Читать книгу Flamingo Diner - Sherryl Woods, Sherryl Woods - Страница 12

7

Emma wished with everything in her that she could follow Jack Lawrence out into the night and never come back. She dreaded going back inside to face the million questions her brothers were bound to have. How could she calm their fears when she had so many of her own? As for her mother, she had no idea how to deal with her at all.

When she finally drew in a deep breath and went into the dining room, she walked into the middle of a heated argument between Andy and Jeff.

“Leave it to the old man to throw us a curve,” Jeff said angrily. “Did you see mom’s face? She didn’t know about those mortgages. I’ll bet dad was throwing all that money away on some woman.”

“He was not!” Andy said, obviously near tears. “Don’t you dare say that.”

“Andy’s right,” Emma said quietly. “I won’t let you talk about our father that way.”

“Then you explain where all that money went,” Jeff retorted.

“I don’t know,” Emma said. “But I do intend to find out.”

Andy ignored her and turned to Jeff. “Are we broke?”

Fearful of what Jeff might say, she stepped in. “No. As long as we have the diner, we’ll never be broke.”

“What are we going to do?” Andy asked, still looking to his brother. He swallowed hard, then squared his shoulders and said bravely, “I can drop out of football this fall and work another job. I can put off college for another year, too.”

Emma wasn’t surprised that Andy was immediately willing to make sacrifices. It was his nature, but she couldn’t allow him to do it.

Before she could say a word, though, Jeff spoke up. “Don’t be ridiculous,” he said fiercely. “This is not your problem to solve.”

“Then who will?” Andy asked.

“We’ll all pitch in, I guess,” Jeff said, sounding less certain.

“Even Emma?” Andy asked as if she weren’t sitting right there. His skepticism was plain.

Emma sighed. Until now, things had been so hectic that she’d been able to avoid the fact that her brother was furious with her for not coming home sooner. Clearly, she had some fence-mending to do with Andy.

“Of course, I’ll pitch in,” Emma said emphatically.

“You planning on sending a check from D.C. every so often?” Jeff asked bitterly, then added mockingly, “Big deal.”

So, it was two against one, she thought. Maybe she deserved their attitude. She returned Jeff’s angry gaze with an unflinching look. “What would you like me to do?”

Jeff faltered at that. “Honestly, I don’t give a rat’s ass what you do,” he retorted, heading for the door.

“Jeff!”

Emma’s impatient, slightly frantic voice carried after him, but he ignored her. She turned to Andy.

“Why don’t you go ahead and say it,” she suggested quietly.

He squirmed uncomfortably. He was not the kind of kid who enjoyed confrontation.

“Well?”

“Say what?” he asked.

“I know you’re angry with me. I know you think if I had come home sooner things might have turned out differently.”

“That’s right,” he said, his voice climbing. “If you’d been here, Dad might not be dead. It’s your fault, Emma.” His voice caught on a sob. “I hate you! I hate you!”

She stopped him as he tried to run from the room and held him tightly. “I wish I’d been here,” she told him, her own tears streaking down her cheeks. “I wish I’d listened to you.” He had no idea how much she regretted the choice she’d made to wait to come home.