Page 78 of Merry Christmas, You Filthy Animal
“Yeah, they’re not very nice guys,” I add. And then just to really pull off the sad-guy effect, I toe the ground with the tip of my boot.
“So what do you say?” Storee butts in. “We can all walk around, make a night of it. I can treat you both to some dinner since we had to ditch you last time we were all together.”
“I mean, I don’t want to intrude,” Betty says.
“Me either,” I add, attempting to portray a solemn appearance.
“Oh, you’re not at all.” Storee waves us off. “It’ll be fun. Come with me, Betty. We’ll start the night with some drinks.”
She takes Betty by the arm and directs her toward the Prancer’s Libations booth. It’s the local bar in town run by one of the beloved couples, Frank and Thachary Lamb—and no, not the Frank from Idaho Springs.
When they’re out of earshot, Cole gets really close to me. He could practically lick my neck if he wanted. “What the fuck was that?”
Taking a step back, because,dude, personal space, I answer, “What was what?”
“That ambush.”
“What ambush?” I play dumb, and trust me, I’m good at it.
“The one where I’m about to enjoy a nice evening with my wife, and then you go and show up.”
“Uh, excuse me, I didn’t show up. You two ran into me while I was licking my stood-up wounds. I’m sorry if my brothers are dicks and set me up for failure. You know how they can be.”
Cole sighs, because he does know. Cole has always been more of a brother to me than my actual brothers. They’re closer in age, they started a business together, and they’ve always been two peas in a pod, while I’ve been the outsider. I truly believe it’s one of the reasons why I attached to Cole the way that I did, because he felt like the brother I was always looking for.
“Yeah, I know.” He drags his hand over his face. “Can you at least... depart after, like, an hour? Give Storee and me some time alone?”
“I can manage that.”
“Thanks.” He sticks his hands in his pockets and then asks, “What was all that rambling about shrinkage?”
“Dude, don’t ask.”
Betty
Okay, this is awkward.
This is a night for couples—it clearly states that on the signs I saw when I was walking toward Ornament Park. Cupid Christmas. And from the drink themes alone, I know this is a night for lovers, and I really shouldn’t be here, but Storee clearly wouldn’t let me just walk away.
“Are you sure you want me to stay?” I ask Storee as she takes our drinks from the bartender and hands me two cups.
“Of course. I feel so stupid that I mixed up the nights. I think I was just thinking,Oh, I get to get dressed up for two nights, and completely forgot what I was doing.”
“It’s fine. I seriously can just meet up tomorrow.”
“Don’t be silly. This will be fun.”
She leads the way back to the men, who seem to be joking around, because Atlas laughs at something Cole says while Cole smirks. I don’t know much about them, but from an outsider looking in, their relationship seems special.
Really special.
There’s a connection there that you don’t see very often, something I don’t see Uncle Dwight have with anyone.
I met up with him yesterday, and I talked about how I was impressed that even the high school was decorated. I failed to mention the whole bumping-into-Atlas thing, because I’m surehe wouldn’t be happy about it. We talked about a few other things, like decorations that could be displayed year-round and could bear the harsh Colorado winter in the Rockies but also the blazing sun in the summer. I avoided all conversation about Atlas, even though I had a bunch of questions I wanted to ask.
Like... where did the hate stem from? What did he do to him?
Has he thought about possibly doing something else with the land other than a competing farm?
