by Lexi Blake
“I can’t sell it until I restore it. It’s not allowed by the terms of the will. Technically it’s not mine until I’ve spent the money Aunt Irene left on restorations. Quaid has to sign off on everything. Tell her I’m going to honor the will and then I’ll sell it.” She still wouldn’t sell to Celeste, but she would sell. “And then I’m probably leaving town.”
“Oh, I hate that, but I know it’s probably for the best.” She reached out and put a hand over Sera’s. “I love you like a sister. I wish my mom could see how good a person you are. She’s not capable of seeing past her own grief.”
“I didn’t make Wes join the Army. I didn’t even suggest it.”
“I know that, but she won’t believe you,” Angie argued. “She can’t believe that her perfect boy could be so reckless. Besides, he did tell all of us he was joining up to prove to you that he was a real man.”
She shook her head. “I never suggested he wasn’t. All I ever told him was I didn’t want to be his girlfriend. I made a mistake that night and I hated the fact that I hurt him, but I couldn’t pretend to feel something I didn’t.”
Angie sighed, a weary sound. “And he couldn’t stand the fact that he didn’t get what he wanted. I blame my mother for that, too. There was a lot to Wes you didn’t see because he was in love with you since you were children. He could be petulant.”
She’d seen that side of him the morning they’d last spoken. Maybe she needed out of here if only to get away from the ghosts that haunted her.
Maybe the ghost sees the color and thinks that’s the way to heaven. You know sometimes the sky isn’t as pretty as that color. It’s nice to have something beautiful to look at. Maybe it helps the ghosts find their way home.
Harry’s words floated through her brain. Was she still carrying Wes around? Was he still here with her? Would she leave him behind if she finally left Papillon? Or would she simply relocate them all and be stuck with the same problems as before?
She wanted to spend time with Harry like she hadn’t with anyone in years. But Wes was still here, still between her and happiness. Or something like it. “Tell your mom I’ll be gone in a year if she can leave me be. I know I can’t stay here. Luc already has Wes’s eyes.”
Angie gasped. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“He’s got Remy and Zep’s coloring, but if you look close, those are Wes’s eyes staring back,” she admitted. Sometimes, when she wasn’t angry with Wes, she missed him. He’d been a good friend for years. Had he only been that way because he’d wanted her? Did it matter why he’d been there for her?
If he’d lived, would they still be friends? Or would he have taken Luc from her if she hadn’t fallen in line?
It didn’t matter. The past was the past and she needed to focus on the future.
“I’ll make her understand,” Angie promised and looked down at her glass. “Now, this is delicious. Tell me Remy’s going to stock it. I have to go to Guidry’s to get any kind of decent wine that doesn’t come from my mother’s cellar. She dispenses that wine with the same graciousness as she gives out compliments.”
Sera chuckled and forced herself to talk about anything but the sorrow that had opened up inside her heart.
* * *
***
The Back Porch was a ridiculously tacky bar in a prefab building right outside the parish line. It was full on a Sunday night, and it was obvious these were not churchgoing people. He’d already seen the bouncers stop two fights, and he was fairly certain whatever was going on in that bathroom might end in an STI.
“You want a beer, soldier?” There was a big guy behind the bar. He had to be at least six-seven, with dark hair that brushed his shoulders.
“Ex-soldier, and how can you tell? And three of whatever’s on tap.”
“I’m excellent at profiling customers,” the bartender replied. “Mostly because I need to know who’s going to give me trouble and who won’t. We’re on our own out here. It’s precisely why my boss opened this bar. He didn’t want to have to deal with Sheriff LaVigne. Of course, the owner is a lazy bastard and doesn’t deal with much of anything, so I’m on my own.”
“And what kind of trouble will I give you?” Harry held out his hand. “Harry Jefferys, by the way. I suspect you’re ex-military, too. I think that’s a Navy tat I see on your arm.”
The big guy shook his hand. “The name’s Cain. Cain Cunningham, and I did my time. Now, you’re not going to give me trouble unless someone offends you, and it might take a lot to do that. You’re not the type who cares what other people think. You’re confident. If someone hurt a person in your circle, you could set a man on his ass. The problem is you’re with Cal Beaumont and he’s always looking for trouble. Zep Guidry doesn’t have to look for trouble. It finds him. Is there a reason he’s not at his brother’s bar instead of mine?”
Zep Guidry had explained that beer tasted better when his brother wasn’t keeping track of how much he drank. “I think he wanted a change of pace. And my cousin wanted out of the house. He wouldn’t care where we are as long as he’s not at home listening to his mother remind him he’s got to go to work in the morning.”
Cain looked a bit skeptical. “Does he actually work or is this one of those things where he’s got a title and an office and no real power?”
“He’s learning the business.” Slowly, from what Harry could tell. Cal didn’t talk much about work, and in the time he’d been here, Cal seemed to take Fridays off. “No one expected his father to pass as early as he did. Cal was barely out of college.”
And from what he could tell, Cal wasn’t handling the stress of suddenly inheriting a company well.
“Yeah, and I remember when he lost his brother. That couldn’t have been easy. I grew up in these parts. I left for a couple of years, went into the military, and when I came out, I worked in Atlanta,” Cain explained as he poured the three beers Harry had ordered.
“What made you come home?” From what he could tell, most young folks who left didn’t come back.
“What always makes us come home? I had a family member who needed me,” he replied in a gravelly tone. “Is that why you’re in town? I hear you’re Cal’s cousin but you’ve never been here before. I thought the Beaumonts were all tight.”
He wouldn’t call the family tight in an emotional way. There was a careful distance between them all, and he worried it was more about grief than anything else. They seemed to be stuck in a cycle. “Celeste Beaumont was my mother’s sister. I’m not from the wealthy side of the family. I grew up in Texas. We didn’t get down here a lot. Did you know them as kids? My cousins, that is.”
A single shoulder shrugged as he placed the final beer in front of Harry. “I’m a bit older than Cal, but sure, I knew them. It’s a small town. Everyone knows everyone else. And Cal has always been a little wild. Wes was quieter. It was obvious he was the favorite. He was smarter. Everyone thought he would take over the company one day. It was a shock when he up and joined the Army. And Angie was just kind of there. She was a shy girl. She kind of blended in wherever she went. But they seemed like solid kids. Cal wouldn’t let anyone bully his brother or sister. He was a pretty good guy. And then he started drinking.”
He stared pointedly at the beers.
“Yeah, I don’t think he’s going to stop anytime soon.” His cousin partied pretty hard, and it was obvious it was starting to be a problem. Harry picked up two beers in one hand and one in the other. It was not his first rodeo. “I’ll see if I can keep him under control tonight.”
“Try, because I do not need the sheriff up my ass if Cal causes trouble. He might not come out here often, but if a Beaumont gets hurt in a bar fight, I assure you I’ll get a visit,” Cain said with a frown.
“I’ll make sure he’s cool.” It was the only reason he’d agreed to come out this evening. He hadn’t wanted Cal driving. He turned to the table his cousin was s
itting at and caught sight of the third person in their party this evening. Zep Guidry. Yeah, maybe making sure Cal got home all right wasn’t the only reason he’d done it.
How many times did that sweet-faced blonde have to turn him down before he got the message? He started for the table. He wasn’t going to pursue her. Not romantically. He’d received that message, but he got the feeling there was something more to the feud between his aunt and Seraphina. He also worried it was a battle Sera wasn’t going to win.
He set the beer in front of Cal and Zep and slid into his chair.
“So you met Cain,” Cal said, taking a sip. “Watch yourself around him. He’s on the dangerous side, if you know what I mean.”
“I do not.” He’d seemed pretty cool.
Zep leaned in. “There’s a rumor he works for a drug dealer. Now, I stay away from all that stuff because beer works fine, and no one ever lost their teeth from drinking beer.”
Cal shook his head. “I don’t know about that. Herve lost his front two teeth in that fight and it was all because he’d been drinking beer.”
Zep rolled his eyes. “You know what I’m saying. I don’t do anything to hurt this face of mine. It’s my moneymaker. It’s how I bring in the tips.”
“You have to play the handsome card because you’re the world’s worst waiter,” Cal pointed out. “If your brother didn’t own the restaurant, you would have been fired long ago.”
Zep simply shrugged. “That’s fair. But like I was saying, I’m not into the drug scene, but the word is Cain is part of that world. His sister was. Suzy Cunningham was a nice girl until she got involved with drugs. Died of an overdose. I would have thought that would teach Cain, but he’s a stubborn fool. And hopefully he didn’t hear that because he can also be a violent fool from what I’ve heard.”
Harry hadn’t gotten those vibes off the man, but hiding his true nature would make him an excellent criminal. “I have to ask why we’re here, then, if it’s so dangerous.”
“We’re walking on the wild side, cos,” Cal said with a grin. “Guidry’s is full of families. Hell, they have a playpen in the middle of the dining room. We’re men. We need our space.”
Couldn’t their space include a regular cleaning? He wasn’t a fussy man, but he liked things to have a certain level of hygiene. He didn’t need to walk on the wild side. He’d already seen the darkness the world could offer. He tried to always look for the light, but Cal seemed determined to push boundaries. A rock song started to pulse through the place and Cal stood up.
“I’m going to go and see if any of those lovely ladies over there needs a dance partner,” Cal said with a smirk, looking over at a table of six women who had been doing rounds of shots. “Come on, Harry. Let’s live a little.”
He patted his right leg. “I’m not such a great dancer. You go on.”
There it was. That silver lining he liked to find. Yes, he’d lost a leg, but on the bright side, he had the perfect excuse not to dance.
If Seraphina wanted to dance, he would try it. Especially if it was a slow song he could sway to.
“Suit yourself.” Cal strode up to the table and immediately had two dance partners.
“You can join him. I’m fine here,” Harry said to Zep.
Zep sat back. “Nah. I’m not much of a dancer. And I’m not looking for a date tonight. Though you should know I could find one if I wanted to. I guess this isn’t really my crowd. The truth is I like Guidry’s bar. Maybe I’m getting old, but fighting and waking up next to someone whose name I can’t remember has lost a lot of its appeal. But Cal is my friend and I can’t let him come out here alone.”
It was good to know someone was looking out for Cal. “How long has he been doing this?”
“Since Wes died and he realized he was trapped,” Zep replied.
“Trapped?” He had to lean in to hear Zep over the music.
“Yeah, Wes was supposed to take over the business,” Zep explained. “I know Cal has a business degree, but he never wanted to manage his dad’s company. He liked marketing. He wanted to move to New York and try his hand with one of the big corporations. He wanted to get out of that house and out from under his mother’s thumb. Wes was the one who was groomed to be the CEO one day. Cal acts like an ass some of the time, but he’s trying to hold it all together. First Wes loses his damn mind and blows up all his parents’ plans, and then he dies. Then not a year later, Cal loses his father. It’s been rough on a lot of people, but Cal hides behind beer and women.”
“It seems to me like Wes’s death was rough on everyone.” He wanted to understand what was going on. No one seemed willing to say more than Sera had been mean to Wes and Wes had run away. It didn’t make sense.
“Yeah.” Zep’s expression had lost its normal lighthearted look. “Town like this, losing a kid is hard. He wasn’t someone anonymous. He was more than a name in a paper, even to the people he wasn’t close to around here. And given that he was a Beaumont, everyone had expectations.”
Even the rich had their troubles. No amount of money guaranteed a perfect life. “That he would take over the company?”
Zep nodded. “And that he would marry young and start a family like his father had. Honestly, I thought he would marry my sister.”
“From what I’ve heard, he would have.” He’d only met Wes a couple of times, but now he remembered that even as a kid he’d talked about his best friend and that she was a girl and so very pretty. He must have been talking about Sera.
“Sera and Wes were always close, but I think she viewed him more like a puppy who imprinted on her at a young age. I was all Team Wes because my sister does not have the best taste in men. Her high school boyfriend never intended anything serious with her. He dumped her the day before he left for college. Wes always treated her right. I knew she didn’t love him, but couldn’t she have given him a chance? That was a lot of money she walked away from.” He waved it off. “I’m joking. Mostly. I doubt the Beaumonts would have allowed Wes to marry Sera even if she’d wanted him. They’ve got their ways.”
“What does that mean?”
“Everyone knows Celeste will move heaven and earth to make sure her children marry the right people, associate with the right people. I know she bought off two of the guys Angie dated before she settled down with Austin. His family owns a bunch of apartment buildings around the South. He went to a good school and got into a profession Celeste approves of. His older brother is growing their real estate empire. That’s the right people in Celeste’s eyes.”
“She’s not as bad as you make her sound,” Harry argued. “She’s been very welcoming of me. After all, I assure you I don’t own some company. I’ve basically got nothing but my truck, my tools, and my dog.”
“But you’re blood and you’re a war hero.” Zep studied him for a moment. “I saw you talking to my sister the other day and then she mentioned she saw you earlier this afternoon. Were you looking for her?”
Ah, he was about to get the brotherly lecture. He should have expected it. “I was out for a run. I didn’t realize her new property was so close to ours. It was a coincidence, but I was happy to see her. Your sister is a lovely woman.”
Zep’s eyes narrowed slightly. “My sister is also a vulnerable woman. She’s got a kid, you know.”
“She’s also got a life. I don’t see how her having a kid means she shouldn’t date. I’ve got a dog.”
“I’m saying there are a lot of men out there who don’t want to raise someone else’s kid,” Zep drawled.
He’d heard that from more than one of his friends who wouldn’t date single mothers. He’d never understood the excuse. “He wouldn’t be someone else’s kid.”
Zep raised a brow.
He was moving too fast and not explaining himself well enough. “I’m not saying I’m looking to get married. I’m only saying that a woman having a child shouldn�
��t be a big deal. If I wanted to date a woman, had a connection with her, her having a kid wouldn’t matter. If I married someone with a kid, the kid would be my kid, too. That’s how family is supposed to work. I know you put the word ‘step’ in front of ‘father,’ but ‘father’ is the important part.”
Zep was quiet for a moment as though taking the words in. “Well, her last boyfriend didn’t see it that way. She hadn’t dated since Luc was born, and then Hallie set her up with this walking bicep who basically wanted to play around. I’ve heard he’s been talking about her around town. I would very much like for him to do that to my face. I apparently have to actually witness the behavior in order to give him the ass kicking he deserves.”
“What’s he been saying?” Maybe there was a good reason Seraphina wasn’t interested in dating.
“The normal guy stuff. I don’t know,” Zep admitted. “People tend to shut up when I walk in, but I know they’re talking about her. I hope this house helps. Sera’s smart, but her plans for the future kind of fell apart when she had Luc.”
“The dad’s not in the picture?” According to Cal, no one knew who the dad was, but her brother would likely know more.
Zep shook his head. “No, and let me tell you that’s a guy I’d also like to have a discussion with. Sera says she doesn’t know. I mean she knows, but it was a one-night stand thing. But I find it odd. Sera is more of a monogamist, if you know what I mean. She’s also not a big drinker. I worry that she got drunk at a party and someone took advantage of her. But again, I’m not allowed to kick anyone’s ass. Luc is great, though. I love that little guy. Wouldn’t have said I liked kids, but that nephew of mine is sweet as pie. He’s always into something.”
“How old is he?” He shouldn’t keep asking questions. Every single answer led him back to the truth. Sera should be off limits for more than one reason. It would upset his aunt if he dated her, and he wasn’t planning on hanging around long term. He would leave and be one more man who’d failed her.