Page 114 of Structure of Love
“Take your time. In fact, I’ve got Si’s number, how about I call him and let him spread the word?”
Logan looked relieved at my suggestion. “Please, and thank you.”
Gently, I asked him, “Was there anything else left to you? A letter, perhaps? Anything?”
Logan shook his head. “I don’t know. I don’t think so. The lawyer said he’d email me paperwork and stuff, but he didn’t mention anything other than the bar. Why?”
“I’d hoped a letter explaining why he left you the bar might help you.”
Logan snorted, but there was no amusement in the sound. “No, Gage. He didn’t leave it to me for altruistic reasons or to try to right a wrong. He left it to me because he only had onebiological son, who he despised. For good reason, granted. He left me the bar to screw over his own kid and because he knew that I, at least, would know how to run it. To keep his legacy going. That’s all this is.”
Fuck. No wonder he looked mad as hell. It seemed Riggs’s theory wasn’t wrong, although I wished it had been. If I could feel the secondhand burn from this inheritance, Logan must have felt like someone had poured lava down his throat. I put an arm around his shoulders, wanting to comfort him somehow. “You sound sure.”
“Because I am. This was something else I realized in therapy.” He leaned sideways, settling his head on my shoulder. “Any decent grandparent would have taken me on. I mean, Grandma did, and she’s the reason I pulled through without landing in prison. But it would have been so much better if Grandfather had actively stepped up, told his son to go to hell, and been the father figure his grandsons needed. If he’d done that, we’d have been better teens and not so dysfunctional of a family. But all he did was limit contact with my father. Like that solved anything. I realized after the fact, the man I idolized didn’t care much for me. It’s why he wouldn’t invest anything into me. Even leaving me the bar in death isn’t a pat on the back. It’s a last resort.”
I smoothed a hand up and down his arm, offering what comfort I could. I wished, more than anything, I could take all his grief off his shoulders. Even half of it. Unfortunately, it wasn’t possible. I’d do what I could to support and comfort him, but it felt so inadequate compared to the pain he carried.
“I don’t know what to do about the bar,” he whispered. “I don’t want it. But unfortunately, that damned old man was right to leave it to me. No one else has an interest in it besides my father, and he’s a horrible person to have as a boss. The bar would go under within a year from bad management.”
“Can you manage both bars?”
“Yeah. I mean, there’s good managers for both bars, it’s not like I have to live at either of them. I’d need to split time between them, make sure my managers are keeping on top of things, but it’s doable. Without sacrificing my social life, that is.”
“Then I say, let it ride for a while. Step over there, tell the employees what’s going on, but that nothing’s going to change for a while. Just to keep doing their jobs. You can decide what to do about it when grief and pain aren’t overwhelming you.”
He turned his head to rest against the crook of my neck, almost burrowing in. “Smart. That’s smart. I’ll do so, but not today.”
“Sounds good.” He had enough on his plate, emotionally speaking. Besides, the bar wasn’t legally his yet anyway.
We sat on the couch for a long time, cuddling. I wished for a necromancer so I could raise the grandfather and then read him the riot act. He’d had a grandson this amazing yet chose to treat him like some kind of afterthought?
With that attitude, I could see why Logan’s father turned out to be an asshole. Assholes begat assholes. Logan just broke the cycle, was all.
The front door started vibrating under urgent knocking. “LOGAN!”
Oh! Grandma was here. I popped up and immediately let her in. “Come in, Grandma. Did you hear already?”
“I got his voicemail,” she answered, pushing past me. “Logan, honey, I amsosorry.”
Logan reached for her, and she sat right next to him, hugging him hard. Thankful, I let her take over for a minute and stepped back into the kitchen to give them some privacy. I might have been overthinking this, but I didn’t want Logan to feel the need to censor himself because I was in the room. Grief should be allowed to pour out without boundaries.
I called Si, since I’d promised. He answered quickly, although there was a lot of background noise. Sounded like a radio and power tools going off.
“Hey, Gage. Didn’t expect you to call.”
“Hi, Si. I’m unfortunately calling with bad news.” I explained the situation to him, short and sweet.
Si whistled low and long. “Shiiiiiiiit.”
“About the size of it, yeah.”
“And literallyno onein the family outside his parents knew?”
“Apparently not, as he’s called several siblings, and they didn’t know. His maternal grandmother just flew through the door. Not even she knew.” I’d expected that, because if she had known, we’d have heard on Saturday. Grandma was very much on her grandchildren’s side.
“Fuck, this is so messed up. You said funeral’s on Friday?”
“That’s what the law office said. It would mean a lot to Logan if everyone came to support him.”