Nick loosened his collar and walked into Calhoun’s, the local pub, to meet up with Tyler.
He spotted him at their usual corner of the bar, beer in hand and striking up a conversation with a brunette. Since Nick knew every person who lived in Red Maple Falls and didn’t recognize the woman, he assumed she was one of the many people visiting the ski resorts just outside the town limits.
Calhoun’s was popular for their great beer, including three of Five Leaf Brewery’s on tap, and their burgers. But for the single population of Red Maple Falls it was the place to meet someone they hadn’t known all their lives.
Tyler had that look girls loved—dark blond hair and blue eyes—and he knew it. Sometimes Nick wondered what Tyler would do if he didn’t have his looks to fall back on.
He waved to Billy behind the bar, and Billy gave him a nod to acknowledge him. Billy grabbed a pint glass and filled it with Nick’s favorite beer, Five Leaf Brewery’s Hippity Hop IPA, and slid it across the bar top to him.
“Thanks, Billy. How’s the coconut stout selling?”
“Really well. People are loving it. Declan already said he’s going to be ordering another keg from you soon.”
“Awesome. That’s what I like to hear. Hopefully in a few weeks we’ll have a badge to attach to it.” Mason and Cassie would be bringing it to competition. Hippity Hop IPA took gold last year. That gold badge helped propel the brewery and was a great selling point for Nick to use whenever he could. Another badge would just be another weapon in his arsenal when it came to increasing distribution.
“We’ll be crossing our fingers for you guys.”
“Thanks, we appreciate that.” He tipped his head toward Tyler. “How long has that been going on?”
“I’d say about fifteen minutes, so if he hasn’t sealed the deal yet, it’s not looking good.”
Nick laughed. “Thanks, Billy. I’ll talk to you later.” Nick grabbed his beer and made his way over to Tyler and the mysterious brunette.
Tyler finally took his eyes off the girl and spotted him. “Hey, my man, what’s going on?”
“You tell me.”
“Go grab a table. I’ll be there in a second.”
Nick didn’t even wait for an introduction; he knew the girl was just a flavor of the night. In a few hours, if she wasn’t in Tyler’s bed, he’d never even remember her. Nick didn’t feel like meeting anyone new today anyway.
He grabbed a high-top and slid onto a stool, placing his beer on the table. Tyler whispered in the brunette’s ear, and she gave him a seductive smile. Nick diverted his attention to his phone and answered a few emails before Tyler finally made his way over to the table.
“Sorry about that,” he said as he sat across from him.
“Whatever.”
“What crawled up your ass? Wait. Don’t tell me. About five-two. Hundred and fifteen pounds. Curly blonde hair. Big blue eyes.”
“I kissed her.”
Tyler’s glass hit the table with a thud. “You what?”
“I mean she kissed me. Either way we kissed and then we had a huge fight, she told me she hated me and I told her to do what she does best and leave.”
“Holy shit! You found your balls.”
If he only knew the half of it. “It gets better.”
Tyler leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, an amused smirk forming on his face. “I can’t wait to hear this.”
“She’s working at the brewery. At least until she goes back to New York. So I can’t stay away from her even if I want to.”
“Do you want to?” Tyler asked.
The answer should be a simple, yes, but it wasn’t. Nothing with Daisy was ever simple. “I have no fucking clue. Oh, and to put icing on the cake, my mom’s staying in South Carolina.”
“For the rest of the winter?”
Nick took a swig of his beer and swallowed down the cold liquid, hoping it would ease the tension in his shoulders. No such luck. “No, for good,” he said.
Tyler sat up, folding his arms on the table. “I did not see that coming. So what are you going to do then when she sells the house?”
“She’s not selling it. She gave it to me.”
Tyler’s eyebrow lifted. “What?”
He sounded as shocked as Nick had felt and strangely it gave him comfort, knowing he wasn’t the only one completely caught by surprise.
“She told me I could do what I want with it. I can keep it, remodel it, or I can sell it. But if I sell it, she wants me to give part of the money to Kevin, which is only fair.”
“Definitely.” Tyler nodded in agreement. “You’re selling it right?”
“I don’t think so.” It had only been a day since he spoke with his mom, but the more he thought about it the more he realized if he sold the house he’d be selling the last link he had to his dad. He couldn’t do that, and his mom said she didn’t want to come back now, but what if that was the grief speaking? What if in the future, when things settled a little more, she decided she wanted to come home but there was no home to come home to because he foolishly sold it?
“So let me get this straight,” Tyler said, jabbing his finger at the table. “You’re going to live in your childhood home with the same furniture that’s been in there since you were ten?”
“I could get new furniture.”
Tyler raised his hands like he knew this was a wasted conversation. “If that’s what you want to do.”
It had nothing to do with what he wanted, it had to do with what he felt was the right thing to do. His dad installed the kitchen cabinets, laid the living room carpet, replaced the bathroom tile, so how in the hell was he supposed to just walk away from that? From everything his dad built? Tyler wouldn’t understand. His relationship with his father was different. And if his dad needed something done, he hired someone to do it.
“I’m hungry,” Nick said. There was no way Tyler could fully grasp Nick’s reasoning behind his decision and he didn’t feel like trying to make him. He just wanted to have a burger and talk about mindless bullshit. Did you order anything?”
Tyler smirked, his eyes drifting back to the bar. “I was too busy feasting on that brunette.”
“Do you even know her name?”
His eyebrows pulled together and he looked deep in thought. He raised his finger then let his hand fall back to the table. “She told me, but I don’t remember it.”
“Sometimes you really are an asshole.”
“I know.” Tyler smiled. “It’s great, isn’t it?”
Nick shook his head and waved over one of the waitresses. He and Tyler put their orders in and then went back to their conversation. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the mindless bullshit Nick had been hoping for.
“I think it’s time to cut ties,” Tyler said.
Nick took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I wish it were that simple.”
“It is. You have to let the past go, man. And I’m not just talking about Daisy, though she’s part of it, but you live in your parents’ house, you’re driving your dad’s truck. Other than your job, you’re stuck in the past. How the hell do you ever plan on being happy if you’re letting all that shit anchor you down?”
“I don’t see it that way. It’s not anchoring me. The truck, the house… They’re all I have left of my dad. I can’t let them go.” Nick shook his head. “Forget it. You wouldn’t understand.”
“Wrong,” Tyler said, and the muscles in Nick’s shoulders tightened. “That’s not all you have left of your dad. Those are just things, possessions, they have no real meaning. “Look in here”—Tyler tapped his head then pointed to his chest—“and here. Everything you need, all that matters, are there in those two places. You don’t need a truck or a house to remind you of that. They’re crutches, giving you something to lean on when you’d be better off to move on without them.”
“Maybe they are just crutches, but I’m not ready to give them up. Those memories that you’re talking about I’m reminded of them every day because of that truck and because of the house. What if, without them, I forget? What if I forget?”
And there it was, the truth. Nick had been so focused on holding onto the things his dad had built, the home he made, the truck he kept going for all these years, but in reality, he was terrified if he let them go, he’d be letting the memory of his dad go too. The house and the truck kept him alive in his mind. To get rid of them would be to get rid of his dad piece by piece until he was nothing more than a distant memory. And in time, he wouldn’t be able to remember him at all.
“You won’t forget.”
“How the hell do you know that?” Nick asked. Was there some secret he didn’t know about? And how the hell was Tyler privy to this information and he wasn’t?”
Tyler’s casual demeanor turned serious as he met Nick’s gaze. “I just do.”
His words weren’t all that reassuring. He wanted, no, he needed a guarantee that his dad’s memory wouldn’t fade, before he made such a massive decision.
The waitress brought over their burgers and fries and Nick was grateful for the interruption. He didn’t want to talk about the house, or Daisy or his dad anymore. He nodded to Tyler, remembering his phone call the day at the bus station. “What did you want to talk about the other day?”
Tyler’s eyes widened with excitement. He put his burger down and wiped his mouth with a napkin. “I need you to keep an open mind,” Tyler said and Nick held back a laugh. So many of their conversations started this way. Tyler was always coming up with new business ventures he’d be excited about for a month then Nick would never hear about it again. Still, he humored him.
“Go on.”
“Have you heard about those online listing sites where people rent out their houses. It’s a huge thing right now. So I was thinking, we buy a few houses in the area and get in on the action. Red Maple Falls, while small, is close to a lot of vacation spots. We have the ski slopes right outside the town limits, the fall festival, and those weird people who come to look at leaves, and not to mention the brewery. Then there are people who want to get that small-town experience and what better way than good ol’ Red Maple Falls.” Tyler continued on about the pros of this venture never once touching on the cons. Still Nick listened with an open-mind. Finally, Tyler looked at him hopeful. “So what do you think?”
“It’s one of your better ideas, I’ll give you that. But how are you going to afford to pay a mortgage on multiple properties? Not to mention the upkeep; it’s not cheap.” Nick would know. Just this past fall, he had to replace his boiler and it set him back a pretty penny. Luckily for him the Hayes brothers helped him out, and he paid for the labor in beer.
Coming from money, Tyler never thought about the expense part.
“The houses will pay for themselves. Once I get them up on that site, they’ll be booked up.”
“But what if they aren’t? It’s great to be optimistic, but you have to measure risk. You can’t ignore it. Maybe you should wait a year until you have access to your trust fund.”
Tyler shook his head. “I don’t need that money.” Tyler’s determination to prove to his dad that he could run a successful business without his help, would be his downfall.
“I just think you should take a minute and weigh the pros against the cons.”
Brooke Marshall spun around on her barstool and smiled. “Another harebrained scheme you got going on there, Carrington?” she said, sliding off her stool and coming over to the table.
She had a line of freckles across her nose that gave her a look of innocence, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. Brooke never hesitated to speak her mind, especially when it came to Tyler.
Their feud had been going on since middle school, but despite being Tyler’s best friend, Nick had no idea what started it. It’d been going on for so long he didn’t even think they knew anymore.
She plucked a fry off of Tyler’s plate and took a bite. Most nights she was waiting tables at Calhoun’s, but she must’ve had the night off.
“At least I’m trying to do something with my life. But I guess you’re content waiting tables, Hearts.”
She wrinkled her nose at the nickname. “Not everyone can live off of Daddy. Some of us actually have to work for a living.”
“Oh, because I don’t work?”
“Working part-time for your father, who probably pays your bills too, isn’t exactly working for a living.”
Tyler’s jaw clenched. “You have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Nick could let this go on—hell, it wouldn’t be the first time these two had had their claws out—but he’d already dealt with enough drama for one day. “While I’d love to play referee for you two, I really need to get going. I have an early day tomorrow at the brewery since Mason will be at the hospital.”
“Poor Betty,” Brooke said then her dark gray eyes turned curious. “I heard through the grapevines you and Daisy had a run in. How is our girl doing?”
“Don’t know. Don’t care.”
“Oh Nick you’re as transparent as you were back then. You’re hooked on a bad habit you can’t quit no matter how bad it is for you.”
“That’s what I said,” Tyler added, and Nick cut a sharp glance in his direction.
“Now you’re going to take her side. Seriously?”
“What can I say? She makes a good point.”
Brooke pressed a hand against her chest, fingers splayed. “I don’t say this often, so savor it. Thank you.”
Nick tossed his napkin on the table and threw down a few bills. “I got to go. You two can rip each other’s throats out for all I care.”
“All of this built up hostility,” Brooke said. “Can make for some great sex.” She held her hands up when he turned his glare on her. “Just saying.”
“I could say the same to you.” He looked from Brooke to Tyler.
Brooke turned to Tyler, lip curled in disgust. “God no.”
Nick laughed. “Goodnight.” He grabbed his coat and headed out the door, even though he knew he’d never sleep now that the vision of Daisy naked beneath him was firmly planted in his head.