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“Hmm. Are we jealous, Goldie?”
The old nickname had that fire in her eyes flaring, and that grip on the table only got more fierce. She was going to lose this game. She always did. Because just like every time we’d played, I was having the time of my life, while Marigold was plotting ways to hide my body.
“Only in your dreams would I be jealous when it came to you.”
Hmm. She wasn’t necessarily wrong. I’d certainly had dreams like that before.
“No need to deny it, Goldie. Green looks good on you.”
“I am not denying anything, and do not call me that.”
Her voice was getting louder, her pitch higher. She was losing control, and that was exactly where I wanted her. Guard down, teeth bared, like a wild animal. This was when she’d tell me what she was really thinking.
“Call you what? Go—”
The side door of Romfuzzled flew open, and my youngest brother, Crew, came tumbling in with a large stack of paper in one hand, a tape dispenser in the other, and…was he wearing goggles?
The whole table turned to him, though no one seemed surprised by his appearance or bothered to ask him any questions. We’d all come to expect the bizarre from him.
He huffed a breath at us and yanked the swim goggles off his head, letting them hang around his neck, where they were half-covered by the collar of his pink parrot-print Hawaiian shirt. He nodded, and in response, we all nodded back. It was an unspoken agreement to let Crew do whatever he was going to do. It was more fun that way, to sit back and watch.
He turned and shuffled behind the bar. Silently, he set his supplies down, then got to work. He held one piece of paper up to the exposed brick wall next to a shelf of liquor, then secured it haphazardly with a piece of tape. He took a step back, cocked his head to one side, then the other, and then gave it a firm nod. Then he took one large step to his right and attached another piece of paper to the wall. This one just under the liquor shelf.
Three pieces of paper in, Adam spoke up. “Who’s going to get him?”
Luke sighed and set his drink on the table. “I’ll take it this time.”
We all watched, entranced, as he rounded the bar and pulled down the first notice Crew had hung up. He frowned a little, his brow furrowed as he studied it. With a small huff and a shake of his head, he rounded the bar and held it up for us to see.
It was a picture of a cute redhead. She was smiling, and above her image, in all caps, were the words DO NOT SERVE!! underlined and in bold.
“Um, Crew?”
“I am busy, Calla. Can you not see that?” Crew was now hanging notice number six on the same wall.
“I see that, yes. But why are you taping pictures of this poor woman up all over?”
Crew whirled around and pointed his roll of tape at us. “You all are family, right?”
We nodded in unison. All but Rachel, who shrugged.
“Then you should support my decision and collectively shun this spawn of Satan.”
Luke ripped down two more sheets. “Crew, I won’t ban a person from my bar without reason.”
“She stole from me!” Crew shouted, ripping off another piece of tape.
“What did she steal?”
“My confidence.”
Layla stood and made her way over to Luke. When she was close, she took the sheet of paper he was still studying. “So she didn’t steal a physical object from you?”
Crew paused, one hand splayed on the paper, the other pressing tape to the wall, and eyed us over his shoulder. “No. But she might as well have. Since she moved her truck next to mine last night, she’s stolen all of my customers.”
Calla sat straight, dropping a hand to Nathan’s leg. “Wait! She owns that new truck? The one with the ice cream nachos and waffle pops?”
Crew groaned and hung his head. “Yes. Don’t remind me.”
