The Bluff - Bonus Epilogue Read online

  THE BLUFF

  Copyright © 2020 by Devney Perry LLC

  All rights reserved.

  ISBN: 978-1-950692-34-7

  No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations in a book review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales or persons, living or dead, is coincidental.

  Bonus Epilogue

  Hux

  “I’ve missed this porch.” Savannah settled beside me on the swing, curling into my side.

  “I’ve missed you.” I put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her tight. She was twenty-seven years old, but she’d always be my baby girl.

  “It’s chilly.” She rested her head on my shoulder as I rocked us gently. “I hope it snows while I’m here.”

  “If the forecast holds, you’ll get your wish.”

  The weather was cold this fall and not too far above the house, the snow was already sticking to the ground. Before Halloween, I predicted it would dust the meadow and the kids would need more than a light jacket and stocking cap to play outside.

  “Savvy!” Nicholas waved from the top of the slide that dropped from the double-decker treehouse I’d built a few years ago. “Watch me!”

  “I’m watching, buddy!” she called back, smiling as my seven-year-old son zoomed to the ground.

  Since Savannah had arrived yesterday, he’d been begging her to watch him do everything. Watch me build Legos. Watch me read a book. Watch me play a video game. She’d indulged him each and every time. Just like she’d indulged Eliza, who’d been her shadow from the moment she’d pulled into the driveway.

  Eliza was nine and wanted nothing more than to be just like her big sister when she grew up. The way she looked up to Savannah made my chest swell with pride. Though I couldn’t take much credit for the confident and courageous woman Savannah had grown into.

  No, that was all her.

  “Where’s Lizzy?” I asked, surprised she wasn’t out here with us.

  “Ev’s making cookies so she’s inside helping.”

  “Ah.” I was glad for a little time alone with my oldest. “How’s work going?”

  “Meh.” She shrugged. “It’s a job.”

  “I thought you liked it.”

  “I do.” She sighed. “I don’t know. I’ve been in a weird mood lately.”

  “Something wrong?”

  “Nothing specific. I guess I’ve just been lonely, maybe? When I moved to Denver, it was exciting and different. I just . . .”

  “Wanted away from Calamity. I get it.”

  “Yeah,” she breathed.

  Had I not met Everly, I would have followed Savannah to Colorado. But my life was here now. My love was here. And over the past ten years, I’d felt my roots burrow deeper into the Calamity soil.

  We had great friends. Friends who I could trust. Friends who’d never consider backstabbing me to get ahead. Friends who were like family. We had the gallery. We had good schools for our kids and a home I loved more with each passing day.

  Calamity wasn’t without its imperfections. Namely, people. Occasionally, I ran into my parents and brother. Though we did run in different circles, Calamity was small and crossing paths was unavoidable at community functions. It was always uncomfortable, mostly because it confused the kids. But the anger I’d held toward them for far too long had faded years ago.

  “I was thinking about moving,” Savannah said.

  My hopes soared at the thought of her being in the same state. “You won’t get any argument from me. Maybe Bozeman? Or Missoula?”

  “Actually, I was thinking closer, like, um . . . here.”

  I nearly choked. “Calamity?”

  She nodded. “What do you think?”

  A smile spread across my face. Those hopes skyrocketed through the stratosphere. “I think that would make my entire fucking year.”

  Savannah giggled.

  If she moved home . . . there were no words. It would mean the end to Sunday phone calls. No more FaceTime or rushed holiday visits.

  “Can you find work?” I asked.

  “I’m going to ask my boss if I can work remotely. I rarely go into the office as it is.”

  Savannah had gone to college in Colorado, then taken a job in the technology industry, managing projects for a software development company. I was so proud of her success and work ethic. Every year, she earned a promotion. Every year, she came home for Christmas driving a new car.

  But every year, there’d been a bit more sadness in her eyes on the day she left. The hugs would last longer. Eliza usually cried. The weight of her absence lingered for days.

  If her boss didn’t let her work from Montana, we’d just have to find her a different job.

  “You can always work at the gallery,” I said.

  “I know. But I’m sure I can find something.”

  “I’m sure you can too.” I dropped a kiss to her hair. “I just want you to be happy.”

  “Me too. I really miss you guys.”

  “Your bedroom is always here if you need to move in for a while.”

  Savannah’s room had always been hers. When she’d left for college, we hadn’t touched a thing. Over the years, with each visit, she made changes, but it had always been her room.

  “Thanks, Dad.”

  Come home. I swallowed the plea because I wouldn’t pressure her. If she got back to Colorado and decided Calamity wasn’t an option after all, I’d swallow my disappointment.

  The front door opened and Everly walked outside carrying two mugs. Eliza trailed behind her carrying a mug of her own.

  “We made hot chocolate.” Everly handed a mug to Savannah, then another to me.

  “Thanks, babe.”

  She bent and brushed a kiss across my lips. “Welcome.”

  “Extra marshmallows.” Lizzy beamed at Savannah as she sat in the chair closest to her.

  “I love marshmallows.” Savannah winked at Eliza and took a sip. “Delicious.”

  “No fair! I want hot chocolate!” Nicholas hollered from the treehouse.

  Everly laughed. “Then come down here and get some.”

  He flew down the slide, then bolted across the yard, nearly tripping on the bottom porch step before disappearing inside with his mother.

  “Lizzy!” Everly called before the door closed. “Cookies.”

  “Oh, yeah.” Eliza set her mug down, then smiled at Savannah and raced inside.

  Savannah giggled. “She looks more like Everly every day.”

  “You’re not kidding.” Both Lizzy and Nicholas had Everly’s brown hair. Eliza had also inherited Ev’s caramel eyes and her pretty nose and, well, everything else. Ev’s parents had brought some photos from when Everly was that age and the resemblance was uncanny. Nicholas, on the other hand, had pulled from us both. He had my blue eyes and chin, Everly’s nose and mouth. But he was going to be tall, like me. That was already evident. He stood a head taller than any other kid in his grade.

  With a moment alone, I lowered my voice. “Has your mother talked to you?”

  Savannah nodded. “I promised to go see her tomorrow. I plan to go right before dinner so I have an excuse to leave within an hour. I don’t feel like arguing with Mom about whatever she wants to argue about. Not this trip.”

  Avoiding April and Julian was impossible and awkward too. Savannah’s relationship with them had been strained since her senior year, but Everly and I had always do
ne our best to stay out of it. If Savannah needed to talk about her mother or stepfather, we were here to listen.

  We sipped our cocoa, looking out across the meadow and into the trees. The colors were changing. The air was fresh and clean. I had everything in the world I needed right here in this slice of paradise. “Sure is a nice night.”

  Savannah hummed her agreement. “I’m glad you’re happy, Dad.”

  “I am happy. Hope you are too.”

  She looked up, gave me a sad smile and took another slip.

  I shifted to better see her face. “Did something happen?”

  “Yes and no.”

  “Want to talk about it?”

  “Not right now.” Meaning, not to me. There wasn’t much Savannah didn’t confide in me these days. It had taken us a while to get there, but I knew my daughter. And she knew me. Which meant whatever was on her mind had to do with a man.

  Not an easy topic to share with a father.

  Not an easy topic for a father to hear shared.

  When it came to delegation of duties and our daughters, boys—men—were Ev’s department. Maybe tomorrow Savannah could go with Everly to the gallery and they could talk while I stayed in the safety of my studio. The studio Everly had insisted on including in the house plans. The one I loved more than my old shed but to this day wouldn’t concede to my wife.

  The old studio was still in the yard. There were days when I’d go inside for sentimental reasons, but otherwise, it was a yard ornament. A very large yard ornament.

  “How is the new guy working out at the gallery?” Savannah asked.

  “Good. Everly likes him and that’s all that matters.” I didn’t deal with the staff much these days.

  We had three employees who worked various shifts at the gallery. Everly managed them, along with the business. She went down for a few hours each day to work in the office while I stayed home to paint. The only time I came to the gallery anymore was to help her change the showroom displays. Otherwise, she’d created a well-oiled machine.

  She thought that pun was hilarious.

  We worked together. We lived together. We raised our children together. We shared our lives. And it had been the best ten years of my life.

  The kids’ laughter rang loud from inside. Everly had this way of making them belly laugh at her jokes. Like the walls knew the noise was too good to contain, so they let it escape into the heavens.

  I glanced over my shoulder through the window and into the open kitchen.

  Inside, my son was laughing with his mother. My youngest daughter giggled as she slid a sheet of cookies into the oven. And my wife looked up, her smile widening when she caught my eye.

  From the first night she’d smiled at me at Jane’s, Everly had been mine.

  “I hope I have that someday,” Savannah whispered.

  “You will,” I promised. She had so much love to give. “You just have to wait until the right person takes the seat beside you.”

  She looked up to me and tears filled her eyes. “What if he already did? And I lost him?”

  My poor girl. How long had she been hiding this heartbreak? A tear dripped down her cheek and I caught it with my thumb. “Then you find him, baby girl. You go find him.”

 

 

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