Tank leans forward, elbows on the table. His winning hand is still spread out in front of him, a full house. It seems a little ironic. Or maybe like reverse irony? Depends on what happens next, I guess.
Harper finally looks up, and I give her wild eyes and a look I hope says, Get your hiney out here, honey. She walks out with Brutus and Smoky just as Dad says, “I do plan to relocate there eventually. And hopefully not alone. I did this for us,” Tank says, rapping his knuckles on the table. The fan squeaking overhead is the only sound.
“How is you buying a town for us?” Collin asks.
I clench my hands into fists under the table, because I feel it coming, the way electricity crackles through the air before a storm.
“I think it’s the perfect location for us to open the brewery.”
And there it is, folks. Tank dropped the bomb.
For a good five seconds, no one speaks. No one moves. Only Smoky, Harper and Chase’s almost full-grown puppy, seems unaffected, chewing idly on his own paw, then moving on to chase his tail.
“Dad, this isn’t like you,” Harper says. “No offense, but this sounds like a Pat move—risky and impulsive.”
“Hey!” I protest, but everyone ignores me.
“Maybe it’s time I take more risks,” Tank says.
“Speaking of Pat …” Collin swivels to face me. “You’ve been awful quiet.”
His words draw all the attention on the patio to little ol’ me. I’ve been letting the argument happen around me until just now. I kinda thought they might not have noticed me. But I’m never quiet. Talking would have been less obvious.
“Yeah,” James adds, and I don’t like that his first words in a long while are directed my way. “Why has your big mouth been shut?”
Before I can formulate some kind of answer or locate a Get Out of Jail Free card, Tank drives up in a double-decker bus and throws me under it.
“Pat went with me to see the town today. He’s totally on board.”
James drops his bottle, which shatters on the flagstone patio, and all that building tension explodes with the subtlety of a dirty bomb.
Chase grabs Smoky to keep him from stepping on the glass, while Harper darts inside for the broom. I’m sputtering, trying to think of some defense, like I didn’t say I was TOTALLY on board, while Collin and James start shouting over each other.
“I knew you were too quiet!” Collin points his cigar accusingly at me.
James practically rattles the nearby windows. “I can’t believe you both went behind my back! You can’t make those kinds of decisions about Dark Horse without consulting me!”
See! I knew that’s how he’d feel.
I glare at Dad, forgetting for a moment that he’s my only ally. Or WAS. He doesn’t take too kindly to my look, and stands up, pushing back from the table.
“We can discuss this at a time when you’ve all had a chance to cool down. I love you all, and I think you’ll see how this could be great for our family. For all of us.”
With that, Dad walks into the house. We can all hear the sound of his bedroom door slamming from out here.
And then there was one person to blame.
James shakes his head in disgust. “I can’t believe you. Dad—well, that I can sort of understand. He’s old.”
“Not that old,” Chase says, then holds up his hands when we all shoot him a look.
“He’s right, though,” Collin says. “They’re both to blame.”
“I’m not the one who bought a town!” I argue.