some time, but our progress was already looking pretty good. I made my way to the kitchen, joining Matt there, to help guide some of the equipment in. I noticed Jordan wasn’t around but didn’t think much of it. He wasn’t going to miss helping out, so wherever he was I was sure he had a reason for it.
I had moved to the bar, beginning to polish it down and start the treatment process when the front door swung open and the handle smeared a bit of the fresh paint Ava had just put on.
“Hey!” she said. “Watch it!”
“Tom,” Jordan said, storming into the room, ignoring Ava. “Where is Tom?”
“I’m right here, Jordan,” I said. “What’s going on?”
“What’s going on?” he asked, seeming indignant. “What is going on?”
“I think we covered that. That was indeed the question,” Matt said.
“I’ll tell you what’s going on. Tom went to Danny’s bar,” Jordan said.
“Oh, alright,” I began, but he cut me off.
“He went to Danny’s bar, not to hit him or to threaten him or anything reasonable. No, he went to Danny’s stupid, hole-in-the-wall dive bar to make him an offer. Didn’t you?”
“Tom?” Mason asked, turning to me. I could tell this wasn’t going to go well. No matter how I explained it, this was going to go poorly for me.
“Look, it’s not like it sounds,” I said, and a groan rose up from each of the brothers.
“Man, how could you?” Mason demanded.
“Hang on, hang on, let him speak,” Tyler said, turning to me and squaring his shoulders. “Come on, Tom. Tell us why you would go down to the bar of the man who most certainly had something to do with our bar burning down, and offer to buy his bar?”
“I thought if I made him an offer, and he said yes, he would leave,” I said. “It might sound stupid, but I just wanted to see if he would get the hell out of town. Maybe take the cash, close down his bar, and go be someone else’s problem for a while.”
“And you thought it would be a good idea to do that without asking any of us?” Tyler asked.
“I didn’t want to rile you guys up. Some of you are particularly riled up already, and I didn’t want to start a rumble,” I said.
“The only person I want to rumble with right now is you, Tom,” Jordan said.
“Enough,” Mason interjected. “Just enough.”
“No one has to worry,” I said, throwing my hands up in the air. “Danny said no. He said no even when I told him that he would never get another chance. That was it, the answer is no, and I am not going back up there ever again.”
“You had better not,” Jordan said. “Because if you do, I am coming with you, and I will not be held responsible for what I do to him or his place.”
“Not a damn thing, that’s what,” I said. “We need all of us running this bar when it’s up, not behind bars for beating up an old rival.”
“Whatever, Tom,” Jordan said. He stomped off away from me, and I looked around at the other brothers. Most of them had jobs to get to, and they moved accordingly. I kept my head down and went to work painting near Ava, and by the end of the day, I was worn-out. None of the boys seemed to open up to me, and I guessed I couldn’t really be upset about it. They were mad at me. But at least the bar was ours now, and all it needed was our attention and then it could get opened.
The guys stayed away the rest of the day, and I was only able to get the barest of attention to questions or ideas I was throwing out. Finally, I got frustrated and called it a day, leaving the paint and paintbrush where they were and heading for the door. A few of the boys were still there, mostly in the back, and I snuck out of the front.
My patience had worn thin, and between my job, Amanda, the bar, the new changes and the stress of the loan hanging over my head, I felt like I was already stretched too thin. As Amanda had told me, I needed to relax and let the business get handled by them. And yet, that wasn’t what I wanted. I wanted to be part of every decision, to be the face of our company, and to interact with Amanda, far