Dad laughs and shakes his head.“That poor kid never could keep his trap shut.”
“Still can’t,” Finn says.
“What else?”Dad asks.
“Nothing that I know of.”Cal looks at Finn.
“Not me.”Finn turns my way.
“Well…”
“Whad’ya do, dumbass?”Finn asks.
“I didn’tdoanything.But for some reason, it’s me, in particular, who always manages to bring out the worst in the Travassholes.”
“The who-now?”Dad’s eyebrows arch high on his forehead.
“Turns out the Travises have a term for us, too.They call us the MacLames.”
“How juvenile,” Cal says.
Finn scoffs.“Jasmine could do better than that.Just the other day, she told Declan he was as useful as a juice box missing its straw.”
“You must be so proud,” I say.But I have to admit—that’s a real zinger.
“So nothing else?”Dad stands up.“Nobody has any idea why there’s bad blood between you all?”
Bad blood.
It’s such an old-school term, a Hatfields and McCoys throwback.But it hits the bullseye.And now that I love Phoebe—and I most certainly do love Phoebe—it’s something that must be fixed.
Because my ass isn’t going anywhere.I don’t give a shit what her brothers say or do.I’m with Phoebe now.
Dad’s looking to me for an answer, but I don’t have one.“It’s always just been that way,” I tell him.“It’s almost like we were born to be suspicious of each other.”
“Well, shit.”Dad turns away from us.He saunters over to the window and clasps his hands behind his back.For a long moment, he simply stares out over the snow-buried Town of Sweetbriar and the endless mountains and valleys beyond.
I look to Cal, who shakes his head.I look to Finn, who shrugs.
“Do you intend to marry her?”Dad asks, still turned away.
“Yeah.If she’ll have me.”
I don’t acknowledge the shocked expressions on my brothers’ faces, but I can feel them gawking at me.I’ll deal with their shit later.Right now, there’s something truly bizarre going on with Dad, and I don’t have the faintest idea what it is.
“Then it has to be done,” he says.“It’s time.It’s past time.”
Dad spins around to look at us.I know that expression.It’s the one he gets playing Uno with Jasmine when he’s holding the Wild Draw Four card.
“What has to be done?”Cal asks.
My father bobs his head up and down, his mouth pulled tight.“I’m not proud to admit it, but I think Gil and I set you boys up to be enemies.”
“How so?”Finn asks.
“We were rivals when we were young, just like the ten of you have always been, and for the exact same reason.”
“You’ve lost me,” Cal says.
