Chapter 98
Scooter turned the picture frame he was holding so Andy could see it. “Ma would smack me upside the head if I did anything that stupid,” he said. “She knew Jason, and she met Kat a few times just before she died, but she never met any of the other strays we’ve picked up over the years. But I think she would have liked them…all of them. Even Jeff. She loved this place. Anyone who called it home would be in her good graces.”
The woman taking up most of the photograph was in her late forties, early fifties maybe. She had a familiar face: the same kind eyes, the same dark hair, scraped back from her face into a ponytail. She was looking coyly over her shoulder at the photographer, half a smile on her lips. Behind her rose Dockside, not quite new, but less ragged and storm-worn than it currently was. It made Andy smile. “She looks nice,” Andy said. “Definitely see the resemblance.” He kissed Scooter’s shoulder.
“This was taken…” Scooter was silent, remembering, He brushed his fingers over the glass. “Oh, I think right before Jason’s mom passed on. My parents fostered Jason later that year. Couldn’t find Joe Anderson anywhere, so we couldn’t adopt him. Things got a little tighter after Jason came to live with us, so there were some upgrades Ma wanted to do that got put off and put off and never happened. I was just…talking to her. Seeing what she thought. Silly, right? Talking to a photograph.”
“Yes, this is clearly the most ridiculous thing I’ve encountered here,” Andy said drily, then bumped Scooter’s shoulder. “I think it’s sweet, actually. You were close, huh?”
“Yeah,” Scooter said. “She was somethin’ else, my Ma. Tough and smart and put up with exactly zero shit, but at the same time, butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. This place, this was her dream. Somewhere in there—” He gestured in the direction of the back hall of the house, toward closed doors he hadn’t even opened for Andy yet. “—I have the original plans. Even the ones she made when she was knee high to a grasshopper.” His mouth wobbled a little. “I ain’t talked about it much, because I didn’t want anyone to worry, but…we haven’t exactly been making bank here. And with the fire an’ everything, I thought we might have to close down.” He gave a dark, bitter sort of chuckle.
That probably shouldn’t hurt so much. Andy had only been here a few months. But God, he loved this place, and he loved these people, and he couldn’t bear the idea. He couldn’t imagine how much it must hurt Scooter. “But it’s going to be okay now,” he said, not quite making it a question, not nearly brave enough for that.
“Yeah, I think it will. Works out best if we get Jeff on record as an investor, for taxes and that sort of thing. But that means all the money, all of it, has to go into the restaurant. Or, you know, most…might be able to do somefun stuff, call it bonus or employee morale or somethin’. But if I just cash it out, the government will take a big fuckin’ bite.” He looked down at the picture. “We can do a lot of upgrades with this.”
Andy nodded. He’d gone to school for engineering, but he’d grown up breathing business. “Repairs and upgrades and maybe even an advertising budget,” he mused. “Put that into the restaurant, and the restaurant will generate more for you that the government won’tbe able to take. Well, not as much anyway.”
“Cooking is love made tangible,” Scooter said. “That’s what Ma used to say.” So that’s where Jason had gotten it from. “Owning a restaurant was her way of making her family as big as possible. I think…I think she would have liked what I’ve been able to do, bringing Jason and Kat and you and Jeff and everyone together. Keep us whole. She’d be happy. Families share. It would never occur to her to turn down Jeff’s money, s’long as he didn’t break himself to do it. He’s family. Not what she expected, maybe. Dad was always a little disappointed that I wouldn’t be passing on a family name, you know. But still, it’s good.”
“It’s better than good,” Andy told him. “You’re a miracle. I’m sure your mom would be proud of you.”
Scooter smiled again. “She’d have liked you, Andy,” he said. “I wish she’d lived long enough for her to meet you. But you live here, so at least you’ve met her in a way.” He closed his eyes briefly, took a slow, deep breath, relaxing. “Probably should turn in. Kat’s gonna be out here first thing, so she can strangle Jeff. And we’ll have a big brunch, just Dockside family and friends, figure out what we’re gonna do with this money, yeah? And…get you moved in here, right?”
“Damn straight,” Andy agreed. “Not that the moving is going to take long. I have maybe one box of stuff and a surfboard.” He grinned. “More time to make sure we’ve christened the place properly.”
Scooter nodded. “Yeah, I like that idea.” He put the picture to one side and patted his legs. “C’mere, you.”
Maybe that interrupted making out earlier hadn’t gone entirely to waste. Andy wrapped his arm around Scooter’s shoulders and twisted, swinging his leg over to sit on Scooter’s lap, knees tucked snugly up against the back of the couch. “Hi there.”
Scooter drew Andy down, brushing his mouth lightly over Andy’s lips, a hint of heat and pressure. One hand cupped the back of Andy’s neck. “Hey.” Scooter traced Andy’s lower lip with his thumb, as if rubbing the kiss in. The abrasion from Scooter’s finger, rough and calloused, heightened the sensation before Scooter’s mouth returned, kissing harder, longer, coaxing Andy’s lips apart.