by Gen Griffin
“Well, it was my Dad’s place,” David admitted with a surprisingly calm shrug. “We all know that he was both a felon and an addict.”
“And a thief and liar,” Pappy added. “You ain’t.”
“No, I’m not.” David stared at the old man for a long minute and then sighed. “What do you want me to say, Pappy?”
“You know what I want you to say,” Pappy countered. “We’ve had this conversation half a dozen times if we’ve had it once.”
“You did too much already,” David said after a long pause. He met the old man's eyes carefully and clearly. “You already broke the rules for me.”
“They're my rules. I break them if I want to.” Pappy crossed his arms over his broad chest. Trish suddenly got vision of the force the man must have been when he was 40 years younger than he was right now.
“Its not fair.” David said the words without vehemence.
“I decide what is fair,” Pappy replied. “That trailer wasn't part of our deal. I never intended for it to be a part of our deal. I wanted it razed to the ground a long time ago. Its not acceptable and never has been acceptable.”
“Wait, this is a new turn in the same old argument.” Addison frowned over at Cal. “What are they talking about? What rules? What deal?”
Cal shrugged and looked between his grandfather and his friend. “Good question. What deal?”
Pappy turned to Cal thoughtfully and then he looked back at David. His surprise was visible on his creased old face. “You never told him?”
“I do believe you said you'd string me up by my toes and gut me like a hog if I told anyone, including Cal.” David was completely focused on Joshua Walker now, ignoring the rest of the group. “I'm more afraid of you than I am of him, so no. I never said a word. Not to Cal. Not to anyone.”
Pappy laughed out loud, a deep belly laugh that echoed through the trees. “I'll be damned. I always thought he knew.”
“You said-,” David frowned at the old man, still chewing his lip.
“I remember what I said. I just didn't expect you to obey me quite so completely.” Pappy gave David a wide, approving smile. “If you want to know why I'd break my own rules for you, you ain't got to look real far for the reason. I told you to keep your mouth shut eight years ago and you did. You didn't even tell the truth to your best friends.”
“He thinks I did it on my own,” David gestured at Cal. He looked truly embarrassed for the second time that afternoon. “They all think I did it on my own.”
“And he thinks worse of you for it.” Pappy shook his head at David. “You let him think worse of you just to keep your promise to me?”
“I always keep my promises.” David shifted uncomfortably. “You asked for my word. If he thinks worse of me because of what he thought I did. Well, screw it. He's still my best friend, he must not think that badly of me.”
“Okay, now I'd really like to know what the fuck we're talking about?” Cal crossed his arms over his own chest. He was looking expectantly at David. “What did you lie to me about?”
“I didn't lie to you,” David said to Cal. “I just didn't tell you the truth. I let you come to your own conclusions.”
“Well, now is obviously the time to come clean.” Cal didn't look too happy.
David gave Pappy a questioning look, obviously asking permission. Pappy nodded at him. “Tell him, son. I always thought you had. I never would have cared if you'd have told Cal. I just didn't want you telling Leroy or April Lynne. God knows, their mother would have had a shit fit if she'd ever found out. I didn't want to listen to that old hag carry on.”
“April Lynne and Leroy?” A strange look crossed Cal's face. “Wait a damn minute. You son of bitch.”
“Now, its not his fault Calvin. I did threaten to string him up from a tree and eat his gizzards for breakfast if he told a soul.”
“I'm still completely lost,” Addison said.
“The loan on the shop,” Katie spoke from behind them, startling almost everyone. “Pappy paid off the loan on David's shop back when we were all in high school.”
“Holy shit,” Addison let out a low whistle.
“What?” Gracie turned to Katie in surprise.
“It makes sense. We all know there was a 150K, high interest loan on that shop when David inherited it. The shop was in foreclosure when David's Dad died. Then it just wasn't anymore.” Katie held up her hands in a broad shrug. “I always figured it had to have been paid off somehow. If you go on the property appraiser's website you can see that its deeded to David with no liens on the property. I wasn't ever sure how it had been paid off, but if we're talking about rules, deals, Cal, April Lynne and Leroy. Well, there's only one answer.”
“Such a smart girl.” Pappy smiled generously at Katie. “Always such a bright girl. Are you sure you don't want to leave the Sheriff's department and come work for me?”
“Don't tempt me,” Katie told him with a small smile.
“My offer stands. I'll pay you double whatever Frank is paying you,” Pappy grinned at her. “Double pay. You can bring the baby to work with you.”
Katie's expression had gone from teasing to thoughtful. “Let me talk to Ian.”
“You do that,” Pappy replied.
Cal ignored their conversation. He was glaring at David. “Start talking,” he said.
“It was my high school graduation present.” David spoke the words very softly and very quietly. “Pappy gave me a choice. I could have a property that was identical to this one and go to work for Walker Hardware like you, or he'd pay off the massive loan on the shop and I could start off with the shop and a clean slate. It was up to me to succeed or fail after he paid off the debt.”
“You've succeeded,” Pappy said. Trish could hear the pride in his voice. “You've done damn well.”
“Thank you,” David said to Pappy. He looked up at Cal. “I did everything I could to pay that loan off on my own.”
“I know.” Cal's voice was gritty, as if he were speaking through clenched teeth. “We broke the law quite a few times, trying to pay off that loan. Funny how you never mentioned it was paid off already back when we were risking our asses to save your shop.”
“Every dime we brought in went on that loan, Cal. I never lied to you about where the money was going.” David looked stricken as he released Trish's hand and stood up, holding his hands out in a gesture of surrender. “We just couldn't do enough. The interest rate was 28 percent. Everything we did, we barely put a dent in what was owed.”
“He's telling you the truth, Calvin.” Pappy stood up and went to David's side. “One of the promises I made him make me was that y'all would quit chopping up and selling off those damned stolen cars that Ricky Breedlove had been stockpiling behind the trailer. Y'all were giving your poor mother fits.”
Cal's eyebrows shot up in surprise. “You knew about that?”
“I know about a lot more than you think I do.” Joshua frowned at Cal. His expression was thoughtful.
Cal didn't say a word. He just stood in the middle of the deck and scowled at David.
“I wanted to tell you,” David said.
“You didn't tell me.”
“I promised Pappy I wouldn't. The loan on the shop was so high. He spent twice as much on my graduation gift as he did on the property he gave to you. It wasn't fair. It broke the rules about dividing everything equally. I mean, I'm not even blood.”
“You've always been my blood.” Cal let out a loud snort. “You're my fucking brother. All this time, I always through it was strange that you hadn't gotten a piece of property for graduation the way the rest of us did. I thought you'd turned it down.”
“He has turned it down.”
“Right,” David nodded. “I turned it down. Pappy offered it to me two years after I graduated high school. Remember, that's why we're having this conversation. Again. He keeps offering me the property next door to this one and I keep turning it down.” David gestured to the tree line.
&nb
sp; “Why do you keep turning the property down?” Cal leaned heavily on the porch railing. He leveled his gaze directly on David. “Don't lie to me and say you don't want it. I know how much you like this place.”
“Why do you think I keep turning it down?” David replied to the question with a question.
“I always thought it was stubborn pride. I figured you didn't want your chunk of the Walker legacy, since your Dad always ripped into you for acting more like Pappy than you did like him. I figured you'd decided to sit your happy ass in your Daddy's dump of a trailer because you were still trying to stay loyal to him in some kind of twisted, fucked up way.”
David shook his head no. “I got over the Breedlove legacy the day Pappy decided to give us that firsthand view of the Breedlove legacy. Believe me, I got over it fast. It wasn't all that much fun watching Dad get cavity searched by the warden.”
Pappy sniggered back a laugh. Cal snorted. David shot him a sideways glance.
“You were hardheaded,” Pappy offered with a shrug. “You didn't want to listen so I had to show you. I didn't know he had two packs of cigarettes and three ounces of cocaine shoved up his butthole. Not that I minded him getting an additional two years added to his sentence.”
“It was embarrassing,” David told him. “The most humiliating day of my entire life.”
“Good. It was supposed to be.” Pappy didn't look remotely sorry. “Now why don't you tell Cal the real reason you keep turning down your property when I try to give it to you?”
“I don't think its fair,” David spoke the words so softly it was almost hard to hear him. “If I take the property, I'll be taking the same as everyone else got plus an additional 150K. I didn't want to have to explain the truth to you if you ever found out. I didn't want you to think I was taking advantage or that you had been screwed in some way.”
“Jesus Christ,” Cal muttered. He looked from David to his Pappy and then back at David. “You're an idiot. You should have just told me the truth.”
“I promised Pappy,” David shrugged helplessly. “I haven't lied to Pappy since we were 12.”
“I wouldn't have told Pappy,” Cal shook his head at David.
“I know,” David shrugged again.
“The trailer was a dump.”
“I know.”
“Where's the deed to the property?” Cal turned to face his Pappy.
“In my safe at the store, where I keep all the legal paperwork.”
“Monday morning, write his name on it and file it. Forge his signature if you have to. I'm sick of this argument. I feel like an idiot for not realizing the truth before now.” Cal glared at David, daring him to argue. “When we get my house finished, we'll go ahead and start building a second one. Over there.” He pointed to the property in question.
David chewed his lip without saying a word.
Pappy smiled. “I'll get it done.”
“One more thing,” Cal said.
“What's that?” Pappy asked.
“No more secrets from me. Y'all ain't allowed to keep any more secrets from me. Y'all just made me feel like pure shit.”
“You shouldn't feel bad,” David told him. “If anything, I'm the one who is supposed to feel bad.”
“Bullshit. I feel stupid.” Cal shook his head at David. “You've always loved this place. Probably more than I do. Now I find out that you've been turning down your own piece of it so you can save my sorry feelings.”
“I don't fuck over my friends.”
“You don't know the difference between protecting your friends and doing right by yourself,” Cal said.
“Maybe not,” David admitted quietly. “Maybe I never have understood the difference.”
Chapter 36
“You sure you don’t mind driving my truck home?” Addison sunk down in the passenger’s seat of his state issued truck.
“You definitely don’t need to be driving it,” David replied. He was tossing Addison’s keys back and forth from one hand to the other. “It’d look pretty bad if Kerry busted the County Game Warden for a DUI.”
“Kerry is still technically not allowed to work active cases.” Addy was slurring his words noticeably. “He can’t do shit. Besides, you sent him to the ER earlier.”
“Being suspended and-or otherwise out of commission has yet to stop Kerry from doing a damn thing. You know as well as I do that he’s just as bad about breaking rules as we are. He’d pull you over tonight just because he knows you’ve been off duty for most of the day. He wouldn’t care that he’s technically not supposed to be interacting the public right now. He’d just claim the Sheriff’s Department was crooked and trying to protect you.” David sighed and leaned back against the side of the door frame. “If the sorry little twerp weren’t so focused on destroying our lives, I’d almost have to respect his determination.”
“I hate that little rat bastard,” Addy closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the head rest.
“You’re far from the only person who does.” David pressed Addy’s keys into the palm of Trish’s hand. “Just drive straight back to the house. I’ll follow y’all with the bike.” He gestured to the Harley Davidson motorcycle that was sitting a few feet away from where the truck was parked.
“Please be careful,” Trish said to him. “Its late and you’ve been drinking.”
“Don’t worry about me,” David smiled at her.
“I have to worry about you,” Trish replied. “You clearly don’t have enough sense to worry about yourself. And don’t argue with me because every single one of your friends has said pretty much the same thing.”
“I’ll drive carefully.” David leaned against the door of the truck and bent down towards Trish. His lips brushed lightly across hers in a very gentle, chaste kiss. “I don’t feel like dealing with any more disasters this weekend.”
“No kidding. Grover gave me his truck but I'm still kind of hoping my Honda can be saved,” Trish said. “I loved that little car”
“I’m planning on looking at your car first thing in the morning,” David told her. “Its number one on my to-do list. I'm thinking its totaled but if I can save it, I will.”
“I’m honored.” Trish smiled at him but she had a worried expression in her eyes. “I just hope it’s not going to cost a whole lot to fix. Mom and Perry aren’t going to be happy if I have to ask them for the money for yet another major car repair.”
“Don’t worry about the money,” David said. “Repairs on your car are on the house.”
“David, I can’t expect you to fix my car for free.” Trish shook her head at him. “You have to make a living.”
“You're marrying me, remember?” He smirked at her. “The least I can do is try to fix your car.”
“I still haven't technically accepted your proposal,” Trish pointed out. She held up her bare left ring finger. “And you haven't given me a ring.”
“Don't provoke him,” Addison muttered. “He'll drive somewhere that's open 24 hours and buy you a ring tonight. You don't want a wedding set from Walmart.”
Trish laughed. “I'm not going ring shopping tonight. I'm going home and going to bed.”
“Me too. I’m exhausted.” David stood up straight and gently shut the driver’s side door of the truck for Trish. “Let’s get to the house.”
“I’ll follow you,” she said.
They had barely made it five feet out of the yard when Addy curled up in the passenger’s seat and fell sound asleep, leaving Trish to wonder at the changes in her own life as she followed the taillight on David’s Harley all the way back to the house that was starting to feel more like home than home ever had.
Chapter 37
Trish was exhausted but feeling strangely content as she pulled Addison’s Ford into Granny Pearl’s driveway behind David’s Harley. She glanced over at Addison. He was snoring in the passenger's seat as she cut the engine.
“Addy. Wake up,” Trish said as she cut the engine off. “Addy!”
He did
n’t move.
She watched through the windshield as David cut the lights on the bike.
“Addison, wake up.” Trish grabbed Addy’s shoulder and shook him hard. Addy groaned and curled his long, lanky frame into an even tighter ball.
“Go-away,” he muttered.
“Addy!” Trish yelled.
He sat upright, eyes open. “Huh? What? Where are we?”
“We’re home,” Trish told him.
“Oh. Right. Cool.” Addison blinked. He seemed to be having a hard time getting his bearings. David walked back over to the driver’s side of the Ford and pulled the door open.
“Y’all cozy in here or are you getting out?” He asked. She couldn't get over how damn good he looked with his bare chest exposed under a worn black leather biker's jacket.
Trish leaned into David’s chest. “Have I told you how impossibly sexy you are?”
“Are you drunk?” David asked. He kissed her gently. “I am not sexy.”
“You are.”
“Am not.”
“Are too.”
“Jesus y'all are nauseating,” Addison said. He opened the passenger's side door of the truck and got out. “I'm going to bed. Good night.”
“Night,” Trish told him.
“We made it through a night out without anyone or anything bleeding,” David observed as Addison made his way up the stairs and disappeared into the apartment.
“Good. I don't like blood.” Trish frowned sleepily at him. It was after 11 o’clock. The events of the last week were starting to catch up with her.
David sighed. “I bet I'm getting stuck with the damn couch tonight.”
“Poor baby.” Trish ran her hand down his jawline. “I'd offer to let you share with me, but I'm not sure how Grover would take waking up to you in the morning.”
“Grover,” David sighed. “I had such a good time tonight, I almost forgot about Grover.”
“He's a jerk,” Trish said blandly.
“He's more than a jerk,” David said tiredly. He gestured for Trish to slide over in the seat of the truck. “You and I need to talk about a few things. I wasn't going to do it tonight but since today's theme seems to be revealing secrets that might have been better off buried, I guess we can just talk now.”