Evan shifts along to follow him, bringing his beer. “No, this is just a follow-up. A clarification, even. Your original answer was vague and incomplete!”
Evan doesn’t seem like the type to take hints, and Dan is reminded again that the other man is a spoiled rich kid, used to getting what he wants. “Okay. No, they weren’t my family.”
“But you do have a family, right?”
“What do you think, Evan, I was hatched from an egg?”
Evan’s face lights up. “Yeah, that’s good! We’ll exchange questions. That’s a great idea!” Evan almost claps his hands. Dan is pretty sure the innocent enthusiasm thing is an act, but he’s not quite positive.
Evan continues. “Okay, your question was, ‘Evan, do you think I was hatched from an egg?’ My answer to that is, ‘No, Dan, I do not believe that at all, and I am sure you were born from a traditional union between a human male and a human female.’” Evan’s smile is mock-condescending. “You’ll notice, I think, that I answered the question fully, and even gave a little extra. Perhaps you could use that as a model for your answer to my next question.” Dan refuses to smile, but Evan continues anyway. “Okay, my next question is… do you like your job?”
That one’s a bit easier, so Dan decides to play along. He has a question he wants to ask Evan, after all. “Yes, Evan, I like my job. It’s not perfect all the time, but in general, I enjoy it.”
Evan nods, looking impressed. “Excellent, you’re really picking the game up quickly. Okay, now it’s your turn.”
Dan puts down the glass. “All right, here goes… what were you doing at Molly and Karl’s this morning?”
Evan’s face falls. “Dan, damn. I’m sorry, but I really can’t talk about it. Not now, at least. As soon as things are settled, you’ll be the first to know.”
That was about what Dan expected. “So, you refuse to answer? I guess that means the game’s over.” Dan moves around the bar, this time going to check on the coffee pot. Again, Evan follows him.
“Dan, seriously… I know this must be frustrating for you. But I was just hoping that… I don’t know. I guess I was hoping that all that could be separate.” Evan looks awkward, and Dan wonders if this is what’s beneath the careless exterior, or if it’s just another act. “I mean, you must have people coming on to you pretty much constantly, but, honestly, I’m not just—I’m not just after your looks, not looking for just—you know. I really like you, what I’ve seen so far, and I’d like the chance to get to know you better.” Evan looks like he’s surprised himself with his little speech.
Dan just stares at him, and then says, “Okay, how about I give you an alternate question, then?” Evan nods enthusiastically and waits for Dan to speak. “Here it is, then, question two… Evan, where’s Jeff tonight?”
Dan can’t read the expression on Evan’s face, but his voice is agitated. “No, man, you’ve got it wrong. Jeff and me, we’re not like that. I mean, we’re like that, but we’re not… I mean, believe me, Jeff has no problem with me being here tonight.” Evan catches himself. “Well, no, that’s not quite true. He didn’t think I should come, but it’s because he thought it was stupid, thought it was making things too complicated, not because he has a problem with it in theory. I mean—”
Dan is suddenly tired, and strangely sad, and he cuts Evan off. “Evan, you should go home. There’s nothing for you here.” He fixes Evan with a level stare to show that he means it. This time when he walks away, Evan doesn’t follow.
Chapter 5
EVAN LEAVES the bar shortly after Dan starts ignoring him. Dan feels mostly relieved, and tries to disregard the tiny little niggle of disappointment. Evan seems like a good enough guy, and Lord knows he’s not hard to look at. Maybe in another life, Dan would have been interested, even if the Jeff situation is still a little confusing. But in this life, he knows that the whole thing is out of the question.
Dan helps close down the bar and then heads home to find a note pinned to his door. It’s from Molly, asking him to come by the house the next morning at nine.
So, that’s it, then. He’ll find out what’s going on in… he checks his watch. Six hours. He’s really just fed up with the drama—he’s been more than just an employee to Karl and Molly, and he doesn’t understand what he’s done to be shut out like this, and he doesn’t really appreciate it.
He falls asleep quickly but wakes up, as usual, when he hears Robyn arrive to feed the horses. He tries to get back to sleep, but then the sun shines in his window, and he knows it’s a lost cause.
He showers, dresses, and tries to think of a way to kill almost two hours. He settles on going down and helping Robyn take the horses out. Even if he’s not allowed to ride, it’s still calming to be around them. He and Robyn grill each other looking for extra information, but there’s none to be had.
Finally, he heads over to the house. He’s a little early, but he doesn’t think Karl or Molly will mind. In better times he would have expected to mooch some sort of breakfast from them, but he doubts that’s in the cards today.
He’s only a little surprised to see Chris’s truck in the driveway again. Chris hadn’t returned Dan’s calls the day before, which is totally unlike him, so Dan knows he must be involved in whatever the Big Secret is. There’s no sign of the Kaminskis, though.
Dan wipes his feet carefully and then rings the doorbell. Usually, he’d follow that up with an opened door and a shouted “hello,” but things just don’t feel quite that casual anymore.
When Karl comes to answer the door, he seems reserved, almost nervous, and he doesn’t seem to want to look Dan in the eye. He leads the way into the living room, where Molly and Chris are waiting.
Chris stands up, saying, “I’ll just go tidy up some of the paperwork,” as he leaves the room.
“Dan, come in.” Molly says softly. “Please, sit down.”
She’s acting like he’s made of china, and the change from her normal forthrightness is kind of creeping Dan out. “Yeah, okay,” he says. Whatever it is, it can’t be as bad as they’re building it up to be.
There’s an awkward pause, and then Molly begins. “We’ve… we’ve made several decisions. They’re all connected, and they all involved you, and we just… we know you might not agree, necessarily, but we really want you to hear us out. Can you do that?”
Dan just shrugs. He’s not going to start making promises when he has no idea what’s going on.
Molly nods as though that’s the response she expected, and Karl takes over. “You know we’ve gotten offers for the farm before, Dan, and we always refused them. We thought Justin would be taking over—that was always the plan.” It’s obvious that it still hurts Karl to talk about his son’s injury, and Dan just sits still, making sure he doesn’t do anything to make it worse. But Karl and Molly are looking at him as if they expect a response.
“You’re selling to the Kaminskis?” he guesses. “But why would California billionaires want a Kentucky horse farm?”
“Not exactly… we’re selling the land to Leincorp Developments. They’re thinking of building a subdivision here, apparently.”
“Oh.” Dan takes a moment to digest this information. “So you’re shutting the farm right down?”
Molly reaches forward and takes his hand. “But the Kaminskis are interested in buying all the horses! All of them! They’ve got a big barn out there, apparently, and they were going to just buy a horse for Tatiana, but now they’re thinking of getting into the training business, and filling up the place.”
Dan isn’t shocked, really. In his time thinking about the possible reasons for the Kaminskis’ involvement, he had come up with a variety of scenarios, and the Californians throwing their money around had come into several of them. He just isn’t sure why it had to be such a secret. “Well, yeah, that’s great. I mean, congratulations, I guess. Do you know what you guys are going to do instead?”
Molly and Karl exchange somewhat apprehensive looks. “We’re just going to retire,
we think.” Molly says. “The last year—it’s taken a lot out of both of us. We’ve used up most of our savings, but with the money from the land and the horses, we’ll be okay.”
Dan nods. “Okay. Well, yeah, congratulations. So you’ll need me out of the apartment, I guess? What’s the timeline on that?” Dan finds that he’s not really upset about the idea of losing his job. Moneywise, he could do better with just working another couple shifts at the bar, considering how rarely he gets paid at the barn. And if he wants to work with horses, he knows he’s got enough of a reputation to find a job in the field. Leaving the apartment is a bit tougher to think about—he and Justin had shared a life there, after all.
Karl says, “Well, the developers want in as soon as possible, but we told them we’d need some time to get things packed up, and obviously you will too. There’s a bit of extra money available if we get out faster, so let us know how long you’ll need, and we can split some of the bonus with you.”
“And all of your back pay, of course,” Molly hastens to add. “We’ve kept close track, and Chris has the numbers, and we’ll pay you all of it, with interest.” She moves closer to Dan and puts her hand on his arm. “We really don’t know how we could have made it through this without you, Dan.”
“No, it’s fine. I wasn’t going to leave you in the lurch. And I don’t really have much stuff. I can get out as soon as I have a place to move into. So don’t worry about that.” Dan stands up. “So, when are the horses going? And no more riding before they go?”
“Well, the ‘no riding’ is just for while things are in flux. If we decided on a price, and then a horse got injured, it could confuse things. And we’re still working out the details with the Kaminskis. But even if things don’t work there, we can find buyers, don’t worry. We might need to be a bit flexible about the prices, but they’re good horses—we’ll find homes.” Molly sounds like she’s trying to convince herself at the same time as she convinces Dan.
“So, the Kaminski thing isn’t for sure?” Dan sits back down. “With the economy the way it is, people aren’t buying a lot of horses. Have you thought about hanging on to the barn for a bit longer, until you’re sure about where the horses are going?”
Karl looks at Molly and they both shake their heads. “No. The deal for the subdivision isn’t open forever, and… we… we need this to be over.” Karl looks down at his big hands. “You were right, about selling Monty to that little girl. That would have been a terrible thing. Could have been really dangerous. And you were right that we, of all people, should have known better—”
“It was a real wake-up call for us, Dan,” Molly cuts in. “We realized that we’ve been pushing too hard for too long. We needed to stop, and think about things.”
“Okay, yeah, I can see that.” Dan can. He’s been working for the Archer family for years, and has seen them before and after Justin’s accident. Karl and Molly are really not the same people they were a year ago.
“But, really, it could be an opportunity for you, Dan.” Molly says, and she seems to be trying to put some enthusiasm in her voice. “The Kaminskis are looking for a trainer. Apparently Jeff is mostly helping them out as a friend. He’s got his own interests and his own business to worry about. Evan was really interested in getting you to come to California, to be the trainer. I’m sure it would be fun for you to work in a barn that actually has some money, for a change!”
Dan really doesn’t want to think about just what Evan’s trying to buy with all his money. “Well, obviously I’m going to be staying in Kentucky, even if I’m not working for you anymore. It’s not like I can just leave Justin here.” He stands up again, a little insulted that they think he’d abandon their son. “So, sure, I’ll start looking for a place. Let me know how things go with the California thing, whether I should start working the horses again or not.” He looks at them, waiting for them to stand and walk him to the door, or at least acknowledge that he’s leaving. They don’t.
Karl’s voice is scratchy when he speaks again. “The farm… that’s not all we’ve decided.” Dan gets a sick feeling in his stomach. Maybe this next part will explain why they’ve been acting so strangely. He sits back down, and waits.
Molly starts. “We’re going to have enough money to live comfortably, and then some.” Dan just nods. The farm is a good size and not that far from town, and several of the horses are quite valuable. “We’ll have enough money to look after Justin and ourselves, if we’re careful.” Dan nods again. Justin’s in a private facility. Insurance covers the basic care, but a lot of the extras have come right out of his parents’ pockets. It’s why Dan has never resented his missing paychecks.
“We just wanted to be sure that our decision wasn’t based on money,” Karl blurts out. He takes a breath to calm himself, and then says, “We wanted to be sure we were doing what’s best for Justin, not what’s best for our bank account.” Dan’s already queasy stomach flips when he sees that Karl is crying openly, and Molly’s eyes are brimming. He realizes that the farm decision was just a warm-up for the main event.
Molly takes her husband’s hand and looks at Dan imploringly. “He’s gone, Dan. The doctors have been telling us that for months. The seizures are getting worse, and his heart has stopped three times now.” Dan can’t look her in the eye as she continues. “Dan, it was wrong of us to let it go on for so long. We wanted so much for him to be okay, and we let it blind us to the truth.” Her voice cracks and her tears are flowing freely now. “Dan… Justin died almost a year ago. We’ve got to stop pretending he didn’t. We’ve—”
She breaks off, and Karl wraps his arm around her shoulder before he continues for her. “We’ve signed a ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ order for Justin. The next time his heart stops, or he has a violent seizure, or….” He takes a moment to collect himself, and then speaks in a more level voice. “The next time anything happens, they’ll take steps to make sure there’s no pain, but they won’t bring him back.”
Dan is stunned. He remembers the conversations he’d had with Molly and Karl when Justin had first been hurt. They’d all agreed that Justin was a fighter, that he’d never give up. They’d agreed that they would be as strong as he was, and wouldn’t give up, either. What had happened?
“Just because you made a bad call about a horse?” Dan almost whispers. “You’re going to let Justin die because… because why?” Dan can’t sit still, and stands to move around the room as his voice rises. “If it’s the money, you could put him in a simpler room, and I could contribute more. You don’t need to worry about giving me the back pay.” This makes sense, this is becoming a plan. “You could still sell the barn, and the horses, if you want, and I could get a job somewhere else to help pay. I could—”
Karl breaks into Dan’s increasingly frantic monologue. “No, Dan! It’s not about the money. That’s what we were trying to tell you… we waited until we had lots of money, so we’d know that the money concerns weren’t influencing us at all!”
“Well, what is it about, then? How can you give up on him?” Dan’s shouting now, and he knows he should stop, but he doesn’t seem to be able to. “He’s your son. You’re supposed to look after him, not stick him in an institution, and then abandon him!”
“Dan!” It’s Chris, brought back into the room by the yelling. “Dan, you need to cool off.” Chris doesn’t look angry, exactly, but he doesn’t look friendly, either. Dan is reminded again that Chris is only his friend through Justin, and that Chris has known the Archer family for his whole life.
“What, you’re in on this too? You think this is a good idea?” Dan shakes his head in disgust. “First you tell me that I should be fucking around on him, and now you tell me I should let them kill him? What kind of friend are you?”
“Dan, you’re way over the line!” Chris’s voice isn’t loud, but it’s powerful. “You need to take a walk, calm down a little.”
“Yeah? What else are you going to decide while I’m gone? Who else are you going to kill?”
Chris takes one look at Molly and Karl, curled up around each other on the sofa as if Dan’s words hurt them physically, and then he grabs Dan by the shoulders and wrestles him toward the front door. “Out, Dan,” he grunts.
Dan doesn’t really try to resist. It feels as if all the fight has gone out of him. He’d always been jealous of Justin’s relationship with his parents, how they could work together so well and still function as a family. Seeing them abandon him like this is bewildering. He lets Chris manhandle him onto the porch. Chris looks torn between going back and comforting Karl and Molly or staying out and keeping an eye on Dan.
When Dan collapses onto the porch steps, Chris sighs and sits down beside him. “They’re not abandoning anybody, man. Justin’s gone, and he’s not coming back. If there was a shred of a chance, you know they’d fight for him. You know that.” Dan just stares out at the front lawn. There’s a big old maple tree out there. Justin had once shown him where he and Chris had carved their initials in the bark when they were kids. When Dan had looked wistful, wishing that he had that sort of history somewhere, Justin had gone and gotten a knife and carved DW right there beside the other two. Dan wonders if the subdivision developers will cut the tree down.
Chris is still talking. “They maybe made a mistake in not telling you everything they got from the doctors. I think they were trying to spare you, or something… I don’t know. Maybe they just thought if nobody knew it wouldn’t be true. But there’s been no higher brain function since his first seizure, months ago. He’s gone, Dan.”
Dan can’t answer, can’t talk past the lump in his throat. There’s a weird ringing in his ears, and his body is flashing hot and then cold. He’s listening to Chris, but it’s like they’re far away from each other, or Chris is speaking a language Dan used to know but has forgotten. He pushes himself off the step and straightens up, then starts walking back to the barn.
Dreamspinner Press Year Four Greatest Hits Page 31