Whiskey Rebellion - Toni Aleo Read online

  Her eyes start to fill with tears, and I have to look away. “It’s no one’s fault but his.”

  “True, but we were awful to him, and he took it out on you. I’m sorry, my love,” Da says, cupping my shoulder. “We just want ya to be happy.”

  “We do,” Ma says, bringing me into her arms, kissing my forehead. “You have stepped up, helped me left and right, and if that doesn’t show me how you’ve grown, I don’t know what can.”

  “I do it for ya ’cause I love ya.”

  “And I love you, my love,” she says as I tip my head back to look at her. “Yer unlike me. Ya know what ya want. You know how to get it. Ya don’t need me.”

  “I’ll always need you, Ma.”

  “No, ya don’t need anyone. Ya just want us, and anyone lucky enough to have ya love them is beyond blessed.”

  “Exactly,” Declan adds.

  “So now, I must meet this boy.”

  “I think we all should,” Ma says, and for a second, we hold each other’s gaze.

  “Really, Ma?” I ask, and she smiles, cupping my face as well as she can with her good hand.

  “Do I like it? No. I want ya with someone of name. But will I let ya hurt ever again? No, and I’ve learned that you aren’t going to do anything ya don’t want to.”

  I smile, and she taps my face, her face curving the best it can. I’ve respected my ma my whole life, but at that moment, she surprises me.

  She accepts me—for me.

  “Where in the world are my specs?”

  I laugh as I move my cloth along the bar, cleaning up after a couple that has just left. Glancing down at Mickey and Trip, I shake my head as they argue.

  “Ya had them!” Mickey yells, and Trip balks.

  “No, I did not! I’ve been drinking!”

  I roll my eyes as I take the plates to the sink. “They’re around your neck, Mickey.”

  I have my back to them when Trip starts laughing. “Ah, fuck ya both.”

  I chuckle before I nod to a group of guys who’ve called for another round. “Coming.”

  “It says,” Mickey starts, and I wish these damn papers would catch on fire. “Jackson Tremblay comes from Canada, from a small, poor town outside of Calgary. He owns a horse, he cuts down trees…but, ladies, he is taken by the Whiskey Princess.’” Mickey adds a little flair to his words, and I laugh. “They are hot and heavy! Completely taken with each other, and during the All Children Eat banquet, the princess was heard saying she was already hearing wedding bells.”

  “No shite, Jackson? Attaboy!”

  I roll my eyes. “Bunch of bullshit.”

  “Ah, so it isn’t true?” Mickey asks, looking over his glasses at me. “Ya don’t love the lass?”

  “Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you two,” I announce, loading up my tray and carrying it out to the table that ordered. The old guys may annoy me, along with the stupid papers, but the grin on my lips is firm.

  Because Lena left it there.

  To say the last couple of weeks have been utterly magical would be an understatement. When I wasn’t working, I was with Lena. And when we weren’t riding or going to the endless events her mom had planned for her, we were in bed. We burned those sheets. My body gets tight just thinking about her, but it’s more than that. Because I miss her. I miss her grin, I miss her touch, I miss her eyes, I miss it all.

  She’s unbelievable.

  But still, in the back of my mind, I can’t forget that our time is almost over. As much as it guts me, she has already told me she can’t leave until the spring. By then, I’ll be on my way to Norway. We haven’t spoken of any of it, and I feel at any moment, it’s going to blow up in our faces. Probably the day I leave. It’s killing me for the simple fact that I love her so fucking much. I haven’t told her because I think it will make it worse.

  Plus, she hasn’t said it to me.

  But I feel it.

  I don’t know…she makes me crazy.

  I swear she does.

  And I can’t ruin what we have right now. I can’t.

  “Christ! Ya space off, and then you call out all the time! Yer lucky you’re leaving in a couple weeks,” Fiona says, coming up from behind me, and I laugh as I refill Mickey’s beer.

  “You’re gonna miss me.”

  “Desperately,” she says, and I think she’s joking until I turn to glance at her. “Don’t go.”

  I laugh. “I have to. I gotta go find somewhere else to pitch my tent.”

  She rolls her eyes. “Feckin’ phanny.”

  Everyone at the bar laughs as she opens the cash register, pulling out some money. Her ring sparkles in the light, and I grab her hand. “Jesus, how much did he spend on that thing!”

  “Don’t ya worry yer head! It’s mine!” She sends me a grin as she takes it in. “It’s perfect.”

  “About time, I tell ya,” Trip says. “I was gonna ask ya to marry me.”

  “Please! Yer married, ya fool,” she laughs, and he sends her a grin. “Plus, ya couldn’t handle me, even in your younger days.”

  “No one can,” Kane says then, shaking his head from the door that leads to the kitchen. “Now, come on. Yer ma’s waiting for us.”

  She pats my shoulder. “Ya good, Jackson?”

  I nod, waving her off. “I’m fine, bossy lady.”

  She gives me a dirty look before heading toward Kane, but before she reaches him, the phone rings. She stops, answering it, and then rolls her eyes. “Then he has people calling here!”

  I laugh as she holds the phone out to me. Taking it from her, I flash her a grin as she rolls her eyes again. Putting the phone to my ear, I say, “Hello?”

  “Howya.”

  I grin. “Hey, you.”

  “Is this the unbelievable sexy Jackson Tremblay, who I was riding last night?”

  “I don’t think there are any other Jackson Tremblays.”

  She giggles over the line. “How are ya? How’s your day going?”

  “Busy,” I answer, handing someone a menu. “How’s your mom?”

  “She’s grand. She comes home tomorrow. Actually, that’s something to talk about.”

  “Oh, really?” I ask, and then I cover the speaker. “Dude, I’ve told you nine times, I can’t change the TV. They don’t give me a remote!”

  “Rubbish!”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I mumble before uncovering the phone. “So she’s good, right?”

  “Yeah, she’s fine, but she started to get on to me about you.”

  “Told you I had to be out of the house when she came home.”

  She laughs and I smile. I’m not surprised. “Well, yeah, but then Declan came to my rescue.”

  “Did he now?” I glare at the dude hollering at the TV. “Please leave. I don’t give a shit!”

  “Ah, ya arsehole Yank!”

  “I’m Canadian!”

  “I don’t know why ya yell with them. They’re crazy,” Lena says, and I sigh.

  “It’s my pride. But listen, it’s packed in here. Can I come see you tonight?”

  “Well, yes, my feelings would be hurt if ya didn’t.”

  “Can’t let that happen.” I can just see her little grin.

  “Grand, I’ll be in bed, waiting for ya.”

  My brows pull together. “How am I going to get in?”

  “You’re allowed to,” she says excitedly. “Which was what I was trying to tell you before the TV guy interrupted us.”

  “Wait, what?”

  “My ma is trying to accept us.”

  “No shit,” I say, stopping mid-stride. “That’s good, right? Like real good?”

  “Um, yeah! I’m beyond happy. I’ll tell ya all about it once ya get home.”

  Home.

  Fuck.

  “I can’t wait to see you.”

  “I can’t either,” she coos. “See ya soon.”

  “Not soon enough.”

  Hanging up, I let my head fall back as I let out a long breath. Figures I’m on my way out, and n