SILVER STILL COULDN’T believe what Wynn and Jasper had told her. Even knowing the kids had come clean as soon as they’d been confronted wasn’t much of a comfort. Autumn had been involved in something that was, if not technically illegal, really wrong. Worse, she’d admitted it had been her idea!
“You have to say something,” Autumn announced from the passenger seat. “Just yell at me and you’ll feel better.”
Silver waited until they were at a stoplight to turn to her. “Do you think this is funny?”
“No, but it’s not like it’s really bad. We didn’t steal anything or break anything. It was just a joke on five or six houses.”
Silver drove through the intersection, then turned on her street. After pulling into her parking space in the alley, she shut off the engine and faced Autumn.
“You think it’s that simple? What about the signs, Autumn? You don’t remember where they go. Right this second, Jasper and Wynn are taking Hunter door to door, trying to figure out who had their house for sale.”
Silver had wanted to stay and have Autumn help, but Wynn had insisted Hunter explain to the people what he’d done by himself. Silver had been so stunned by the events that she’d agreed without thinking.
“You should be helping them,” she said. “You should have to explain to these people why you thought messing with their property was a good idea.”
Autumn sighed.
“You don’t get it, do you?” Silver told her. “What if some family is desperate to sell because they need the money, or their mom or dad got transferred for work, but because of you they miss the one person who would have bought their house? What about the person who’s going to have strangers knocking on their door and not know why? What if someone’s home sick and they have to deal with all that? This isn’t about you. This is about other people. I can’t believe you were so thoughtless and selfish. I can’t believe you came up with this idea.”
Autumn’s face paled and her lower lip trembled. “Some kids did it back home. I thought it was funny.”
“Maybe to you, but not to anyone else. I have to tell you, I’m shocked that you’re capable of acting like this. You knew it was wrong and you did it anyway. I never thought you were like that. I guess your mom doesn’t tell me everything.”
Autumn’s eyes filled with tears. She scrambled out of the truck. “Silver, no! Don’t say that. I didn’t think it was a big deal. I was wrong. I’m sorry. I’m really sorry.” Tears spilled down her cheeks. “Don’t be mad at me. Please. I’ll do anything.”
“It’s not being mad,” Silver told her quietly. “It’s being disappointed by your behavior.”
Autumn started to cry harder. Silver ignored her and got the bike out of the back of her truck. She took it into the downstairs storage room, then headed upstairs. Still sobbing, Autumn followed.
When they were in the loft, Silver turned to her. “You won’t be riding your bike anymore with Hunter and I’m taking your phone away for forty-eight hours. You can talk to your mom on my phone.”
“That’s too much! You’re not being fair. You can’t do that.”
Autumn raced to the bathroom and slammed the door. Silver shook her head, then opened Autumn’s backpack and took out the phone. She went downstairs and put it in the small safe in her office, then called Leigh.
“Hi, you,” her friend said. “I’m on a beach in Hawaii. What are you doing?”
“Questioning my parenting skills.”
Leigh sighed. “Tell me what she did.”
Silver explained what had happened. “I put her phone in my work safe. Is that all right? Is forty-eight hours too long?”
“No. You did the right thing. I can’t believe she did that. It’s horrible and thoughtless.”
“I shouldn’t have let her go bike riding with Hunter.”
“Don’t blame yourself. I love that she had the chance to do that. Our neighborhood at home is safe, but we’re so close to some busy streets, I never let her go by herself. She got a taste of freedom, and then totally messed up. It happens. Now she’ll deal with the consequences. Silver, you were right to do what you did. She’s going to pout for a while, and then she’ll be fine. Autumn is a pretty reasonable kid.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Leigh chuckled. “I nearly always am. Now, how is everything else?”
“Good. Autumn met her great-grandfather yesterday. That was fun for her.”
“Any Drew news?”
“No. It’s not like that.”
“Too bad, because you two make beautiful babies. Anything else?”
“That’s it. Thanks for listening and have a good rest of your honeymoon.”
“Will do and I’ll call Autumn on your phone tonight. Bye.”
Silver ended the call, then went upstairs. About five minutes later, Autumn came out of the bathroom. She’d washed her face, but was still a little weepy-looking.
“Did you call my mom?” she asked.
“I did.”
“Is she mad?”
“She’s sorry you were so disrespectful of your privileges here and hopes you’ve learned your lesson.”
Autumn drew in a breath. “Okay. I finished all my homework already.”
“Good. Then you can help me with dinner. We have our movies for tonight.” Drew wouldn’t be by. He was giving them a girls’ night together, which she appreciated. He would have Autumn to himself the evening she had her first bachelorette party in the space downstairs.
Autumn surprised her by rushing toward her and hugging her. “I really am sorry,” she said as she hung on. “I’m going to work really hard to learn my lesson.”
“Good.” Silver hugged her back. “I love you, Autumn.”
“Even when I mess up?”
“Especially then.”
“I love you, too. Even when you take my phone away.”
Silver laughed. “Good to know.”
* * *
“MOST PEOPLE GO grab a sandwich at lunch,” Silver said as she watched Drew set up the bar. He’d told her he’d been working on his skills and wanted to show off for her on his lunch hour. She’d filled old liquor bottles with water, using food coloring to make the whiskey bottle contents brown. The mixers were real, mostly because they were inexpensive to replace.
“I’m going to dazzle you,” he promised. “You’ll be so impressed you’ll want me at your bachelorette party tomorrow night.”
“That’s not happening. It’s the first party in this space and I don’t care how good you are, I’ll be bartending.” She softened her words with a smile. “Having said that, I could use a little dazzling.”
She’d already told him what had happened with Autumn. After their daughter had gone to bed the previous evening, Silver had called Drew and brought him up to date on the entire afternoon.
“You still upset?” he asked.
“A little. More than a little, I guess. I don’t ever have to deal with the real parenting stuff with her. I’ve always been the fun weekend parent and I like it that way. Leigh does a great job with her. I’ve always been happy on the sidelines.”
“Is this the most time you’ve spent with her?”
Silver nodded. “I’ve done a couple of long weekends, but Leigh was never the kind of mom who wanted to get away from her daughter for a week. This is different—it’s her honeymoon.”
She thought about how the evening had gone. Autumn hadn’t fussed at the loss of her phone and when she’d spoken to her mom, she’d come clean on what had happened.
“This was relatively easy,” Silver said. “She didn’t hurt anyone. The signs got put back in place. She’s lost her bike privileges, so she won’t spend much time with Hunter. I think she learned her lesson, but I’m still in shock that she was the instigator.”
“We weren’t perfect kids.”
“That was different. It was us, not her.” Silver sank onto a chair as Drew cut up lemons, limes and oranges. “It makes me question myself. I wanted to punish her, but when it came to doing it, I felt awful.”
“I think that’s how it’s supposed to go. I think you’re supposed to feel bad. If you enjoy it, there’s something wrong with you.”
She smiled. “You shock me with your insights.”
“Then my work here is done.” He looked at her. “I told my mom about her.”
Silver sat up straight. “I knew she’d met Grandpa Frank, but not...” She couldn’t begin to imagine Irene embracing such living proof of a teenage mistake. “How did it go?”
“She didn’t take the news very well.”
“I’m sorry. Let me guess—she assumes everybody wants something and she reminded you to think about your future.”
He hesitated just long enough for her to know the conversation had been more awful and uncomfortable than she could imagine.
“That and more,” he admitted. “I don’t get it. Autumn is her granddaughter. Why doesn’t that mean something to her? Why is she so heartless? It’s as if she and Libby are from a completely different family or something. Grandpa Frank is a sweet old man. I can’t see him as some ruthless jerk when he was young, so what’s up with those two?”
“I honestly have no idea why they’re like that.” Silver remembered being friends with Pallas in high school. Even then, Libby had been difficult, always finding fault in her daughter.
“For what it’s worth, I don’t think my parents would have been a whole lot more interested,” she admitted. “My dad took off before I was born, so it’s not like he was a kid person and my mom would only care if she could use Autumn to get a guy.”
“You never talk about your parents.”
“There isn’t much to say. My mom lived to fall in love. She went from man to man, falling madly, wildly in love and living the dream until it all fell apart. Then she would be on a quest to find the next one and the next one. She would drag me with her from place to place. It was a nightmare.”
“Is that why you never left Happily Inc?”
“What do you mean?”
“After Autumn was born you could have gone anywhere, but you stayed here. When you sold the bar, you could have taken the money and gone somewhere else. Instead you stayed here and started AlcoHaul.”
“Leigh asked me the same thing.” She shrugged. “I never wanted to wander the world. I didn’t like it as a kid and I sure wouldn’t like it now. This is my home. I like to think I belong here.”
“You do.”
Did she also belong with him?
That question had been whispering to her lately and she didn’t know how to answer it. Saying no made the most sense. Yes, they enjoyed each other’s company and the sex was great, but how could they know if any of it was real? Having Autumn around created a false sense of family. The business was all shiny and new. Once Autumn went back to Los Angeles and they got in a routine with the trailers, she wondered what would happen. Did they want to keep what they had and build on it or would they drift apart?
The thought of not having him around so much made her uncomfortable, but she wasn’t sure why. As sure as she was that she would stay, she was equally confident Drew would one day leave. Happily Inc wasn’t big enough for the likes of him. Even if he didn’t completely follow his parents’ path for his future, he had to be intrigued by the promise of money and power. World influence was heady stuff. She figured he would stay for a couple of years as the head of the bank, then head off for D.C. or maybe New York or somewhere in Europe.
When that happened, she knew he would offer to let her buy him out over time. Or maybe he would stay a silent partner in the business. Either way, he would be gone.
“You ready?” he asked, drawing her back to the present.
“Let’s see what you got. We’ll start easy. How about a classic old-fashioned?”
He’d set up the bar himself. He had garnishes, different kinds of glasses, mixers, a large bowl of ice, martini shakers and behind him, water-filled liquor bottles.
Drew dropped a sugar cube into a highball glass and added a couple of dashes of angostura bitters. He added a splash of club soda, then muddled everything together. He rotated the glass to coat the bottom and the first half inch or so of the sides with the mixture.
Silver was impressed. He didn’t work fast, but he knew what he was doing. He added a couple of ice cubes, then poured in the bourbon.
She’d given him a couple of her pours to practice with at home. She’d been using them for years and could measure the right amount of liquor in her sleep. Each of the bottles of faux liquor had the same style of pours pushed into them. She knew the count, knew how much liquor he should be pouring and nearly came out of her seat when she realized he’d overpoured by half.
“Okay,” she said slowly. “You’re not using a shot glass which tells me you’ve been practicing your pours.”
“I have.” He sounded smug. “I did what you said. I filled an empty vodka bottle with water and got a shot glass with a line that marked an ounce. It took a bit, but I can pour that amount perfectly.”
Or so he thought.
Just to be sure, she said, “Make me a dry martini. With a twist.”
“Gin or vodka?”
“Gin.”
He put ice into the shaker, poured in what she was pretty sure he thought was two and a half ounces of gin, then a half ounce of vermouth, followed by a dash of angostura bitters. He put the top on the shaker and shook it several times before pouring it into a martini glass. He added a twist of lemon peel to the edge of the glass.
“Next?”
“I’ll be right back,” she said, coming to her feet. “Give me five seconds.”
She ran upstairs and let herself into her apartment. After rummaging through a kitchen drawer, she found a measuring spoon. When she was back in the bar, she held it out to Drew.
“You know a pour equals one ounce, right?”
“Yes. An ounce.” He frowned. “Silver, I used a shot glass to make sure I had it right.”
“I’m sure you did. The thing is a shot glass from a liquor store can be one ounce or it can be an ounce and a half. They don’t always say and if you aren’t familiar with the difference and you don’t check...”
His shoulders fell a little. “You’re saying I used the wrong one? How could you tell?”
“I watched you making drinks. I know how long it takes to pour an ounce. You did more than that. Not only will we go through too much liquor, everyone will be drunker than expected and the drinks themselves will be off.” She nodded at an old-fashioned glass. “Pour me an ounce.”
He did as she requested. When he was done, she handed him the spoon.
“Measure it back out.”
He measured out two tablespoons. There was still liquid in the bottom of the glass.
“Damn,” he muttered. “I spent hours learning that pour.”
“Do you use a count?”
“Yes.”
“So all you have to do is figure out what the real count is. It won’t take that long for you to change it.”
“I feel ridiculous.”
She smiled. “You worked really hard. You know your drinks. That’s impressive. You’ll get this, too.”
“I still can’t believe you figured it out just by watching me make two drinks.” He eyed her. “You knew on the old-fashioned, didn’t you? You just wanted to be sure.”
“It’s my business, Drew. I’ve been doing this for a while. I have expertise.”
“I can’t believe I got the pour wrong. So much for dazzling you.”
“I’m still dazzled. Just by other things.”
* * *
DREW RETURNED TO the bank around one-thirty. He couldn’t believe he’d messed up his pour, but he would fix it. Practicing the drinks had been fun and he was looking forward to being a regular member of the team. With his bank job filling his week, he would only help out a couple of times a month, but it would be an interesting change.
He sat through a meeting on banking regulations and met with a client before retreating to his office to clear his emails. Tomorrow he was spending the evening with Autumn while Silver hosted her first ever bachelorette party in the space downstairs. He’d had to figure out what he was making for dinner. Ordering in pizza seemed too predictable.
He had a great chicken enchilada recipe he could put together tonight, and then bake at her place. If he didn’t make it too spicy, he was sure Autumn would like it. Maybe that with chips and salsa and a salad. He wanted something fun for dessert. He called the local bakery to see if he could pick up a dozen unfrosted cupcakes. He and Autumn could frost them together. He would grab tubes of frosting when he went to the grocery store to buy what he needed for the rest of the dinner.
“You’re looking pleased about something,” Libby said from the doorway to his office. “I’m glad. I was worried about you for a while.”
Drew looked at his aunt. He’d always gotten along with her, even when he’d been a kid. He sensed he wasn’t her favorite, but she made an effort. She’d resented him coming to work at the bank, but had recovered and from his point of view, they had a decent business relationship. Now he wondered how much of that was because he was considered the heir apparent at the bank. There was a better than even chance that she could be reporting to him in a matter of weeks.
“May I?” Libby asked as she walked in and took one of the chairs. She touched her pearl necklace. “I see you and Silver are back together. That’s nice. I was afraid it was just a short-term thing, but it seems to be lasting.” She gave him a smile that seemed more terrorizing than friendly. “I remember when you two were together that summer so many years ago. And to think you had a child and no one knew.”
So much for playing nice, he thought as he leaned back in his chair. “My mother knows about Autumn,” he said mildly. “In case you were wondering.”
“Is that her name? I’ve seen her around town. She’s a lovely girl. She seems very sweet. Your grandfather was very smitten by her.”
“I’m glad. She’s his first great-grandchild.”
Libby’s gaze was sharp. “I suppose technically that’s true. Although she isn’t a legitimate child, is she?”
Tension gripped him but he ignored the need to get in her face. “Are you calling my daughter a bastard?”
“Of course not. Drew, what an ugly thing to imply.”
“I didn’t imply it. I asked the question. Libby, let me be clear. Think what you want, do what you want, but stay far, far away from Autumn. If you try to upset her or say bad things about her, I will take you down.”
Her eyes widened. “That’s unnecessarily threatening.”
“Maybe so, but I mean it, Libby. She’s my daughter and I will stand between her and anyone who threatens her.”
Color stained her cheeks. “Well, I never. You’re acting like some deranged animal.”
“And here I thought we were just having a conversation.”
“Not anymore.”
She rose and left. He watched her go, wondering if there was any way she was working with his mother to somehow screw with his life. As soon as the thought formed, he dismissed it. His mother wouldn’t trust Libby with something as important as his future. Which meant his aunt had an agenda all her own. The concept was not the least bit comforting.