Hank felt like shit.

Everyone at the bar could tell when he came in. It was late, but not so late that he’d missed last call. He’d been planning on just going straight home, but then that fight with Eric had happened, and he just couldn’t be alone with his thoughts.

He wanted to strangle Paul just a little, but Paul had only put the idea out there. Hank had been the one who’d decided to go along with it. He’d been the one to hurt Eric.

Eric, who cared more about his job than anything else. Hank had a right to be a little upset about that part, didn’t he?

But he’d messed up. He’d messed up bad. And he had no idea how he was supposed to fix it. How could he even look Eric in the eye when they inevitably met again to take care of the trailer park?

“What happened?” Jake said in a long suffering tone.

“Nothing,” Hank replied automatically.

“Don’t give us that,” Lance said. “You’ve been surly and moping since you got in here. C’mon. Spill.”

Hank looked around to see all the others watching him, including Paul and Luke behind the bar top.

It looked like he wasn’t really going to get out of this — and he kind of did want to tell somebody, dammit. He wanted to get it off his chest.

“I messed up.”

He quickly told them everything that had happened. When he’d finished, Davis stood up on his barstool. “Paul, babe, c’mere.”

Paul walked over and Davis slugged his boyfriend in the shoulder. “Ow!” Paul rubbed at his arm.

Davis wasn’t the burliest of guys, but he played football every weekend. His punches had strength behind them. “I can’t believe you told Hank to do that!”

“Am I going to have to sleep on the couch?” Paul asked hesitantly.

Davis let him sweat it out for a few seconds before shaking his head. “You get off easy. This time.”

“Seriously, you went along with this knucklehead’s idea?” Matthew asked. “We all know the only things you ask Paul for advice on are sex moves and alcohol.”

“Thanks, guys,” Paul said dryly.

“I know I screwed things up, but a reminder’s always fun,” Hank said. “C’mon, guys; how do I fix this?”

Everyone fell silent for a moment. It was Luke who eventually spoke up.

“I think that it’s time you were honest with your family,” Luke said. “We all know them; they’ve been clinging to that place for years. Would it really be so bad if they moved on?

“I get that it’s important to them, I do; but they’re just dragging out the inevitable. They need to end this thing with their heads held high. And they need to accept you.

“I know you see it as an honor, but these people have been driving you nuts for years, and now they come to you asking for a favor? That doesn’t seem very fair to me.

“I think you need to talk to them and stand up to them for once. Tell them that they can’t judge you forever, and then come to you only when they need your help. Tell them that it’s time to move on and stop clinging to the past. It’s all they do; it’s like they’re the royal family or something.”

Hank had to laugh a little at that.

“I’m serious,” Luke told him. “You deserve better treatment, and they deserve to not be so goddamn attached to a crumbling, crummy trailer park that they can’t take the deal and move on with their lives. I’m not saying that the development people are in the right here, but I’m saying your family isn’t fully in the right either.”

Hank thought about that. All the other men were nodding in agreement.

That was how he found himself outside of Grandpa’s trailer the next morning.

It was sad, honestly, that he couldn’t remember the last time that he’d spoken to Grandpa. He wasn’t even entirely sure what he was doing here. It was just that — well, Luke was right.

Hank had let his family ignore him and judge him, and he’d been avoiding them as a result instead of standing up to them and trying to fix this, and now it was all exploding. This had to be sorted out, one way or another.

Even if nothing worked out with Eric. If he convinced his family to give up the trailer park, then he might — might — win Eric back, but he doubted that was a guarantee.

The door opened and Grandpa stood there. Hank didn’t see much of himself in Grandpa, but he could see a lot of his mom. They had the same jawline, the same piercing eyes.

Hank swallowed. Even now, as a grown-ass adult, he couldn’t quite shake the feeling of adolescent fear. Grandpa had been the ultimate authority when Hank was a kid, bringing down the hammer when Hank or Theresa misbehaved.

“Do you have a second to talk?” Hank asked. “I know it’s been a while, and I’m sorry about that.”

Grandpa nodded. “C’mon in.”

Hank entered the trailer that he’d known since he was a baby. Not much had changed, although a few things had altered after Grandma had died, her things put carefully away, her clothes given to charity.

“Sit down,” Grandpa said. “Do you want some coffee?”

“I’m okay, thanks,” Hank replied. “Um … I need to talk to you about … about the park and the developers, but also just about me.”

“Everything okay with you?” Grandpa asked. “I heard there was a guy you were flirting with. You want to bring him to the next family dinner?”

Ugh, would the gossip in this town never cease? “No, uh, that was — not really anything.” Hank took a deep breath. He had to say all of this before he chickened out again.

“Look, Grandpa … I know that you guys don’t approve of how I live my life. I know that you think I’ve turned my back on you all.

“And I kind of have. You’re not wrong. I’ve been avoiding family dinners, not calling or texting as much. I’ve stopped coming by to say hello. And that’s not right of me, and I apologize for that.

“It’s not because I don’t love you guys, or that I’m ashamed of you in any way. It’s just that I could feel your disapproval about how I choose to live my life, away from you guys, doing my own thing, and then it … it became a feedback loop, I guess, where I was being the way that you guys feared I would be, because of how you guys were acting, but that only made Aunt Laura and the others more upset, and then that made me stay away, and … you see how it goes.”

Grandpa looked at him for a long, hard moment. Hank wasn’t sure what his grandfather was thinking — he never had been.

“Look, I want to apologize for that, but I also want to ask that you guys start respecting my life choices, and that you stop making me feel bad for pursuing the life that I want. It’s not a reflection on you guys. It’s not because I don’t love you all. It’s just how I am.”

Grandpa was still eyeing him, and Hank thought that maybe he’d come on too strong. Maybe he should’ve accepted the coffee and eased into this.

But then Grandpa’s eyes softened, and he gave a slow nod. “I think that you’re right. I’ve noticed how you’ve been avoiding everyone lately. I guess I thought that asking you for your help with this development company would be a good olive branch. But it probably just looked like we were using you.”

Hank nodded, not wanting to lie. “I was flattered, but you can’t ignore the fact that the first time you all trust me with something is when you need my help.”

Grandpa rubbed at his chin. “I admit, not all of us have been happy with your decision. But it could be that we were projecting our own frustrations onto you. People have been more than happy to label us as white trash for years. I guess we thought that your behavior was because of that … when we should’ve just talked to you about it.”

Hank had to admit he was relieved that his grandfather was being so reasonable. It was like he could breathe properly again.

Grandpa smiled at him. “What, did you think that I would snap at you? Give me some credit.”

Hank felt properly chastised. “I don’t think I’ve been giving anyone enough credit lately,” he admitted. “But there’s another bit, one that I think you’re not going to like as much. About the trailer park.”

Grandpa’s brow furrowed. “How about I make us some coffee, and we can talk about it properly.”

Hank nodded. He had a feeling this was going to be a long talk.