"Twelve weeks," Susie said. "Shorter if he does some community service."
"What am I going to do without a license?" I snapped at Hunter.
"Maybe Remy can drive you in the bus." Hunter was not acting as contrite as I thought he should.
"At least now that he's in a bad mood, we can tell him we lost," Parker said.
"You lost? Jesus, you all had one job. I knew I should have been at that town hall."
"Wait?" Susie said, pausing at the police cruiser. "The plastic straw ban actually passed?" She looked miffed. "I’m not sure if I want to drink my iced tea through a paper straw."
"You can also use the metal ones," Parker said unhelpfully.
"This is not going to work for me," I said. "I cannot drink my coffee out of a metal straw. Or paper. Neither of those will work for me."
"It's better for the environment," Parker said with a smirk as I buckled Davy back into the booster seat. "Put him with Hunter. I don't want to ride with him. Davy smells like stale popcorn and salami."
* * *
Davy criedthe whole way home. I rolled down the window to let the cold fall air in.
Usually after bribing my father to send one of my little brothers to me, I dumped the kid off on Mace. But Davy was the first new kid since Josie had come into the picture. Now Mace spent all his time with his new girlfriend. Not that I minded—it made him less of a Neanderthal.
Archer was the next-best bet. Though obnoxious, he was good with the kids, probably because he was basically one. Lord knows how he managed to talk Hazel into agreeing to be his fiancée. I needed to make sure Archer didn't do something dumb to drive her away. Again. He split his time between Manhattan and Harrogate. When he was in town, he was at Hazel's café. It was doubtful Hazel would want a small child running around her business.
His conference center should be a success as soon as I could disabuse him of the notion that he would be treating it like his personal fiefdom. I patted myself on the back for making sure Archer had chosen a good site. His other option had been the now-defunct zoo. I still couldn’t believe he had wanted to bring in penguins.
Maybe Parker could be in charge of Davy?
My younger brother fiddled with the radio.
"I know what you're thinking," Parker said, "and I'm busy. I'm working. I'm the only person developing cutting-edge technology. Svensson PharmaTech would be nothing without me. I have to concentrate."
He was defiant. I was determined to stamp that out. I stared at the side of his head. Most of my brothers were wary of me. Some of them were out-and-out afraid.
"Are you really?"
Parker snorted and drove through the gate and down the drive to the roundabout in front of the estate house. My older brother Remy was waiting on the wide stone steps that led up to the huge front door. The building was a nineteenth-century mansion. It was too ornate for my taste, but it was the only place large enough to hold my entire family. And there was an excessive amount of Svenssons.
Hunter pulled up behind us as I took Davy out of the car.
"Davy!" Remy said, sweeping our little brother into a huge hug. Davy tugged at Remy's bushy beard.
"I have a present for you!" My older brother took out a stuffed goat. Hunter scowled as we walked into the house. I had half a mind to buy Remington a goat one of these days. He constantly talked about it, and Hunter always shot it down. Davy sniffled as he petted the stuffed animal as my two dozen youngest brothers crowded around him.
"Don’t let him get it dirty. He needs a bath," I ordered.
"My friend will like this," Davy said his a high-pitched voice.
"What friend?"
"From the train."
I ground my teeth but forced myself to stop. Who did that girl think she was?
I was adding her to my shit list along with Hunter and Mace and Archer. In fact, I was putting the whole town on the list. First I lost my license, then the straw ban passed. How would I even get to the office tomorrow? I ran through the list of people I didn't care for right now as I sprayed Davy off in one of the upstairs bathrooms. He hollered as if I was burning him alive.
"He is cute now that he’s clean!" Archer said when I brought him down to the kitchen. Several of my younger brothers were there, eating a snack Josie, Mace's girlfriend had made for them.
