Chapter 18
Lucas
I shoved my mostly empty plate away, feeling ready to explode. Five helpings was one too many.
Molly shot me an I-told-you-so look. She asked me if I was trying to set a world record around the forth heaping plate. I didn’t want to tell her I was casually trying to beat Richard…but that was only because he was casually trying to beat me.
“You can look at me any way you want.” I raised both my arms and flexed. “Muscles like these don’t grow on trees.” Then I leaned in and proudly whispered, “After the workout we had earlier today I needed my protein.”
I wasn’t sure who won the informal eating contest, but either way it was good to just be silly again. If it wasn’t for Richard’s date—the woman who looked like someone’s press secretary—it would’ve felt like a real family dinner.
Dinner was a holy time in our house while Mom was alive. Mom and Dad used to cook dinner and we were forced to clean the dishes. They said it built character to clean up after ourselves. I thought it was bullshit.
What’s the point of making all that money if you can’t pay people to do stuff for you?
They were right of course. Looking back it always seemed like they were right, we were just too young and spoiled to see that at the time.
Like the good little boys we were, Richard and I started clearing the plates. It was only when I grabbed Dad’s that I saw how little he’d actually eaten. He’d apparently only been moving the food around as we all made strained, but pleasant-enough conversation.
“I had a big lunch,” Dad said, reassuringly. He saw that the lie didn’t ease the worried look on my face because he patted my arm and changed the subject. “Just load them into the dishwasher. I think you boys have mastered the fine art of washing dishes by now.”
“I think I might need a refresher,” I gave him a half smile. “If it’s worth doing once…”
“It’s worth doing a thousand times,” Richard said, breezing past us with full arms.
Dad just laughed, having been beaten to finish his favorite phase. Dad began softly interrogating Molly and Madison, asking them about their lives and how they met us. Richard and I escaped to the kitchen to wash dishes and wrap and put away leftovers.
“You know I won, right?” Richard said with an easy grin. His jacket was off and sleeves were rolled up as he pulled plastic wrap over a casserole dish.
I froze; warm tap water steadily ran over my hands and the cup I was washing. What did he mean “won?” Won won? Is the plastic anchorwoman in there actually pregnant?
Then it dawned on me that I never even told Molly about the clause in the inheritance. I wasn’t intentionally keeping that from her. We just got back together; I wanted to make sure we were good first before I dropped something that heavy on her.
“Hi Molly, I haven’t seen you in a decade.” “I’ve never stopped loving you.” “I need to get you pregnant ASAP.” In no universe do those three fucking sentences make it into the same paragraph.
Hell, I couldn’t even imagine them in the same book.
“I ate six,” Richard said, brimming with smugness.
I exhaled hard and steadied myself. Thank, Christ! He wasn’t talking about the inheritance.
“Bullshit, you did. A lone buttered roll doth not a plate maketh,” I did my best Shakespeare impression. “My last plate piled high with salad.”
“Salad? No.” He scoffed. “There weren’t any tomatoes, onions, carrots… Did you even have dressing?” He paused, trying to remember. “No jury in the country would call that a salad. Besides you didn’t even finish it.”
We continued to argue the legality of produce for a lot longer than should’ve been possible. Eventually, without any clear winner, the argument fizzled away like it always used to. There wasn’t any mention of the elephant in the room that caused the massive rift between us. We kept everything surprisingly light.
Standing here with my brother like this after so long was surreal. Nothing was forgiven. The truce was only for the night, but I started wondering if we could just talk this whole thing out like sensible adults; like brothers.
“What happened to the black haired girl you left your party with?” I asked idly, drying my hands with a bright red hand towel.
“It didn’t work out.” He paused, then continued as if he was reassuring himself rather than explaining anything to me. “Madison is a better fit, we have similar goals.”
Why the fuck would you want a social chameleon like her? Surprisingly, I held my tongue. It wasn’t something I probably would’ve done yesterday. Nevertheless I didn’t like that woman and it wasn’t just because she was with Richard.
I didn’t like her fake smile or her precise laugh. I didn’t like the way I felt her eyes dissecting me for exploitable weakness while I wasn’t looking. Madison didn’t have strong opinions and she didn’t make waves. I could talk to her for days and have no fucking idea who she was.
I didn’t like the thought of someone like that with my brother.
“That’s a shame.” I threw the towel at him, which he caught easily. He proceeded to neatly fold it then put it away. “She looked like she was a free spirit. That would’ve been good for you. What was her name?”
“Gloria,” he said, before I even finished the question. Her name was ready in his mind; too ready. I looked hard at him.
Did he actually care for Gloria?
Richard had the same look of longing in his eyes that I had when I was seriously missing Molly.
Holy shit… He does care for her!
He was only with Madison because of the inheritance. Gloria probably didn’t want kids and Madison… She seemed like the kind of person that wanted only whatever will get her ahead.
Fuck. I actually felt sorry for the guy. I couldn’t remember Richard ever finding a girl he had a real connection with. He’d been with a lot of girls sure, but they were just flings, nothing serious.
And now he goes and falls in love just to throw it away so he can win a competition.
All these years I thought he was the smart one…
After that busted show at the Family Room, once the cops and EMTs cleared me to leave, I had a realization. I wasn’t going to win the bet. I wasn’t going to win because I knew I would never be happy with anyone else but Molly. I couldn’t just knock some girl up and hope for the best.
If I didn’t have her then I didn’t have anything worth fighting for.
“Hey, man,” I sighed. Against my better judgment, I decided to extend an olive branch. “We really haven’t talked about this whole inheritance thing.”
“Wasn’t that why you called me earlier, so we wouldn’t discuss it?”
“I just didn’t want to argue about it in front of Dad. He’s got a lot going on; he doesn’t need to deal with that shit too.”
Richard crossed his arms and nodded gravely. “What about the inheritance?”
“This whole thing is fucking crazy. Maybe we can talk this over and come up with another solution.”
The sound of shattering glass rang out before Richard could answer. We immediately shelved the conversation and rushed back into the dining room. Thoughts of Dad falling out of his chair or cutting himself, or a million other things raced through my mind.
Fortunately it wasn’t Dad. He wasn’t in the room at all. He’d probably been taken by the nurse to the bathroom or to take medicine.
Madison sat calmly in her chair, wearing an expression of slight embarrassment. It was the look someone had when they accidentally spoiled a surprise party on purpose. And Molly?
Molly. Was. Pissed.
Molly stepped over the broken wine glass at her feet and stormed over to me.
“What happened? Is everything—” The words were slapped out of my mouth.
“You fucking asshole!” Molly didn’t exactly scream the words, but her voice and pitch gradually rose to the point that if she said anything more it would be said at the top of her lungs.
Molly tore off the bracelet I’d given her and dropped it like it burned her hand.
“Molly…”
“Y’know, this time I really thought it was going to be different. I actually thought you came back for me. How fucking stupid am I, huh?” Molly shoved me; the tears rolling down her cheeks ruined her mascara.
With one look of utter betrayal, I felt my whole world crumbling apart like a sand castle under a heavy boot.
Oh, no…
I waited too long. Why could I not stop fucking things up!
“All of this was just to beat Richard?” Molly went to slap me again, but couldn’t muster the hatred through all that sadness. “Goddamn you, Luke.”
When she left, I lurched forward as if she had a thread wrapped around my heart. Once she was far enough away, the imaginary line snapped taught and it ripped my heart right out of my chest.
I was too stunned to move, to think, to breathe. After everything that happened, could it really end this way?
“Luke, I…” Richard started, then stopped, not able to find the words he was looking for.
The sound of his voice was like a cheese grater on my soul. I turned to face my half brother with eyes on fire. I mirrored Molly’s feelings of betrayal and anger. I was a fool for not telling her the truth when I had the chance, but I was a bigger fool for trusting Richard not to fuck me over when he had the chance.
“We had a truce, you mother fucker!” I didn’t even realize I hit him until he was bleeding on the floor. He wasn’t knocked out or anything. I cocked my fist to hit him again but he didn’t raise his arms in defense. Why would he?
It wouldn’t matter if I beat him to a pulp. He was a ruthless, cutthroat business man and he’d already got what he wanted.
He’d already won.
“For a second there…” I said, unclenching my hands and letting my arms lower to my sides. “I almost thought you were my brother.”
I left the happy couple to their hollow victory and chased after Molly. She’d have already asked one of the valets to drive her home, but I had to at least try to reach her. Try to apologize. Anything!
“What?” I heard Madison ask in her reptilian voice right before I rounded the corner that would take me out of the house. “You wanted to win, didn’t you?”