Love Connection
Page 50
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Cold air-conditioning and a heavy shot of raucous country music hit Gavin when he opened the door to Silver Spurs. The Friday night crowd was already chugging beers and swirling around the parquet dance floor. Gage and Grayson waved to him from their table and poured a third beer for him from a half-finished pitcher. He took his seat and a long pull from the mug, the cold beer a welcome pleasure after his long day.
“Hey, Gray, I thought you liked that tie.” He set his icy mug on the cardboard coaster.
“What do you mean?” Grayson touched the silky fabric of his navy tie, one of a large collection.
“You know Sally’s going to cut that thing right off your neck if she sees it.”
Gavin nodded toward the pretty young waitress making a beeline for their table, and sure enough, the handles of her scissors peeked out of the pocket on her apron. Silver Spurs prided itself on being casual and rowdy, and ties were absolutely verboten. No exceptions. Grayson loosened the tie and whipped it off his neck before Sally reached the table. She grinned as he shoved it in his pocket.
“I’ll get you one of these days, Grayson. You boys eating tonight? Or will it be more of a liquid dinner?” Sally leaned closer to the men to make her honey-smooth voice heard over the music and crowd.
They ordered burgers and another pitcher of cheap beer and waited for the waitress to get out of earshot before getting back to the business at hand. Gavin took the envelope out of his pocket and shook the pictures onto the table. “I emptied the safe-deposit box like Dad wanted. For a second, I thought I’d found something that would explain why he screwed us on the inheritance, but there wasn’t really anything unusual, except for these.” He set the pictures in the middle of the table.
Gage snapped them up and started flipping through the stack, examining each one. “They’re just family pictures.” He slowed his pace, his expression softening from irritation to a faint smile at some of the memories captured in the images.
“Yeah, at first I didn’t know why Dad had locked them up instead of just putting them in the photo albums, but then it became pretty clear.” Never one to wait patiently, Grayson leaned sideways to see the pictures over Gage’s shoulder. Gavin watched his brothers’ faces as they examined the pictures. “You’ll see what I mean in a second.”
They reminisced and teased each other as pictures of them as babies and kids gave way to more awkward adolescent images. There were pictures of the boys at Guac Olé’s first offices, a few of the kids sitting around the table peeling avocados in the family home’s kitchen, each brother’s prom pictures, graduation pictures, Gavin with the family’s old dog Jasper, a handful of Gage’s football team photos—the usual family memories.
And then there were the pictures of their father with the mystery woman.
“Who the hell is this?” Gage demanded, as though his brothers might know something he didn’t. Typical Gage, barreling forward as though he and Gray had some information they were hiding. And, just like Gavin knew he would, Gage flipped the pictures over, finding no writing. Dad hadn’t left them any clues—no name, place, date, nothing.
“She doesn’t look familiar.” Grayson peered at the picture.
“She and Dad look awfully cozy, and I think it’s damn strange that we’ve never seen her before.” Gavin paused to let Sally place their food on the table, and shook salt onto his fries. “And that Dad left these pictures for us to find, and not just by chance. It’s pretty obvious that he wanted to make sure we found them. It’s got to mean something, but I have no idea what.”
“Maybe she’s one of the women in his will? Macy’s the only one I know. Maybe this is Charlotte or Rebecca?” Gage took a big bite of his burger and chewed thoughtfully.
“It’s not Rebecca. She goes by Becca, and she’s a line supervisor at the plant. Plus, she’s much younger than that woman would be now. Maybe it’s Charlotte.” Grayson shot mustard onto his burger and furrowed his brow.
Gage took another look at the fresh-faced, happy woman in the picture with their father. “You know, this could be Charlotte, but I don’t think so. I wouldn’t completely rule it out, but this woman would be Dad’s age now. I get the impression that Charlotte is probably middle-aged. And miserable. This lady looks way too pleasant.”
“Why would he leave the pictures with no names or explanation? Does he want us to figure it out, or did he just forget they were in there?” Grayson stacked the pictures neatly.
“And these pictures don’t have anything to do with the glasses, the key, or the strawberry. What is going on here?” Gage stabbed a French fry into the ketchup.
“I have no clue, and honestly, the pictures make it even more confusing,” Gavin said. Between losing his dad, losing the house, and discovering that their father wanted them to play some strange guessing game, he wanted to do little more than go home and see his dog. Merle’s loyalties and affection were never in question. Everything with him was straightforward and easy, as long as he got plenty of food and ear scratches.
Too many things didn’t make sense anymore in Gavin’s world.