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Chapter 47

There was an awkward pause then, as nobody said anything, apparently waiting for someone else to make a decision. I really didn’t want to give anyone the impression that I was game to be Decision Guy, but I was keenly aware that there was a timer ticking down on us all.

“So, should we get going?” I asked the group.

Almost everybody nodded, but the burly guy, Jacob, crossed his arms and shook his head. I looked at him, the question on my face. He pointed to the restaurant.

“We need to eat first.”

“We don’t really have that kind of time,” I objected.

“I’ve been sitting out here using up a parking spot for a couple of hours now. Knox was being all lurky and creepy before I got here.”

“Hey,” said Knox. “You watch yourself. I was not being creepy.”

“You object to being called creepy, but not being called lurky?” Jessie asked, a sort of morbid curiosity on her face.

Knox shrugged. “I was being lurky. Creepy is something different.”

“Is it?” I asked, apparently catching some of Jessie’s curiosity.

Knox gave a sage nod. “I’ll explain the difference to you some time.”

“The point is,” said Jacob, talking over everyone, “that we owe whoever owns this restaurant the courtesy of at least ordering some food.”

Everyone just sort of stared at the man. I understand the principle he was on about, a little, but I didn’t feel like it was a hill worth dying on. Going by the look on his face, though, he was ready to die on that hill. I glanced over at Bill, who just shrugged. I pinched the bridge of my nose and thought of sandy beaches on a Mediterranean island for a few seconds.

“Fine,” I muttered. “But for the love of God, order it to go.”

“Do you see a drive-thru window, Jericho?” Jessie pointed out. “It’s not that kind of place. We’re going to have to go in and sit down.”

I ground my teeth in frustration and wondered if every team event was this complicated. Everyone in the group got a stern glare from me. “No appetizers. No desserts. We get entrées. We eat. We leave.”

Jacob gave me an approving nod, while everyone else offered disinterested shrugs or started wandering toward the restaurant. I trailed after them and tried to get my churning frustrations on lockdown. Of course, the place was busy, so it took them forever to seat us. I started shooting unhappy looks at Jacob, who just waited with the serenity of a Buddhist monk. Mercifully, everyone stuck to the script and ordered an entrée. They even kept the special requests to a minimum. Given how many of us there were, it was a ridiculously quiet table. Bill was chatting with the severe woman, Muriel. Jacob was sipping at a cup of tea, his eyes half-closed. Annie was eyeballing the new people like they were rabid animals. Knox was just staring out the window at nothing. Jessie, God bless her geeky heart, was actually playing a video game on her phone. It was some kind of matching game with pieces of candy. She noticed me watching her and held out the phone.

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“Do you want to play?” She asked. “It’s stupid addicting.”

“Yeah, because that’s what I need. An addiction.”

Jessie snorted and went back to her game. Fortunately, the food didn’t take that long to arrive. We all tucked in and, after I gave everyone a hard stare, started eating quickly. Even with my mind almost entirely on what was coming, I had to admit that the food was good. The steak was cooked to perfect medium rare. The potatoes must have been whipped, rather than mashed, because they were almost unnaturally free of lumps. Even the gravy was good and didn’t have too much salt in it, which gravy almost always does in a restaurant. The salad I had on the side, well, it’s hard to screw up a salad if the ingredients are even kind of fresh. Despite liking the food, I still begrudged the lost time. By the time the check arrived, I was ready to start carrying people out to the cars. Jacob surprised me when he paid the whole bill. He saw me looking at him and shrugged.

“I’m the one who insisted we stay. It’s only fair.”

Muriel frowned at him for a moment before she said, “I’ll get the tip.”

I thought my eyes were going to fall out of my face when she casually dropped what had to be three hundred dollars on the table. It made me wonder just who these people were. It’s not that either of them was spending huge sums of money, but it was also clear that they considered what they were spending to be trivial amounts. I started thinking harder then about Jessie’s offer to connect me with a broker. I’d never really asked Gran many questions about the financial end of things. I knew enough to know that she was getting paid whenever she sent me out to deal with things, but I never asked for details about how much. I never felt like I needed to in those heady days before I knew the truth. I always had whatever I needed, whether it was a plane ticket or someone in a nondescript vehicle who would drive me somewhere safe and not ask questions. I always got something after those jobs, so I assumed I was getting a fair cut. After all, it was Gran, why would I ask questions?

Jessie's frustration with my failure to have taken an economics class seemed abruptly less funny and more salient. Sure, things looked grim at the moment, but there was an actual chance I’d survive. If I did, I couldn’t go back to what I had been doing. I couldn’t even really see going back to that little apartment. That meant moving somewhere else. Part of me hated that idea. I’d lived my whole life in that neighborhood. I knew exactly what to expect there. Yet, there was a part of me that relished the idea of just picking a spot on the map and going there. It would be like complete freedom to reinvent myself as someone else. I could become that friendly neighbor guy, or that jogging guy, or that guy who’s always working on his car in the parking lot.

Sure, people would ask questions about where I’d come from and what I did for a living, but you could brush off those questions for a long time before people got too nosy. Still, it wasn’t a problem-free idea. I’d stashed a little cash away, but a move like that would make money a problem sooner than later. Yeah, I thought, I’ll definitely have to talk to Jessie about that broker.

With the bill settled, we went back outside to make the last leg of the journey. I tossed Jessie the keys to the rental. I’d always been a little baffled by those guys who always insisted on driving. I like feeling in control as much as the next person, but why drive when the other person in the car already knows exactly where they’re going? That’s just foolishness. I glanced over at Jessie as I buckled myself in. She looked a little nervous.

“You okay?” I asked.

“I’m just thinking about my house. This is going to be a disaster for it. I’ll probably have to start over from scratch.”

I winced at that notion. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.”

I frowned at her. “Actually, it is my fault. I mean, all of this is literally my fault.”

Jessie glared at me. “I was trying to let you off the hook, you ass.”

“Ooohhhh, right. Sorry.”

“Hopeless,” said Jessie to no one in particular. “He’s hopeless.”

“Not hopeless,” I countered. “But maybe a little clueless.”

Jessie brightened up and turned to me, then her face fell. “Never mind. You won’t get the joke. Alright. Let’s go say hi to Sven. Who knows? There’s a decent chance he won’t even maim you.”

“Wait! What?”