Page 16

Chapter 16

Jack

“You thirsty?” Casey Joe asked.

I wiped a bit of sweat from my brow as I leaned against Henry’s truck. While I hoped to never need the skill of changing a tire, I was grateful to Casey Joe for teaching me.

Henry would have happily taught me anything I needed to know, but I got the feeling he was glad to let his dad step in. It was pretty obvious—and so dang cute—Henry enjoyed watching his dad revisit his parenting years with me. From what I could gather, Henry and Hudson hadn’t been neglected or anything growing up—outside of their mom leaving them—but it seemed like maybe Lance had been the glue holding them all together while Casey Joe licked his wounds.

Casey and I had already done the oil before we moved to the tires. Checking and changing the oil wasn’t nearly as difficult as I had imagined. The fact I could now do something Joseph and Douglas had likely never even attempted filled me with a sense of pride I hadn’t expected.

“Yeah,” I said. The weather was pleasant, but we’d been working for a bit, and water sounded really good.

“I’ll grab us something.” Casey Joe wiped the smears of dirt and grease from his hands with the shop towel we’d slung over the edge of the truck bed. “You want anything to eat?”

“Nah, I’m good.”

The sun warmed my face even as the breeze cooled me. It was a gorgeous day in Haven Grove, and I couldn’t help feeling like the luckiest guy in the world for ending up in this place and with these people.

Casey Joe was more of a father figure to me than my sperm donor or uncle had ever been. I knew the guy had a rough past, and he’d been dealing with healing from that and some medical issues lately, but the way he’d taken me in and treated me like I was one of his boys meant the world to me.

Hudson was definitely the brother I never had. My cousin could have treated me like a brother, but he chose to act like I was worse than shit on the bottom of his three-hundred-dollar sneakers. I couldn’t imagine a world where Douglas Hill was upset his pissant cousin had up and disappeared.

Henry’s brother, on the other hand, had easily accepted me into their little family group, and acted like I was the baby brother he’d always wanted. Hell, he’d taken to texting me funny memes and asking me to come help him in the orchard when I was available .

Feeling like I belonged was a feeling I hadn’t experienced in a very long time, and it would take some getting used to, but I would have been lying if I said I didn’t enjoy it.

Immensely.

Lance was the uncle I only wished Joseph would have been. The age gap between Hudson and Lance wasn’t even something I noticed because they fit together so well; they had a healthy, loving relationship—the type I’d never really experienced growing up—and I wanted the same thing. Lance and Hudson were solid.

The only real tension in that area was between Lance and Casey Joe, but it was easy to see the best friends would eventually work their way back to where they used to be—there was just too much history between them. And both men were just too good deep down to let their friendship wither and die over something that clearly brought Lance and Hudson so much joy.

Casey Joe loved his family. He might not have liked the way Hudson and Lance found their happiness, but Casey wouldn’t begrudge his son and his best friend the joy of finding their other half…even if it took him a while to adjust to the fact their other halves were each other.

And then there was Henry.

Henry Riggs had this reputation for being a grump, but people who really knew him understood he wasn’t truly grumpy. He was quiet. He kept to himself. He took a while to get to know people, and even then, he didn’t do a lot of superficial friendships.

But Henry had a heart of gold. A person just had to be lucky enough to see the other side of him to get beyond the grump rep.

Henry was a big teddy bear, my fierce protector, a knight in shining armor, and my closest friend all rolled into one. Sometimes, it was weird to think about the fact he was also kinda my boss, but we worked so well together, it hardly ever even crossed my mind. Henry insisted we were colleagues, not boss and employee—although, we’d already agreed to see where the thing between us went even knowing the original plan was for me to work for him. The fact we came up with Cake and Cocktails, and I was pretty much running it separately from anything Henry did was a bonus.

“It’s not like you’re on my payroll,” Henry’d said. “The money you’re bringing in on your side of things is a lot more than I would have been able to pay you. You work with me, not for me.”

What he said made sense, but he’d done so much for me, it was hard not to think of how much I owed him. Even if he’d never let me pay him back. That much, I knew.

Footsteps on the gravel pulled me out of my head.

“That was?—”

The man standing near me was not Casey Joe.

I’d seen the preacher around town enough to recognize his overly gelled red hair—his grandson was one of Henry’s trash bandits and would likely look just like his grandpa when he aged.

Larry Holmes’s cheek was bright red. The swollen, split skin had to be throbbing. He jabbed a finger in my direction. “You,” he hissed. “Showed up in town and jumped right into the thick of things, didn’t you, son? ”

Swallowing thickly, I stood up straight. I was taller than the preacher, but he definitely outweighed me by several pounds. I could outrun him if needed, I was sure of that. “Afternoon, Mr. Holmes.”

He snorted, running a knuckle over his swollen cheek. “It’s Brother Larry.” When I didn’t correct myself, he sneered and went on. “Henry is too kind to tell you, but I’m a man of God, and I’ll always tell the truth.”

My heart clenched. I didn’t like him bringing Henry into the conversation.

“I know your type.” His lip curled. “Coming into town, acting like you belong here, getting your greedy little hands into one of our own.”

Oh god. Was that what the town thought of me? Everyone had been pretty friendly ever since I arrived, and the whole town seemed to love Cake and Cocktails—I’d been super busy with flights and orders ever since we opened, and reviews online were positive.

“I’m not sure what you mean,” I croaked out.

“The Riggs family will forever be saddled with the shame and humiliation of their family drama all those years ago,” Larry said. “The last thing they need is your type showing up and making a mockery of their business, running their good name in the ground again.”

Wrapping one arm around myself, I brought the other to my collar, pulling it to my lips. Larry reminded me of my uncle, and I couldn’t help wishing Casey Joe would come back with our waters. Or that Henry would come check on me.

Instead, the preacher went on.

“You’ve been an embarrassment since the day you showed up. A vagabond. Mooching from Henry, taking every bit of hospitality he and this town could give you. And the worst part is Henry’s too good of a man to turn you away. So, he just lets you make the Riggs family name look like trash. He lets you ruin his future, any chance he has at a normal life.” Larry took a step toward me, the movement sending me retreating backward. I clenched my teeth, hissing against the pain of my shoulder banging into the truck’s side mirror. “If you care for that man at all, you’ll take your trashy, sinful ways out of his life, out of Haven Grove, and never look back. Henry Riggs deserves more than another round of humiliation because he’s been duped by you.”

Too stunned to speak—and too much in my head with memories of Joseph and Douglas backing me into a corner like a helpless, injured animal—my breath burned in my chest as Brother Larry hefted his bulk toward the front of the truck. With a purposeful bump of his elbow against my shoulder, disguised as a hand protecting his busted cheek, the preacher pounded a fist on the hood of Henry’s truck. “Think about it, son. We all know the saying, ‘If you love someone, set them free.’ Don’t let Henry suffer again simply because he was unable to resist the wiles of a pretty little sinner like yourself.”

And then he was gone, rounding the corner just moments before Casey Joe moseyed up with four bottles of water. Henry’s dad eyed me, handing me one of the cold waters.

“You okay? Look like you saw a ghost.”

Should I tell Casey what the preacher had said? I knew Henry’s dad would go from zero to pissed in point-five- seconds. The man had no filter, and he was ferocious when it came to those he called his own. But he’d recently had a heart attack, and I knew Henry worried about his dad’s overall health.

No. Best not to get him worked up.

It wasn’t like Casey Joe beating the crap out of Larry would solve anything other than making us both feel a little better.

Plus, if I told Casey Joe, he’d tell Henry.

And I wasn’t sure I was ready to tell Henry.

Partly because it didn’t matter and partly because I wasn’t sure how to bring it up. Plus, what even needed to be done about it? Did I want Henry going after the preacher to defend my honor?

No. Best to just let it go.

But Larry’s words steamrolled through my head, a scalding heat bubbling just under the surface of my skin.

Was I really ruining the Riggs family name? Did all of Haven Grove think I’d come to town just to get my hooks in some unsuspecting citizen? Would Henry be better off in the long run if I left and did a redo of setting up a new life?

I knew without a shadow of a doubt that Henry would let me keep the Cake and Cocktails name, social media, and newsletter. No questions asked. I had a hunch he’d even let me keep the pairings of his cocktails with my cakes.

Henry was the type of man to let me walk away if he thought it would be the best thing for me. He’d send me on my way with a hug, a kiss, and best wishes, and then he’d step back and suffer in silence. Tuck in on himself, lick the reopened wounds of his heart, and probably find someone else to take care of when what he really needed was someone to take care of him.

Nah, I’d just tuck the preacher’s visit in my back pocket unless things changed.