Luke was counting the till when Hank got off his shift. He gave his boss a pointed don’t even try it look, but Luke was a stubborn son of a bitch, and if he wanted to talk about something, then by God they were going to talk about it.

“I’m serious, you know,” Luke said, his eyes never leaving the money he was shuffling through his hands.

Luke had a proper establishment built up. Joe’s now had a pool room upstairs, a kitchen, booths to sit in, the whole shebang. But Luke still counted the money for the till out on the bar top, like this was still a rundown joint and he was the only bartender. It was one of the things that endeared Luke to Hank as a friend, and reassured Hank that his former high school pal hadn’t gotten too much of a swelled head.

“Trust me, I know you are,” Hank replied. “And I’m telling you that everything is fine.”

“With your family, or with being hopelessly single?” Luke asked, with a small smile. “Take your pick.”

“Things can’t be fine with both of them?” Hank shot back, leaning his elbows on the bar top.

Adam entered from upstairs, furiously texting. “Defendant is considering changing their deal,” he said, voice clipped, by way of explanation.

Luke nodded at him and finished counting the till, turning to face Hank completely. “Look. The whole setting someone up thing, I’m willing to put that aside. Our group hasn’t had the best track record with that anyway.”

Hank snorted. That was an understatement. Thank God all the romantic shenanigans had finally died down. Although Davis was kind of being insufferable, now that he had a boyfriend. If he distracted Paul during work one more time, Hank was going to kick the guy out, lifelong friendship or no.

“But this family thing…” Luke shook his head. “You remember the whole legal deal with Seth’s grandparents.”

How could Hank possibly forget? They’d all been waiting with bated breath for the verdict on that one. They all loved Seth, who was growing up far too rapidly for Hank’s liking. And Luke was their rallying point. Their unofficial leader. They wanted him to be happy.

“For years, Dad and Lila and me, we thought those assholes were out of our lives. Lila told them off, and we thought that was the end of it. But then, after the crash, they came back with a goddamn vengeance and I had to finish things once and for all.

“I’m not saying that your folks are like Lila’s parents at all. I think they’re pretty great people. But you gotta admit they’re kind of set in their opinion of how things should be, and I know they’re giving you grief for not conforming to that opinion. And there’s going to come a time when it’s going to come to a head, and you’re going to have to face the issue one way or another.

“I’d just rather see you face it on your own terms and in your own time, rather than having it thrust on you out of the blue,” Luke concluded. “You can take or leave my advice, but that’s what I’ve found. If you deal with the problem head on, on your terms, then it’s easier than if it just knocks you for six out of nowhere.”

Hank sighed. “I know that I probably should, man. It’s not that I don’t see that there’s problems. I’m just kind of waiting for this whole developer issue to settle down.”

Luke shook his head. “I wouldn’t count on it. Adam told me he heard through the grapevine at work that they’re putting a new guy on the job. Ambitious, hungry for it.”

“How’d Adam hear that?”

“His office is in the same building as the headquarters of the development company; he’s actually friends with one of the employees,” Luke explained.

Hank kind of wanted to bang his head against the wall. “Seriously? They can’t just back off?”

Luke shrugged. “You know how these guys are. All about the profits.”

“It’s not like I care all that much in and of itself,” Hank said. “Honestly? That trailer park’s been falling down for years. My family doesn’t have the money to fix it up. I mean, they keep saying they will, but they never do. And they could definitely find another place to live; I mean, it’s a buyer’s market right now, everyone’s up and moving, and the developers are building all of these new houses and complexes.

“And, really, what are they going to do to the place? It’s not like this is a beautiful historic building, or some pristine … I don’t know, waterfall or some shit that they’re bulldozing. This is a trailer park, and they’re probably going to put nice houses over it, or something. Or some more stores. It’s not like this is a huge loss.

“So I don’t really care one way or another, honestly. The developers can take it or not.” Hank sighed. “It’s my family that makes me care. If they lose this…”

“Well, it’s like their heritage in a way, isn’t it?” Luke asked. “You guys have been out there for … man, generations. People get attached to things like that. I hated when I thought I’d have to sell the family home. It’s not like they have much else, do they?”

“We have photo albums, family heirlooms…” Hank shrugged. “Honestly? I think I’d be more okay with accepting their whole schtick if they weren’t constantly punishing me for it.”

“Then we’re back to my original point,” Luke said, “Which is talk to them about it.”

Hank shook his head. “Not when we’ve got a new developer guy coming. They’ll all be up in arms anyway, and they’ll jump down my throat.”

Luke sighed. “Suit yourself then, man, but don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Hank felt his stomach clench. He knew that Luke was right, and he should say something to his family. It wasn’t like he’d abandoned them, but they seemed to think he had, and they showed it in their behavior without actually coming out and directly saying it. Hank didn’t know how to bring it up without it turning into an even bigger — and more official — fiasco than it already was.

Or, worse, they’d accuse him of wanting them to sell, which wasn’t the case. He didn’t care if they did or didn’t sell the place. He just wanted them to let him make his own decisions in life, instead of deciding that everything he said or did was some form of snobbery.

It was all too complicated. The status quo wasn’t exactly fun, but he didn’t know how to change it without making it worse, so he might as well leave it where it was for now.

Luke frowned, looking at him. “That’s why you aren’t interested in finding anyone, huh?”

Hank blinked, surprised. “What?”

“They want you to live with the rest of them, settle down, start a family. If you find someone to date, the pressure will be on for you to conform in other ways. And you’ll have to introduce that person to your family eventually, and, well…” Luke shrugged, smiling kindly at him. “Just doesn’t feel worth it, does it?”

Hank pointed at him. “Don’t you start in with your analyzing me, Luke; I know what you’re doing. Can’t a guy just enjoy being single?”

“I don’t know, do you enjoy being single?”

“I’d enjoy it a hell of a lot more if you stopped rubbing it in my face,” Hank shot back.

Luke laughed. “All right, point taken. But you can’t blame me for wanting to make sure you’re okay. When you’re the only single one in the group … I know it got to Davis after a while.”

“Davis hated being single even when all of you were,” Hank pointed out.

“True. But it got worse once we all paired off.”

“Well, he’s got Paul now, and they’re ridiculous about it.”

Luke chuckled. “True. But … dammit, man, we know you’re not exactly happy on your own. We know it gets lonely. We just want to make sure you’re okay.”

Hank had to admit that Luke had a point … but he wasn’t going to admit that. And it wasn’t that he was unhappy being single. He just wasn’t ecstatic either. It was all right, to be feeling so-so about things, wasn’t it?

Anyway, he was the head cook and barely had a day off. It wasn’t like he really had time for anything. When it was supposed to happen, it would happen. What was the use in pushing it until then?

“Just take care of yourself, all right?” Luke said finally.

Hank nodded. That, he could do. He could take care of himself just fine.