The words reminded CJ how much he had to be thankful for. Putting aside the trauma of that time, he decided to make new memories.
“Yeah, bro.”
“Have a seat, little brother.” Diesel nodded to an empty stool on the other side of the counter. “I’ll serve.”
CJ shook his head. “I like working with you, D.” He pointed to his hat. A stack of them were in the storage room, along with the aprons. “I don’t want my Soda Jerk attire to go to waste.”
Ransom raised his hand but didn’t wait for anyone to ask what the fuck he wanted. “Hey, CJ, can we take the soda away and just leave jerk?”
“Burn, bro,” Ryder said, high-fiving Ransom, then wagging a finger at CJ. “You can’t look all humpy-faced. You left yourself open to that one by announcing you were a Soda Jerk.”
“They were called that because of their jerking motions when they operated the fucking handles on the soda machine dispensers, asshole,” CJ snapped.
“It wasn’t cuz of the way they acted?” Axel asked.
“No!” CJ and Diesel chorused.
“Well—”
CJ pointed his finger at Ransom before he spewed another insult. “We’re supposed to be nice to each other tonight.”
When everyone walked in last night, shell-shocked from those fucking DNA results, Rebel went to her room and Jana went to the treehouse. CJ and his brothers trooped behind Mom and Dad to the kitchen. She’d given Axel the cookies and milk he’d begged Diesel for during their drive back home, while Dad got a beer for himself, Diesel, and CJ. Watching Axel chomp the cookies and chug the milk, Ransom and Ryder asked for cookies and milk too. Once everyone was settled on the stools at the counter, Dad prepared a cup of tea for Mom.
None of them had much to say because the evening had been long and tiring. Right before they went to their rooms, Diesel suggested a brothers’ night, which CJ jumped at the chance to do. Recently, all they’d done was argue and they needed to remember their bond. It was more than because they were all Caldwell boys. It was because they once liked each other’s company and found something to bond over.
The signing of the peace agreement and the way Mom and Dad looked at each other again gave CJ hope that they could put family first and focus on each other again.
It didn’t even bother him that Dad hadn’t invited him to the club when the peace agreement was signed. CJ had had a taste ofclub life. He knew what to expect, but he’d enjoy his last fourteen months of high school. If he passed all his tests, especially his finals, he would be a senior next year.
“I’m hungry, CJ,” Axel whined, in between twisting one hundred eighty degrees on the stool, turning and kicking the counter, then repeating the process. “I want a pizza. Do we got to have sandwiches?”
“If you eat the sandwiches tonight, I’ll take you for pizza tomorrow evening,” Diesel promised.
“Yay!” Axel spun completely around, then held out his hand to Diesel. “Deal.”
Diesel accepted Axel’s hand and shook.
“Will Jana come with us?” Axel asked, no longer whirling on the stool but still kicking the counter.
“I’ll see,” Diesel said.
“If you marry her, we won’t call you uncle.”
Diesel crouched down and pulled out a basket of various chips. “I wouldn’t expect you to,” he said, standing and shrugging.
Ryder stood from his seat and walked behind the counter, heading for the refrigerator with their premade sandwiches. “You motherfuckers are taking too long.”
“Hand out the sandwiches, Ry,” CJ instructed. “I’ll get the sodas.”
“I want a root beer float,” Ransom said. “Soda Jerks made those.”
“I didn’t bring the ingredients downstairs.” CJ grabbed a plastic container with a ham sandwich label on it. “The next time we do this, I’ll do it.”
Ransom chose both turkey and ham sandwiches, then took a bag of potato chips and another of spicy cheese puffs. “In the interest of peace, I’ll accept that answer. I haven’t had a root beer float in a long time so I’m looking forward to it.”
Axel climbed onto the counter and stretched his arms out, yanking the basket toward him before returning to his seat. “I got a question,” he said, jerking a bag of corn chips open so fast that they flew everywhere. He threw the ruined bag on the floor and took another one from the basket.
Before he repeated his messy mistake, CJ took it and opened it, then handed it back to him. “You need a sandwich, too. Chips alone won’t fill you up. Now, what’s your question.”
