Free Ask Me to Stay by Elise K Ackers Page B

pleasure to know he’d brought the majority of Hinterdown to its knees. A mid-week party on last night’s scale was not all that common in these parts. Two of his mechanics had come to work straight from his house. The bakery hadn’t even opened today. Kids were reported to be falling asleep on their school desks and the local doctor, himself hungover and grey, had been writing certificates all day, excusing locals from work. All of them tired and sore from sleeping in strange places, but none of them sorry.
    They would talk about this party for years to come – until another topped it. And even then they’d talk about the strengths of each and compare the two.
    The oldest of the three men, Dean was surprised he’d outlasted Ethan and Cal, but also a little proud.
    Cal had disappeared quite early, which struck Dean as strange because Cal loved town get-togethers, but Ethan had been another story. Private feuds and hurts were one thing, but publicly refusing to toast to their late parents was something else. Ethan had hit the drink hard after that. Alone in his room, no less. And some were saying Ethan and Cal had had words.
    The man certainly had an aptitude for shifting trouble from place to place.
    Dean used a chamois to wipe his fingerprints off the gleaming red hood of a client’s Corvette. A basic tune-up, an oil change and detail cleaning, and this beauty was primed to be fawned over again. Gill kept her in good nick, perhaps obsessively so, but that only made Dean’s job that much easier.
    His kids had had a good time last night, he reflected. Neenz had stolen the show, as always. She’d become an advocate for lactose intolerants the world over, dazzled her audience with her new bling and charmed everyone with her spirited fire dance. Ro was bolder than ever before, somehow a leader now. He’d pushed his best friend in the creek then dive-bombed alongside him. Of course, every kid within earshot had followed. A dozen of them had then warmed and dried themselves by the fire, Rowan at their centre.
    It did Ro good to have his uncle around, however much this new bond unsettled Dean.
    There was nothing keeping Ethan here. Nothing stopping him from walking out for another couple of years. But there had never been so much at stake before. It terrified Dean how much his kids had come to need his brother.
    He passed the rest of the afternoon in the office, filing paperwork and chasing up invoices. He would have preferred to be out on the floor, tinkering with an engine and getting his hands dirty, but a business always had two sides. And this side was his alone.
    Gill Joyce collected his Corvette at three o’clock, then Dean called it a day. He wanted to be at the school gate, waiting for his kids. It was their first day back since the accident, and he was anxious to see how they had gotten through the day. Routine was important, he thought. Of course, so much was different now – for one thing, Bree would never meet them after class again, but they could count on their dad to step up.
    The school was a short walk from the garage and the pub was on the way, so Dean ducked in to see how Cal was faring. He found him behind the bar restocking the fridges.
    ‘Hey.’ He had to call again before Cal acknowledged him.
    ‘Oh. Hey. Beer?’
    ‘No, thanks, just shooting through. How’s the head?’
    ‘It’s fine.’ He snapped the lid off a mid-strength and dropped it on the counter by Dean’s elbow.
    Dean frowned down at it. He looked up, curious. ‘Sure about that?’
    ‘It’s fine,’ he said again, not realising his mistake. ‘That was some bonfire.’
    ‘We should re-post every year.’
    Cal’s smile was an absent one. ‘Rain check.’
    ‘What’s up with you?’
    ‘I’m working, mate.’
    Dean’s brows drew together. He checked his watch and cursed. He slid from the stool and pointed at Cal. ‘We’re going to talk about whatever this is. Shite customer service, by the way.’
    He walked briskly the