Page 125 of Structure of Love

I blew out a breath of pure relief. “I’m so glad. Maybe he’ll settle now that he’s found a good job.”

“I think between the job, his therapist, and his life coach, he’ll turn out fine.”

The life coach had been the biggest and most immediate change, honestly. Cooper had gone in for his appointment, then come out three hours later with all these goals and ambitions and an action step plan on how to go about them. I hadn’t recognized him when he’d told me about it. Who was this person excited for the future and knew how to achieve it? Surely not my little brother.

Cooper had stuck to those plans now for over a month. He’d done every action step without flinching and had even gone back to his life coach for personal fitness goals, too, which I honestly hadn’t seen coming.

His therapist was doing him good, too. He’d learned how to communicate better, he was reining in his self-destructive habits, and he’d even started hanging out more with Logan’s friends. I thought having a circle of friends who had no prejudice against him—unlike mine—also helped. No one knew of him as this troubled kid with substance issues. They saw a young man trying to make something of his life and encouraged him.

Cooper was absolutely doing better, and I planned on throwing him one hell of a birthday party come January. Not that he knew it yet. For this much growth, he deserved to be celebrated in style.

“He and Erin have started playingHelldiverstogether,” Logan threw in. “Not sure if you heard about that.”

“I knew he was playing something online with friends, but not that he played with Erin.” That was great, though. Erin was the little sister neither of us had ever had, and she was just awesome. Erin also seemed to be a positive influence on Cooper because she took shit from no one. A trait that had become emboldened since moving in with Logan.

“She said it’s great fun. If Cooper’s doing good hobbies instead of destructive ones, I’m all for it.”

“Amen.”

My fish and chips were served, and I sighed happily. “I’ve been looking forward to this all morning. You’ve got good cooks.”

“Damn right I do. I pay them above market, too, so they don’t leave.”

“Smart man.”

He kissed my forehead and left me to lunch. I knew he was busy with the bar and let him go. I’d be back tonight, helping him pack up what things they could move to the new location.

Being November, it was cold, because Michigan. We hadn’t had a snowfall yet, but there was one in the forecast. I could only hope we got everything moved over before it snowed, because inevitably, someone would slip on ice, and there went a box of dishes.

Logan had wisely taken the chance to upgrade tables and chairs for the main floor. This set was kind of done in, with all the use they’d seen. He’d scrap the ones past repair, and the ones still in okay condition would be taken up to the secondstory where parties could be held. Not as much use that way, and hopefully the tables and barstools lasted a little longer.

He had bought those arcade games from the guy in Saline. They were at a workshop getting fixed, so fortunately I didn’t have to move the suckers. I’d helped Logan fetch them and take them in for repair, and they werenotlight, let’s say that. They would be a great addition to the bar once they were in, though.

New furniture there meant we had less to move over, which we were all thankful for. My truck, of course, would be used to haul the heavy stuff.

I went back to work, did the thing, then ran home to change into workout clothes. The major move wouldn’t start tonight, of course, but all the party stuff and event items Logan used throughout the year could be moved over. Anything helped at this stage.

I returned, backing in so the tailgate faced the back door, then hopped out. All right, Logan had moved everything to this one back room, so it should be a short distance to carry stuff—

I heard the scuff of shoes on pavement before a male voice called, “Gage?”

Turning, I spied Logan’s father. Uh, what was he doing here?

Since the funeral, a lot of things had happened. The McNair parents had announced their divorce, which no one had seen coming. Their mother refused to come around and admit she’d majorly screwed up. Raymond, though, had made progress. He’d called each child and apologized, which had been a great first step. Rumor had it he’d even started therapy.

Logan was getting all of this news second hand from his grandmother because he refused to engage with either of his parents. And I didn’t blame him. Which was why it was really, really strange Raymond was here. I wasn’t expecting my future father-in-law to be here, of all places. Also didn’t know how the hell to react to him. Awkward was an understatement, but I hadto say something. Standard greeting, go. “Hi, what brings you here?”

“I don’t have any way of reaching either Logan or Erin and I wanted to talk to Logan at least.” He shuffled his feet, looking uneasy. “I heard he’d given most of his inheritance to his siblings. I wanted to know why.”

“That was Erin’s idea, actually.”

Startled, his head jerked up. “How do you know that?”

“Because I was part of the conversation. Logan asked for advice on what to do. Erin suggested splitting up the money among the siblings. Said it was only fair since he got the bar, and Logan agreed. Why?” I didn’t like how he was asking this.

He had no chance to respond before Logan stepped outside. He had his mouth open to say something to me before spotting his sire. His expression changed immediately, closing off, body going taut with unhappy surprise. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to you about the estate money.”