Dan picked up the phone after just two rings, almost as if he’d been sitting and waiting for me to call. And who knew, maybe he had been.

“Is this who I think it is?” he asked when he picked up.

“Now isn’t the time to play cutesy,” I said. “I want to talk business.”

“Good, so do I. Have you given my offer any thought?”

“I wouldn’t be on the phone with you right now if I hadn’t,” I said and he chuckled.

“So I take it George’s being dragged along for this?” he asked.

“Something like that, yeah,” I said. “He’s a little less open-minded than I am.”

“If that’s not an understatement, then I don’t know what is,” he said.

“Whatever, that’s not why I called. Look, both of us are more than a little suspicious about why you would suddenly swoop into town and offer to save us. We do have a bit of a checkered past,” I said.

“I know you find it hard to believe, and I know it doesn’t make much sense, but I really just want to help,” he said. I didn’t buy that for a second.

“You do a good job of acting like a benevolent humanitarian,” I said and he laughed.

“Jason, seriously, I’m not trying to trick you or get back at you or whatever the hell you think is going on here. Look, if you don’t believe me, why don’t we meet up at the bar and I can bring over some documents and things I’ve already had drawn up?” he asked. Of course, he’d already prepared things.

“Sounds good to me. Are you free now?” I asked. The bar was dead, as usual, so it wasn’t like I had anything better to do, and the sooner we got this over with, the better. It was almost as if the word had already spread, and I wouldn’t have been surprised if it had, that things were not going well for us.

“As free as I can be,” he said.

“Good, then I’ll see you in a few minutes,” I said and hung up without saying goodbye. I stared down at my cell phone for what seemed like an eternity, wondering what the hell I’d just done. We hadn’t signed any paperwork or anything yet, but somehow I knew this negotiation was only going to go one way.

“Is he coming?” George asked. I hadn’t bothered to leave the room to make the call.

“Sure is, and it sounds like he’s already on the hunt,” I said.

“What do you mean?”

“He said something about bringing over documents he had drawn up already,” I said and George raised his eyebrows at me.

“I told you something didn’t feel right about this,” he said.

“We’ll see. I guess it just depends on what he brings to the table,” I said, though it didn’t really matter. We weren’t going to find anyone else in the world who would be willing to loan us $200,000—at least not anyone in their right mind. So, we spent the next few minutes sitting in anxious silence, neither of us are sure of what to say or what to do.

“Everything okay in here?” a voice called, making us both jump. Mike, the bar’s cook and one of my best friends, poked his head through the office door. Almost every inch of the apron he wore over his plaid sweater was stained with grease from the friers. “Y’all look like you’ve seen a ghost or something,” he laughed.

“Not yet, but there might be a couple of dead people in this room by the time this is over,” George said.

“By the time what’s over? What the hell are y’all up to now?” Mike asked.

“Well, you might be getting a raise soon, and a pretty big one at that,” I said and Mike raised an eyebrow at me, his bushy beard traveling up his face along with it.

“Am I supposed to laugh at that?”

“Yes, you are. He’s totally clowning you,” George said and dug an elbow into my side.

“What the hell’s going on? Is there something you need to tell me?” Mike asked, crossing his arms over his chest.

“There is, but we don’t have time to talk about it right now. Look, can you cover the floor for us for a few minutes?” George asked, gracefully dodging the awkward conversation.

“Do I have a choice?” Mike asked.

“No, as a matter of fact, you don’t, now get out there and make us proud,” George said.

“Yeah, I’ll try,” Mike said, rolling his eyes as he left the room.

“What the hell is wrong with you? Why would you do that?” George asked, turning on me.

“He had to find out sooner or later,” I said, shrugging.

“No, he didn’t! What if we ink a deal with Dan and the bar’s saved?” he asked, but I never got the chance to respond because the jingling of the bar’s front door made us both jump out of our chairs.

“Here we go,” I said and without another word, I stepped out of the office and crossed the bar to find Dan standing there waiting behind a pair of ridiculously oversized aviator sunglasses. Under one arm, he carried a leather folder of some sort, which I could only assume held all the documents he said he had ready for us.

“About time,” I said, checking my watch and tapping it. He smirked and shook his head before taking off his glasses.

“Very funny, I came as fast as I could,” he said.

“Oh, did you have to wait for your driver to finish eating his caviar?” I asked. He raised his eyebrows at me.

“Careful, you wouldn’t want to ruin a deal before it’s even begun,” he said.

“This way,” I said, and turned on my heel to go back to George’s office. Mike stood behind the bar eyeing both of us, and though he didn’t say anything, recognition dawned on his face. It was impossible for anyone not to recognize Dan, he’d been all over TV ever since he won America’s Next Top Singer.

“Before you say anything, it is who you think it is,” I said, and Mike just stared with his mouth hung open as we passed him and closed the office door behind us. There would no doubt be a fun conversation with him when this was over.

“You know, that reaction never really gets old,” Dan laughed.

“I beg to differ. Anyway, I’m sure you remember George,” I said, nodding at my brother. He sat behind his desk with his arms over his chest, his brow furrowed, ready to shoot down whatever Dan had to say—not that I was surprised.

“Yeah, of course. How could I forget?” Dan asked as he sat down in the only other chair in the office. Leave it to him to make the place his home. Annoyed, I leaned up against the wall beside George.

“All right, I don’t think any of us are really looking forward to this, so let’s just get it over with. What do you have to offer and what are your terms?” I asked and Dan chuckled.

“I’ve never known you to be so direct, usually you’re much more guarded with your feelings,” Dan said and the blood drained out of my face. I’d hoped he would have the social grace not to drag our history into the conversation, but evidently, he didn’t.

“This is business, there’s no time for beating around the bush,” I said, stealing a glance at George, who looked totally confused and more than a little uncomfortable. Dan unzipped the leather folder and spread out several documents across George’s desk. Though none of the papers said the word “contract” anywhere, that was exactly what they looked like.

“Here’s the deal: I don’t want to get involved in the nitty-gritty of this place. If I give you the loan, I’m not going to step on any toes by trying to tell you how to run the bar. Your dad ran it for twenty years, I’m sure he passed some knowledge on to you two,” he said and George laughed.

“Yeah right, how many times have I heard that?” he asked.

“I don’t blame you for being skeptical, but I’m being serious. I have fond memories of this bar, and I think most of the people in Beauclaire do too, so it’d be a shame to see a town cornerstone go up in smoke,” Dan said, and for the first time, I believed him. Beauclaire didn’t have much, but people loved what it did have.

“All right, if you don’t want to have any input into the business itself, then what exactly do you want out of this?” George asked.

“Here’s what I’m envisioning: we spend some time remodeling the place and do a grand re-opening to drum up interest. We can split the profits equally between us, but we have to keep my involvement in all this as much of a secret as possible,” Dan said and again George chuckled.

“You say that as if it’s possible at all,” George said. “I mean, you’re a hero in this town, do you really think people aren’t going to figure things out?”

“No, I’m sure they will, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try to keep it under wraps for as long as we can,” Dan said.

“And hold on a minute, you want an even profit split after we re-open? We won’t be able to stay above the surface if we agree to that,” George said. “We’re trying to save ourselves, not dig deeper graves.”

“Understandable. I’m open to negotiation on that. Honestly, I’m not in this for the money,” Dan said and looked up at me, his eyes boring into me. If he wasn’t in it for the money, and he wasn’t in it for himself, then what the hell was he in it for? Did he mean me? No way, it couldn’t be possible. Not after the way things had ended between us before, not after the two years he’d spent on the road without ever bothering to call or text me as if our history ceased to exist.

“All right, then I want a 70/30 split in our favor,” George said, and Dan’s eyes snapped to his.

“Y’all drive a hard bargain, don’t you?” he asked with a laugh.

“Oh, that’s just the start. Once this is all said and done with, you might be regretting going into business with us,” George said.

“Yeah, somehow I don’t doubt that,” Dan said, looking at me again. I wasn’t sure if he was trying to telegraph something or if he was just being his usual flirtatious self—the line was often blurry at best, and he seemed to only have developed that talent further since he’d been gone.

“When you say remodel, what exactly did you have in mind? And are you expecting us to foot the bill?” I asked, trying to keep the conversation on track.

“I mean, the place is pretty sad in its current state. I don’t really care so much what it looks like when we’re done, but it can only get better,” Dan said. I couldn’t argue with that, the bar had definitely seen better days, and Dad had never put any money into improving its looks since he first opened the place. “And no, I don’t expect you to pay for it. That would be crazy.“

Right, unlike the rest of this.

“So let me make sure I got all my ducks in a row here. You want to give us two hundred grand, plus whatever the remodel will cost, and you’re okay with only making thirty percent of the profit—if there’s even a profit to be made? You really do have more money than brains, don’t you?” George asked and I fixed him with a glare.

“Well, I haven’t agreed to the thirty percent yet, but aside from that, yeah, sounds about right,” Dan said.

“What do you think, little bro?” George asked, raising his eyebrows at me. Was he really considering it? I couldn’t tell.

“What do you think?” I asked.

“I think the whole thing’s batshit crazy, but something tells me I’m not gonna be able to convince you of that,” George said.

“Do you mind if Dan and I talk for a few minutes?” I asked.

“Be my guest,” George said and stood to leave the room. “But I better not come back in here to any funny business.”

“Get out,” I barked and closed the door behind him.

“He reminds me so much of your dad it’s not even funny,” Dan said.

“Yeah, and it’s not to his benefit either,” I said as I took George’s seat. Dan’s eyes searched me and a chill rippled across my skin. It was just like old times, moments stolen away in the quiet nooks and crannies of the bar, where we fell into our own little bubble. Only it wasn’t just like old times—so much had changed, and I couldn’t afford to forget that.

“Alright, cut the crap. What are you doing, Dan?” I asked and he chuckled.

“Trying to save your ass. Wasn’t that obvious?” he asked.

“If that’s all it is, then why am I having a hard time believing you? I mean, come on, this is crazy and you know it is. You disappeared two years ago and never looked back, and now here you are trying to pretend like you’re my little savior,” I said as I leaned forward. “Tell me the truth. Why are you doing this?”

“All right, since you asked, I’ll be honest: if I didn’t know you, if we didn’t have history, I would never even have set foot in this place when I came home,” he said and my face caught fire.

“So why are you here then, after the way Dad and I both treated you?” I asked.

“That’s all water under the bridge, Jason. Besides, I wasn’t exactly good to you either,” he said.

“Yeah, attacking my mouth with yours and then running off to Hollywood isn’t exactly my idea of good treatment, so I guess we’re even,” I said. He smiled, and the coldness that’d been sitting in the pit of my stomach thawed ever so slightly.

“True, but you know, things and people change. Life’s too short to hold onto misunderstandings.” Misunderstandings? Is that really what he considered our makeout session in the back of the bar after months of veiled flirting between us? “I was a different person back then, I didn’t know who I was or what I wanted,” he continued.

“But you knew you wanted to kiss me, and you knew it was risky,” I said.

“I knew we might get caught, yeah, but I didn’t care and honestly I don’t regret doing it,” he said. “But I do regret how it screwed things up between you and your dad.”

Oh, it’d done a hell of a lot more damage than that. I’d been with guys before Dan, but I’d never felt the same way for any of them that I had for him, and that was why I hated myself for not being able to stand up to Dad when he fired Dan and made it his personal life’s mission to make both of our lives a living hell afterward.

“Regret doesn’t fix things, and it doesn’t mean that you and I can just rush into the way things were,” I said.

“Jason, trust me, that’s the last thing I’m interested in. Look, if it’ll you make you feel any better, treat this as my way of saying I’m sorry,” he said.

“That’s an awful lot of money to drop to say you’re sorry,” I said.

“And it’s still not enough,” he answered. “So, do we have a deal or no?” My head spun. More than anything else I wanted to tell him no. There had been a funny feeling in my gut ever since he’d walked into the bar the night before, and now I knew why. It wasn’t just that he’d blown into town to be with his mom in her time of need, he’d blown back into town because of me.

And now he sat across from me, looking better than he ever had, if that was possible, telling me that he was trying to apologize. But what did he have to apologize for? He’d gone out of his way to make something happen between us, something that we’d both known was cooking under the surface all along, and I’d repaid him by letting Dad throw him out on his ass.

“Are y’all done kissing and making up yet?” George called from out in the bar and I sighed over Dan’s laughter.

“Yes,” I called back and George stepped inside.

“Good, I was starting to get worried,” he said. “So, what’s the scoop?”

“Dan wants to know if we have a deal or not,” I said and George smirked.

“Oh, come on, of course, we do,” he said.

“We do?” I asked and George laughed.

“We ain’t got a choice,” he said as he snatched the pen off of his desk and scribbled his signature on the contract Dan had laid out.

In a daze, I signed it too, and as I watched Dan print his loopy signature next to mine, I couldn’t shake the feeling I’d signed up for so much more than business.