Gary laughed and dug into his pocket “I do. I made a nice bit playing cards last night. Here’s the money I borrowed.” His father looked at the wad of money in Gary’s hand as he peeled off several bills and handed them over. “I’m good at cards.”
“I used to be pretty good at them myself.” His father looked at the money in his son’s hand. “Why don’t you help me out now? I need to get four hundred dollars together. There’s an investment in a silver mine south of here that I’d like to get in on. If you’d spot me the money now, I’ll see to it that you get it back doubled.”
Gary shoved his money back in his pocket. “No. I’ll go with a sure thing.”
“That’s hardly fair, Gary. I’ve done everything for you.”
Gary shook his head. “You’ve done nothing but ruin my life. I would be at the university instead of working as a laborer if you hadn’t been so foolish. You don’t even care. You’ve never cared about me—or Susanna, for that matter. You only care about your next scheme.”
Father looked shocked, but it didn’t stop Gary. He had no idea where Susanna had gone. He supposed she was setting things up to cook in their little kitchen.
“You know that isn’t true, Gary. I only ever cared about making money because of my family. You know I’ve done all I can to keep our family living the life we were meant to live. It’s your uncle’s fault that we’ve failed and ended up here.”
“No, it was your fault. I know that and so does everyone else. You’re the only one who seems incapable of accepting the truth.”
“How dare you talk to me that way? Everything you have isdue to my generosity. You wouldn’t even be here if not for my willingness to keep you living at home.”
“So put me out. Uncle Harrison wants me here at the hotel to protect Susanna. Yet another thing you failed to consider.” Gary wasn’t sure where all of this rage was coming from. He was angry at Father for their change of fortune. He was angry that he’d been shamed along with the family name. Things should have been different—would have been different—had Father only been reasonable.
“I have the onion and potatoes,” Herc said, coming through the open front door.
Gary went to his friend and took the vegetables. “I’ll get Susanna fixing them. You go on with the others to the river and get cleaned up.”
Herc glanced at Gary’s father and then back to Gary. He seemed to understand the unspoken tension. “Sure. See you there.” He turned and exited without another word while Gary headed for the private living quarters.
Susanna stood ready and waiting. She smiled at the size of the potatoes and onion. “He must be really hungry.”
“We all are. I’m going to go get cleaned up with them. Father’s out there,” Gary said, nodding toward the hotel lobby.
“He’ll be heading home for his own dinner soon. I’ll let him know not to expect us,” Susanna said, smiling at Gary.
Gary nodded. He thought about saying something more to his sister about his friends. He didn’t know if they would act out of line with her or not. He hoped they’d be polite. Now that everything was set in motion, he couldn’t for the life of him understand why he’d thought putting his sister in this position was a good idea. He supposed he wanted to keep her from getting too close to Owen, but the boomers were no better. In fact, they were a whole lot worse. Owen had told him how boomers moved from job to job. They were more interested in seeing the country than working a job. Gary had even thoughtsuch a life might appeal to him, but the more he thought about the life he could have had, the less interested he was in the life that his friends could offer. And he certainly didn’t want that life for Susanna.
But what now? The family money was gone, and he’d tried to throw himself headlong into working, even though he wasn’t any good at it. Susanna had money—Uncle Harrison had said as much. Maybe Gary should talk to her about sending him to college. Maybe he could still have the life he’d intended.
But then what? For all his intentions to go to college, it had never been about learning or bettering his mind. It was something rich sons did, whether they had a propensity toward learning or not.
Gary made his way toward the front door and found his father still standing there as if ready to pounce on him.
“Look, Gary, I know you’ve been angry at me. I know you blame me for this,” Father said, waving his arm. “But I can fix everything if I can lay my hands on some money. You can help me. You get paid every week. You said you were good at cards. It shouldn’t be that hard to turn your pay into the money I need. This silver mine is a sure thing.”
Gary shook his head. “Then play cards for yourself, or use the hotel money.”
“But you have the money now and could help me.” His father looked at him expectantly. “Just imagine if we were able to get this investment. It might mean heading back to Topeka in a matter of weeks. Isn’t that what you want? Surely you don’t want to keep having to work in that horrible shop. You were raised to be a gentleman, Gary.”
“Yes, I was, but you ruined that. You ruin everything, and now you want to try to fix it by making more bad investments. I won’t be the one to help you. I’m going to help myself. Maybe Susanna will spend more of her husband’s money to help you, but I won’t give you a dime.”
Herbert bristled at his son’s attitude but then shrugged it off. As soon as Harrison tired of this game, Herbert knew all would be well. In the meantime, he was quite capable of playing cards and making a little money. He remembered blackjack being rather amusing in his younger days. Poker required more focus, but surely it couldn’t be that difficult.
The problem would be getting the startup money—the ante for the games. He studied the check-in desk, and his gaze drifted toward the door to the living quarters. Gary’s words about his sister echoed in his ears.
Where there was a need, there was always a way.
Susanna was busy peeling potatoes when her father came into the back room. She could tell there was something on his mind.
“What’s happened now? I thought I heard you and Gary arguing.” She diced the potato and reached for another. The lard was just starting to pop in the cast-iron skillet.
“How much money do you have?”
