Bartender's Beauty (Culpepper Cowboys Book 11) Read online

  Dallas laughed. “If anything, he’s going to get even worse when he sees me. That’s how he is.”

  Erin sighed. “He’s the most unpleasant man I’ve seen in—well, ever! I wish you luck.” She swiftly walked back to the desk where she’d been sitting, leaving Dallas and Austin to deal with her father.

  Dallas took a deep breath, looking at Austin. “I can do this, right?”

  He squeezed her hand. “You can do anything.”

  She opened the door and walked into the room, immediately alarmed at how pale her father was. “I’m here, Dad.”

  Her dad opened his eyes and looked at her, seeing Austin right beside his daughter. “Where were you? Off having fun while I was dying?”

  Dallas smiled, taking her dad’s hand in hers. “You remember Austin, right, Dad?”

  “I’ve got cancer. I’m not senile. Of course I remember him. You were always a disappointment to your father, Austin, just like this thing was a disappointment to me.”

  Austin simply smiled. “It’s good to see you, Mr. Gustafson. Do you want me to let my dad know about your illness?” The way the man spoke to him had never mattered to him. It was his treatment of Dallas that was important.

  “Why? Do you think he’d care?”

  “Yes, actually, I do. He always referred to you as his best friend. I can call him this evening if you’d like.”

  The older man made a face. “I don’t care what you do. I’ll be dead before he gets here anyway.”

  The door opened and a young doctor stepped in. “Mr. Gustafson, how are you feeling now? I understood your breath became more labored than usual earlier.”

  “You should know. You have your little chart there, telling you everything.”

  “I do. What it doesn’t tell me is what you were doing when the breathing problem started today.” When there was no response, the doctor took his stethoscope and held it over Mr. Gustafson’s chest. “I can run some tests, but I think all we’d discover is that you have lung cancer, and your lungs are failing. I’ve spoken to your doctor, who is in his office today, and he said to make you comfortable. Would you rather stay here in the hospital for a night or two? Or do you want to go home?”

  “If I stay here, are you going to let me smoke?”

  The doctor blinked a few times in disbelief. “You’ve got lung cancer. Don’t you think it’s time you quit smoking?”

  Mr. Gustafson tried to sit up in his bed, hacking as he did so. “Are you trying to tell me how to live my life? I was smoking before you were born!” The coughing overtook him, and his face turned red.

  “You need to lie back. There’s no need to get yourself all worked up.”

  Dallas watched sadly as her father tried to yell again, but couldn’t. His face grew slack, and he collapsed back onto the bed.

  The doctor used his stethoscope again, trying to find a heartbeat. Dallas turned to Austin, burying her face against his shoulder. “I’m so sorry, Miss Gustafson.”

  Dallas didn’t respond, instead clinging to Austin for support. His arms came around her. “Thank you, doctor.”

  “I’ll leave you alone with him for a moment.”

  After he was gone, Austin moved over to the visitor’s chair in the room, sinking into it and pulling Dallas onto his lap, holding her close. “At least he died yelling. That would be like a Norse warrior dying in battle. I’m sure he’ll go straight to his own version of Valhalla.”

  She pulled away from him for a moment, tears coursing down her cheeks. “I should probably be offended you said that, but it fits him so perfectly.” She wiped away the tears with the back of her hand.

  “Are you okay?”

  Dallas nodded, and then shook her head. “I don’t know. Probably not. I thought I would be. I thought I was ready, but he’s my dad. And all I feel is relief, and that makes me want to cry.”

  “Do you want to stay here and say goodbye?”

  She shook her head. “No. As soon as the doctor comes back, we’ll go. All the arrangements have been made, and I just need to make a few phone calls to get everything in order.” She walked over to the bed and looked down at the man who had tormented her for her entire life. “I didn’t want you to die, but…g’bye, Dad. I hope you finally have peace from whatever demons have been chasing you.”

  She pulled out her phone and called the house. “Susan, it’s Dallas. He’s gone.”

  “Do you want me to stick around? Or be on my way?”

  Dallas didn’t know how to answer that. “You can stay if you need somewhere to stay, but I’ll be fine.”

  There was a moment of silence, and then Susan said, “I’ll go. I think you should spend some time with that man of yours tonight.”

  Dallas sniffled. “I can’t go out with a man the night my father dies. What kind of person would that make me?”

  “One who needed to live. Go eat with him. Talk to him. Let him help you grieve, sweetie. I’ve only known the man for three weeks. He’s known you for years. Let him be strong for you.”

  “All right. I’ll be home later.” Dallas ended the call and looked over at Austin. “She said I should spend the evening with you. That we need to go to dinner and talk and grieve.”

  Austin nodded, walking over to her. “I forgot to have someone cover me at the bar, so I’m going to go outside and make arrangements. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  As soon as he left the room, Dallas went over to the hospital bed, looking down at her father once more. “I’m so relieved you’re gone. I know that makes me the worst daughter alive, but I feel nothing for you.” The tears were still coursing down her cheeks as the doctor came in and talked to her about where she wanted the body transferred to.

  Chapter Four

  On their way back to Culpepper, Dallas stared out the window sadly. “Do you realize I’ve changed my whole life for him? I gave up an apartment that I spent two years on a waitlist for? I gave up a job I loved? And for what? To spend two weeks having him yell at me while I took care of him. Now he’s gone, but so is my life!” If she hadn’t given up on everything, she could have gone back to the life she’d had. Maybe it wasn’t perfect or exciting, but she was respected in Cheyenne in a way she’d never been respected in Culpepper.

  Austin felt a little kick of anger at that, but he understood she was emotional. No matter how she’d felt about him, her father had just died. He had to be understanding. “I know it has to seem really unfair right now, but you’ll feel better in a couple of days.”

  “Better? How can I feel better? I just moved back to a town where I have no friends except you! I have to go back into that school I hated! Do you have any idea how much I hated Culpepper High? Every day was torture for me. I had no friends. Not a single female even talked to me! Well, except the teachers, but somehow that just made everything worse!”

  “Kolby, Allen, and I were your friends.”

  She sighed. “Yes, you were. Are you still going to be my friends? I’m sure those two are hanging around town just waiting for me to come back so they can talk to me in the halls so I won’t feel all alone. How much did you pay them to do that anyway?”

  Austin ignored her angry question and squeezed the hand he was holding. “I know this is hard. You want girlfriends? I’ll get you some girlfriends. Have you heard about the Quinlan quads yet?”

  “What’s a Quinlan quad?”

  Instead of driving her home as she’d expected, he took her onto the Culpepper property, pulling up in front of one of the old bunkhouses that had obviously been converted. “Get ready for a treat.”

  She didn’t get out of the truck right away, not wanting to even talk to anyone, so he walked back to the truck and opened her door, taking her hand and pulling her toward the building. The sign out front read, “Culpepper Confectionary Creations.”

  “Is this a bakery?”

  As soon as they stepped inside, her question was answered. The aroma was like nothing she’d ever smelled. She couldn’t decide what it was that
smelled so good, but she wanted some of everything to find out for herself.

  Austin slipped an arm around her waist as one of the women came to the counter. She looked young, not much older than twenty, and slightly familiar though Dallas wasn’t sure why. “What can I get for you?” Her eyes settled on Austin. “Oh wait, you’re Allen’s friend. The guy with the bar.” She looked behind her and called, “Felicity! Your friend-in-law is here!”

  One of the three women who’d been working busily at the back hurried forward, rushing around the counter. “Austin! It’s good to see you! Who’s this? A new friend for me? I’m Felicity. I used to be Felicity Quinlan, but I married Allen Jennings, so now I’m Felicity Jennings, but it stills feels weird to call myself that, you know?”

  Dallas blinked a couple of times, a small smile forming. “It’s nice to meet you, Felicity Jennings. I’m Dallas Gustafson.”

  “Oh, oh, oh! You’re the girl Austin has been mooning about since he was a little boy! Allen told me all about you. I hear you’re super smart, and you left town, and no one thought you’d ever come back, but your dad has cancer now.” Felicity bit her lip, obviously realizing she’d probably said too much. “Oh, I’m sorry about the cancer.”

  Dallas nodded once. “Thank you.”

  “Well, anyway, Allen told me how much I’d love you, and I think I do. You just look like someone who’s going to be a best friend to me! Do you want to be best friends?”

  Dallas stared at the girl in front of her, wondering how she was supposed to react to that. “Umm…sure?”

  “Oh, good. Let me introduce you to my sister and cousin then! You already met Rikki Dobson, she’s the younger sister of Valerie Savoy, who used to be Valerie Dobson, you know, from Lazy Love the awesome TV show everyone in the whole world watches. Fine, not everyone, but if they don’t, they should watch it! My older sister is over there making a cheesecake. Her name is Patience. Patience say hi!”

  The girl in front of the cheesecake smiled and waved. “It’s nice to meet you, Dallas!”

  “You too!” Dallas called back, even though she was feeling slightly overwhelmed.

  Felicity continued talking, still going a mile a minute. “The girl decorating the wedding cake is Grace. She used to be a Quinlan too, but now she’s a Wells. She married Marcus Wells, a lawyer, which is really funny because she loves to tell lawyer jokes, but he doesn’t seem to mind too much, and she specializes in cakes. We have wedding cakes ready to be decorated with just a day or two notice, because everyone in Culpepper seems to get married really, really fast, and people blame us Quinlans for that, but I don’t see how that’s possible when everyone is doing it, and we’ve never exactly been trendsetters!”

  Dallas blinked a few times. “And Austin is your friend-in-law?”

  “Sure that’s what I call him, because he’s one of the best friends of my husband, Allen, you know, the contractor who built the dining room onto our bakery. Have you seen it yet? He did great work, and I think you should choose something from the display case and have some coffee or water to enjoy with it, because it’s a great place, and I have to get to work, but we don’t want you to leave. Whatever you want is on the house!”

  Dallas looked at Austin with wide eyes, wondering what he’d brought her to. “I guess I can eat something.” She realized they’d never finished their picnic, and she was hungry. “What would you recommend?”

  “I’m going to pass you off to Rikki to help with that, because I have got to get these cookies ready for a birthday party tomorrow.” Felicity grabbed Dallas and hugged her quickly. “I’m glad we’re best friends.”

  Dallas walked over to Rikki who was standing calmly at the register as if things like that happened every day, and maybe they did. “Rikki, right?”

  Rikki nodded, laughing softly. “Felicity is a little overwhelming at first, but you’ll grow to love her like the rest of us.” She broke off at Felicity’s yell of complaint. “I’d recommend the kolaches. They’re something new Patience has been trying this week, and I’ve heard nothing but good about them.”

  Dallas shrugged. “Sure. I’ll have a kolache and some water.”

  “I’m going to give you two, because one will never be enough. They’re kind of small.” Rikki’s eyes went to Austin. “What do you want, Austin?”

  Austin smiled at the girl, glad that she could meet his eyes now. The first time he’d met her, she hadn’t been able to make eye contact with anyone. It seemed that she grew a little stronger every day. The whole nation knew the story of her kidnapping, so no one was really surprised. “I’ll have a couple of the kolaches, and a cinnamon roll with a cup of coffee.” He reached for his wallet, but Rikki shook her head.

  “Felicity said it’s on the house, so it’s on the house,” Rikki informed him with a smile. “Do you want everything warm?”

  Dallas looked at Rikki. “I don’t know. Do I?”

  “Absolutely. Kolaches are so much better warm.” Rikki hurried around, putting their order onto a tray. “Enjoy. If you need anything, just let me know.”

  Austin took the tray and carried it to one of the tables in the dining room. Once they were seated, he explained a bit about the people there. “There were strange provisions to the Culpeppers’ inheritance. Part of it was that all four boys had six months to marry, and at least one of them had to have a baby on the way within a year.” He reached out and took a bite of one of the kolaches, letting the cheese and ham baked into the roll of sweet bread explode on his tongue. “So Karlan contacted a matchmaker, and she sent out quadruplet sisters. Their last name was Quinlan, so everyone started calling them the Quinlan quads.”

  Dallas took a sip of her water, nodding. “Makes sense.”

  “So the four of them married the four Culpepper brothers, and then they sent for their baby sisters. Honor and Grace are twins. Grace brought along two cousins, and they all started the bakery together. Honor is something of a tomboy, and she married Angus, who I’m not sure you’ve met.” At her head shake, he said, “Angus works for the Culpeppers. Anyway, the bakery took off fast, so they hired Rikki, Valerie Savoy’s younger sister. Did you know Valerie and Jesse Savoy had settled here in Culpepper?”

  Dallas shook her head. “No, but I never miss Lazy Love. It’s the best show on TV right now.”

  “They’re here when they’re not filming. Valerie knew Grace somehow, and Grace hired Valerie’s kid sister to work here.”

  “I see. Is Patience married? Grace is married to a lawyer and tells lawyer jokes. Felicity talks faster than any human can listen and is married to Allen. What about Patience?”

  He grinned. “You caught a lot more than I think I would have.” He took her hand in his, glad she seemed to be settling down a little. “Patience is married to Ryan Bassett.”

  “Oh, I remember him. He was a couple of grades behind us, wasn’t he?”

  “I think so. So anyway, all eight of the Quinlans are now married, and we’re told there are no more that are coming.”

  “Well, that’s a relief!” Dallas responded, her eyes full of laughter.

  He grinned. “I think Brother Anthony was relieved.”

  “I’m sure he was. Does he still preach the same way he always did?’

  “I don’t think Brother Anthony is capable of change.”

  “Probably not.” She sighed. “I need to talk to him about doing Dad’s funeral.”

  “I’m sure he won’t mind. He’s a good man.” And as little as people in town respected her father, Brother Anthony would be the first to understand that she needed to have people rally around her.

  She leaned back in her chair. “Dad has all his wishes written out, and I read over them when I got here. At least I know exactly what he wants, which should make the whole process a lot easier.” Her eyes met his. “I don’t feel anything. Other than relief that is. Am I a terrible person?”

  “I don’t think you’re feeling any more or any less than anyone else would be feeling in your position. Your
father wasn’t the best father, and you hadn’t spent any time with him in years.”

  “But should I have? Should I have made the effort to come back for holidays? I spent all my holidays with my single teacher friends, hosting them at my house, and we’d have gift exchanges. Like a lonely person’s holiday. I don’t even know how he’s spent Christmas for the past eleven years?”

  “At my bar,” Austin responded. “He spent every Christmas after you left the same way he spent every Christmas you were here—getting rip-roaring drunk. He’d drink there until I kicked him out, and then he’d go home to the bottle he kept stashed.”

  “Why were you open on Christmas?”

  He sighed. “You’d be surprised at the number of people who spend Christmas in bars. I was alone too, so it was just another day for me.”

  Dallas looked down at her hands. “I could have been here for you.”

  “Why? You didn’t believe I had feelings for you.” His eyes met hers across the small table. “You do believe me now, right?”

  She nodded. “I don’t think you could have convinced Felicity to lie for you. That girl has got to me the most honest human being I’ve ever met. She doesn’t seem to know when it’s not appropriate to say something either!”

  He shrugged. “She doesn’t seem to know the meaning of the word appropriate, but I’ve never seen Allen so happy, so I can’t complain.” Felicity would have driven him crazy in the space of five minutes, but his friend obviously saw something in her that he didn’t. He would always respect her for making Allen happy.

  “It’s hard for me to picture them together, but I’m glad he’s happy.” Dallas squeezed the hand he still held. “I’m glad you were there with me today. And I’m glad you’re here with me now.”

  He brought her hand to his lips. “I hope you know that I plan on being there for you every day for the rest of your life.”