Greer pushed the button on the dishwasher, still unsure how he had gotten stuck doing the dishes. So far, the benefits of his marriage were sucking dirt.

Holly and Rachel were still outside, and Logan was sitting in the living room. He grabbed himself a beer. Then, seeing the men sitting around the table, eyeing him, he brought enough over for them all.

“You all could have reminded me to get the dessert plates before I started the dishwasher,” he complained.

“I’ll do them.” Sutton started to gather the dessert dishes, but he waved her to sit back down.

“I’ll do them later. It’s not like I have anything better to do,” he groused.

His brothers and brother-in-law stared at him.

Cash moved the dessert plate away from Ema’s grasping hand. “Matrimony not what you expected?”

“I knew what type of woman I was getting when I married Holly. I just expected more of her.”

Greer ignored Sutton’s incensed glare.

“I bet you’re getting more than I am.” His brother-in-law showed his own unhappiness.

“I think I’m going to go outside to join the other women before I have to listen to any more of you men’s bellyaching.” Sutton went to the window, looking outside.

“It ain’t my belly that’s aching.” Greer snorted.

“Me, either,” Cash confirmed that the last two months hadn’t been easy for him, either.

Greer took a big drink of his beer, watching Sutton move to the other window that faced the barn.

“Why did you decide to break the barn down?” She turned to stare at him over her shoulder.

Greer spat his beer out, going to the window to see what the fool woman was talking about.

“Holly and Rachel, stop that!” Greer took off running out of the house to stop the destruction he had seen from the window.

He skidded to a stop just as Holly swung the axe backward, nearly getting his fucking nose cut off.

“Wo-woman!” Greer stuttered. “What are you doing?”

“We’re chopping down the barn!” his wife yelled back.

As soon as she buried the head of the axe into the board, he gripped the handle, trying to get it out of the barn.

“Ow!” Greer jumped back, his hand going to his other arm. “You bit me!”

“Yes, I did. And you know what?” She pulled the axe up again. “It felt almost as good as me ripping this barn to shreds.”

He watched Holly and Rachel continue with their chopping. “You’ve both lost your fucking minds!”

Greer stared wildly at his family as they came out to see what was going on.

“Have you asked them why they are doing it?”

Greer didn’t know what Tate thought was so damn funny.

“I don’t know why the fu—” Greer broke off when Holly pointed her axe at him. “You see that?”

“I see.” Tate looked at Sutton, who just raised her hands helplessly in the air.

Greer took Ema from Cash. “Go make your wife stop.”

Cash gave Rachel a wary look as he went to her, making sure he kept a safe distance away.

“Pussy,” Greer grumbled.

“Watch!” Holly swung her axe. “Your mouth!”

“Rachel, why are you and Holly tearing down the barn?”

Rachel didn’t stop hacking away at the barn. “Because Pa almost killed Tate in there when he was little, and because he made Greer and Tate spend the night out there.” Rachel viciously twisted her axe out of a piece of wood.

Cash nodded at him, shrugging when he turned back. “That’s a pretty good reason.”

“No, it ain’t. That’s at least a fifty-thousand-dollar barn. Woman, you’re costing me money!” he shouted, pacing back and forth behind them when Ema started crying. “You want something to break apart? I’d rather you hit my truck.”

When the women turned to his truck, considering it, he paled.

“Not my new one. The old one.” He nodded toward the old truck that he had parked beside the barn and his pa’s old tractor. “At least that’s insured. The barn isn’t insured!” he shouted when the women started whacking at it again.

Trying to think of anything to calm them down, he said, “I know! Let’s go tear down his tombstone. That’ll really piss him off!” He lifted his eyes to the sky. “It’s not like I really mean it, God. I’ll talk them out of it before they get to the graveyard.”

“Your father isn’t the only reason we’re tearing the barn down!” Holly hid her axe behind her back, panting as she took a break.

“What’s the other reason?” he asked warily.

“Because you haven’t made love to me since before we were married!”

Dustin, Tate, and Cash stared at him in sympathy.

Blushing, Greer stuttered, “Uh … I was … trying to be sensitive.”

“Pft! You just don’t want me, because I’m lopsided now!”

Shocked speechless, Greer jiggled Ema on his hip.

“See? I told you!” Holly yelled, turning to whack the barn again.

“You may have been right,” Rachel sympathized.

“Rachel, we should take Ema and leave Greer and Holly to—”

“Why haven’t you made love to me?”

“Uh …”

Greer snickered as Cash turned red. He wasn’t handling being under the spotlight any better than he had.

“I was trying to give you time to grieve.”

“I would have grieved much easier with you in my bed.” Rachel swung her axe too hard and the handle broke. Dropping the handle, she didn’t let it stop her, using what was left to pry another board off.

“Okay! I should have asked if you wanted me to make love to you.”

“Yes, you should have! I’m a woman, and I have needs.”

“Damn right.” Holly snorted.

“I’ve stepped into the Twilight Zone. Put that axe down, and I’ll take you in the house and fu—” Greer squealed like a girl when Holly took a step toward him. “I’m holding Ema,” he reminded her.

She narrowed her eyes on him then looked at Rachel. “He’s a six right now.”

“What does that mean?” he asked suspiciously when Rachel gave him a pitying look.

“It means that I think Cash’s a ten when he wears his brass knuckles.” His sister didn’t see her husband preening, hitching his jeans up.

“I’m a six?”

“You’re a ten when you kiss me, but when you don’t put the toilet seat down, you’re a seven. When you’re being a p-u-s-s-i, you’re a six.”

Greer’s eyes went to Logan, who was sitting on the porch, watching his crazy relatives. “I’m pretty sure he’s old enough to know how to spell that word out now.”

“That’s why I misspelled it to throw him off track.”

Greer rolled his eyes. “Yeah, like that worked.”

“Do you hate me?” Rachel lowered her hatchet.

Greer swallowed the lump in his throat at the look of grief on her face.

“God, no! Vixen, why do you think that?”

“Because I healed Holly and didn’t listen to you,” she sobbed.

He tried to reach out for her, but she turned back to hit the barn.

“Vixen, I couldn’t ever blame you for something you were meant to do,” he choked out, going into the barn.

“You better not be doing what—”

Cash came out with an axe in his hand and started tearing the boards out of the barn a small distance from Rachel.

“Do you hate me because of Brett and Lindy?” Holly asked.

“No!” Greer shouted. “They were both as sick as the coon dog my pa had to put down.”

At the mention of his favorite dog, Dustin went into the barn, coming out with a hammer.

Thank fuck, Greer thought. They were out of axe’s.

Dustin used the claw of the hammer to rip the boards out. The boards that had been successfully taken out had reached a pile to his hips.

Greer went to Tate. “Why aren’t you stopping them?” His face was somber.

“There hasn’t been a day since Pa gave us that beating when I didn’t want to do it myself. He always locked us in there when he was mad at us.”

“Yeah, so? We lived through …”

Tate walked into the barn then came out with a crow bar, going to work on the other side of the barn. Greer tried to hand Ema to Sutton so he could go into the barn and get his pa’s still out, but with a shake of her head, she went inside.

“There ain’t anything left …” His shoulders dropped when she came out with a hatchet he used for camping. “I forgot about that one.” He adjusted Ema on his hip, realizing the child was sound asleep.

Carrying her into the house, he passed Logan, who was still watching his family with a serious look on his face.

Laying Ema down in the traveling playpen, he covered her with a blanket then caressed her soft cheek with the back of his fingers. “I love you. Sweet dreams.”

Going back, he saw Logan carrying boards that had been torn off to the pile.

Knowing when he was beat, he went inside the barn, dismantling the still.

Carrying a part outside, he gave Logan a pair of gloves.

His nephew grabbed him around the waist, hugging him tight and burying his face in his stomach. Greer sightlessly stared ahead, afraid he would lose his composure if he looked down at his nephew.

“I love you, Uncle Greer.”

Greer looked down for a brief second. “Boy, I love you, too.” He gruffly patted him on his back.

Embarrassed, Logan stepped back, using his glove to wipe his tears away. “Can we set it on fire?”

“Give me a few minutes,” he agreed, seeing the first sign of life on his nephew’s face since he had been shot.

“Thanks, Uncle Greer.”

He went back inside the barn, removing the rest of his pa’s still and the rest of his useless tools.

He was carrying the last load out when he heard Holly’s loud yell.

“Greer Porter!’”

“Woman, what you yelling for? You’ll wake Ema!”

Seeing what she was holding, he tried to look shamefaced but failed miserably.

“What is this?”

“You know what it is,” he mumbled under his breath.

Tate had taken the side door off, propping it against a tree, not expecting Holly to touch it. The fool woman hadn’t been content to leave anything standing and had torn it apart, finding his cache.

“That’s why you didn’t take my money. You had more hidden!”

“You know how much money it takes to keep Logan fed?”

“I know how much it takes to keep you fed!” she snarled, picking up the packages he had weighed and lovingly packed for sale. She started grabbing them into her arms. “They are going into the fire when you get it started.”

“Are you high?” He tried to grab them back.

Her pearly whites flashed at him.

Snatching his hand back, he tried to reason with her. “I have bills to pay … At least let me keep enough to pay King!”

She handed him one package.

“Woman, did you see how many hot dogs, hamburgers, and champagne we had? It’s not like we served Mad Dog 20/20 in Dixie cups!”

Holly gave him two more packages.

“I still owe for the cake.”

She gave him three packages.

When she still had the majority in her hand, he wanted to cry.

“I have to pay for my truck.”

“Your truck is paid for. Diamond told me The Last Riders paid for it for the work you did for them.”

“That’s what you’re holding in your hands.” The bald-faced lie unashamedly flew out of his mouth.

“You work for The Last Riders by growing weed for them?” she asked skeptically.

“Have you seen how many there are?” A pot grower always had to have an excuse ready to be one step ahead of the law. Not only was he the best grower in the county, but he held the title for the best bullshitter, too.

Growling, she handed him the rest. “You need to tell them you quit, then.”

“First thing in the morning,” he lied without shame.

“I’m going to hold you to it,” she warned.

He lifted his hand in a scout’s promise.

“Were you in the boy scouts?”

“I need to go check on Ema.” He started toward the house.

“I don’t want that stuff in my house!” she screeched.

Greer turned on his heel, heading toward his truck.

“Where are you going?”

Greer bent down to pick one of the packages he had dropped. It was getting harder to make a living. He added this to the minus list that he had made in his head to decide if he liked being married.

Opening the truck, he raised the seat to raise the false floorboard to hide his stash. When he heard Holly, he jerked, adding another minus to his list. It was a sorry day when a man was afraid of his own wife.

“Give me one.”

“Why?”

“I’m going to try to bribe Diamond to let us on her island.”

Handing her a small one, she just stared at it, not moving away.

“Are you planning on going with me?”

Taking it back, he handed her a bigger one. “Satisfied?”

Her fingers closed around it. Then, rising to her tiptoes, she smashed her lips onto his, provocatively thrusting her tongue inside to salaciously kiss him.

He grabbed her arms to pull her to him, kissing her back passionately.

Sucking air when she dropped back down to her feet, she left him staring after her with an open mouth.

Closing the floorboard, he closed his truck and locked it. That kiss was definitely in the add column.

Whistling, he went back into the house to check on Ema.

Grabbing a six-pack of beer, a cola, and the bottle of wine, he carried them outside, setting them down on the porch before getting the water hose, pulling it toward the front of the house.

Motioning Logan back, he poured a small amount of gasoline onto the pile of wood. When he was done, he took out a pack of matches. Lighting it, he then tossed it onto the wood.

With the hose in his hand, he sat down on the side of the porch, satisfied that the hose would be able to cover the distance if the fire started to get out of control.

Cracking a beer open, he handed Logan a soda as they sat and quietly watched Holly, Rachel, Tate, Cash, Sutton, and Dustin tirelessly work, determined to tear the old barn down.

Logan opened the tab of his soda. “Why are they tearing the barn down?”

“They’re replacing a bad memory with a good one,” he explained.

Leaning on the side of the house to get more comfortable, he raised one of his legs up to rest an arm on, holding the beer on it.

“Tearing a barn down is a good memory?”

“It is when you’re not doing it alone.”

Fire sparks flew out when one of the boards slid off the top of the pile, spraying tiny sparks onto the ground. Greer aimed the water hose at the grass, extinguishing the glowing embers. Ashes from the fire danced in the wind.

“You don’t want to make a new memory?”

“I am.” Greer reached his hand out toward Logan. The little boy hesitated before laying his on top. Holding his eyes, he almost stopped, seeing the terror in Logan’s, but he had waited to regain his strength for this.

Concentrating, he latched on to Logan’s spirit, sending him into the night. His nephew tried to pull his hand away.

“Hold on,” Greer told him as he had done when they had ridden the tilt-a-whirl.

He sent them dancing in circles upward, sparks from the ashes surrounding them, lifting them higher.

“Don’t be afraid. I’ve got you. Look around.”

In his mind’s eye, he saw Logan’s fear melt away and his curiosity grow as he stared around him. Experimentally, Logan blew away an ash that had landed on his hand. When they reached the place he wanted Logan to see, the boy stared in awe.

“I didn’t see that far before … It’s beautiful.”

“Yes, it is,” he whispered reverently before he started to bring them back down.

“Wait.” Logan tugged on his hand.

“We have to go. It’s bad manners to stare.”

Greer twirled Logan like one of the ashes spinning around them, gradually lowering them down back to the porch as the sparks cascaded down with them. When Logan blinked, he released his hand.

“Let’s do it again,” Logan begged.

“Nope. I need to save my strength. I plan to take Holly there tonight, so you need to sleep in your own bed. Okay?”

Logan nodded. “I wouldn’t want her to miss the ride.”

“Boy, I plan on giving her a ride she’ll never forget. Watch this.” He snickered, pointing the hose at Dustin’s back and dousing him.

His brother turned, giving him a glare. “That new nozzle is working fine.”

Greer gave Dustin a look. “Sorry!” he yelled out. “I’m not, really,” he said to Logan.

“Will I be able to do that when I get older?” His eyes were bright with expectations.

Greer knew what he was referring to. “No, but I can’t color like you.”

“I like drawing,” he admitted.

“Then you should. Just, next time, don’t take off like when you saw the puppy. Show me or your pa, so we can help you figure it out.”

“Okay,” Logan agreed.

When Holly bent down to tear a board away, he shot her in the ass, reminding himself to put her ass in the plus category.

Her startled scream had both Greer and his nephew nudging each other, laughing hysterically.

“Can I do it?” Logan begged.

Greer handed him the water hose. “Go for it.”