brother was the target of her gaze.
His head was turned towards JT, so she could read nothing of his expression.
He probably hadn't noticed anything, she reassured herself. Guys were clueless that way.
JT and Liam sipped at their beers and caught up on the past few weeks since they'd talked.
"I put a bid on the new development out at the old Parker place," Liam said.
"That real estate guy from Texas bought it, right?" JT pursed his lips in disapproval. Once again, a wealthy outsider had bought a ranch that had been owned and operated by a local family for several generations.
"Yeah. He wants to build a new eight-thousand-square-foot place, complete with a media room and a pool."
"All so he can come out here and play cowboy for a few months out of the year."
"At least he's keeping Duane on to manage the place."
Duane Parker was the oldest son of Patrick Parker and had been running the ranch with his father and brothers for the past thirty years.
JT shook his head. "I don't know how he can stand it, going from owning the place to being the employee of some asshole from Texas."
"He can stand it because his share of the sale nets him close to two million dollars. I know you don't like it, but people are taking the opportunity to cash out."
"Are you trying to tell me something?"
"Hell, no," Liam said and took another pull of his beer. "No way we'd ever sell. And even if we did, none of us is getting a two-million-dollar payday. But hopefully I can cash in on some of these fancy new houses people have planned. Would sure be nice to have a little more money coming in."
"Yeah, Colleen told me about the medical bills. That sucks." He could tell from the way his friend's shoulders stiffened that he didn't appreciate his sister giving further details about their financial situation.
Instead of going on the defensive, Liam replied. "It certainly does suck. Big donkey dicks at that. We're doing everything we can, and I'm trying to bring as much work in as possible before Colin comes back. Once the school year starts and he's living with me full time, I can't be working extra hours and over the weekend."
"You must be excited though, to have more time with him."
Though Liam wasn't overly expressive with his emotions, there was no doubt in JT's mind that the man loved his son with every fiber of his being.
As if on cue, Liam's grim expression morphed into a smile. "Excited is an understatement. I miss that kid so much."
He pulled out his phone and scrolled through several pictures of Colin, with his dark hair and dimpled smile. There was Colin at the beach, next to a boogie board. There he was on an ATV, helmet on his head and a bandana across his face like a little bandit.
He looked at the pictures, saw JT's pride-filled, almost wistful smile and felt a pulling sensation in his chest.
"One of these days I've got to get me one of those."
Liam lifted his gaze from his phone to look at JT. "What, an ATV? Didn't you just get a new one last year?"
"No. I mean a kid. And hopefully a wife, too.â He drained the last of his beer, forcing himself to focus on the Adele's logo etched into the glass so his eyes wouldn't drift down the bar to where Colleen was waiting on Wade Gunnison, who operated the local hardware store.
"I don't know," Liam said with a mirthless laugh. "If I had to do it again, I think I'd skip the wife and just pay someone to have my kid. It would be lot less painful, not to mention a hell of a lot less expensive."
JT shook his head. "You don't really mean that. Just because you and Kristie didn't work out doesn't mean you won't have better luck next time."
