“I’ve wanted to do that since I kissed you on the truck at the bonfire,” I say. “When we were drunk, and you spilled your beer on me.”
Charlie blinks, surprised.
“I thought you forgot that.”
“I tried.”
“DAD, you’re not coming!” Rusty shouts, and suddenly Charlie laughs.
“If you find out tomorrow that you’ve got a second child, I will kill you,” she promises.
I let her hand go, open the door, let my fingertips drift to her lower back, guiding her even though she knows the way.
“Don’t worry,” I say. “This one was very effective birth control.”Dinner is somewhere between awkward and pandemonium. Levi won’t look at me directly, but Seth doesn’t seem to want to look anywhere else. Eli’s just smirking, and every few minutes his girlfriend Violet shoots him a stop it look. Or maybe a be nice to your brother look.
Or maybe it’s a please take the trash out when you get home look. I don’t know girlfriend looks. I can’t interpret them.
Caleb’s the only of my brothers managing to act normal, a fact which makes him my current favorite. I know that either Seth or Levi told him about the whole fake engagement situation, but he is somehow managing to pass the mango-cashew slaw and curried veggie skewers like a normal human being.
“I thought it was a ski resort,” my mom is saying.
“I thought you said it was an outlet mall,” Eli says, frowning.
Levi clears his throat, pulling a chunk of pineapple off a skewer with his fork. He’s barely said a word all night, so everyone stops and looks at him.
“We think he might be exploring the possibility of mining,” he says solemnly.
“Mining?” says my mom, incredulous.
“He can’t do that on National Forest land,” Charlie pipes up. “It’s protected.”
Eli snorts.
“Walter Eighton doesn’t understand the meaning of the word no,” he says. “If someone tries to tell him he can’t do something, he’ll just throw a fit until he gets his way.”
I’m listening, but barely, because Charlie’s right here, next to me, and I’m trying not to watch her hands as she drinks her beer and slices into her carrots and swirls a bite in tamarind chutney and then lifts it to her mouth, closing her lips around it.
“He’s reported us to the alcoholic beverage control board what, five times?” Seth says. “Six?”
She bumps me slightly, her elbow against my side as I reach for my water.
“Daniel,” Seth says, and my head snaps up.
He looks entertained, and I quickly run back the last thirty seconds in my head.
“Six,” I confirm. “He keeps telling them that we’re distilling onsite, but our license is only for brewing.”
“Are you?” asks Silas.
“No,” Seth and I chorus together.
“You should give it a shot,” my mom says. “You know, your great granddad Lowell made the best whiskey in three states.”
“Mom.”
“I mean you should do it legally, Daniel,” she teases.
“Great-Granddad Lowell also had quite the mugshot collection,” I point out.
“Yeah, looks like he knew how to have fun,” Seth says. He shoots me another look. I don’t know what this particular look means, so I ignore it.
“Lowell bought the ring, right?” Charlie suddenly asks. She’s holding her hand flat in front of her, watching it sparkle.
“He did,” my mom confirms. “Three days on horseback to Richmond—”
“Last time I heard this story he also had the fastest car in the county,” Caleb suddenly says. “What happened?”
“It was briefly in the Sherriff’s possession,” my mom says lightly. “What makes you think Walter Eighton wants to mine on National Forest land?”
There’s a brief pause as we all switch mental gears from my bootlegging ancestors to the topic at hand. Levi’s the first to get there, sharing a quick glance with Caleb.
“Do you know what a thumper truck is?” he asks the table.
“Is it a truck that thumps?” Silas guesses, gesturing with his fork.
“It is,” Levi confirms. “It uses seismic activity to identify possible sites for natural gas drilling, and for the past few months, we’ve had backcountry hikers and campers reporting possible minor earthquakes around Laney Caverns, but they weren’t being picked up by any seismic equipment anywhere.”
Levi cuts a mushroom cap in half and carefully places it in his mouth, despite the fact that everyone is paying attention to him.
“But then you also found a thumper truck?” Seth asks, always the least patient brother.
“Tracks,” says Caleb. “Large, deep, fresh tracks on a fire road that’s supposed to be off-limits to public vehicles, in the vicinity of where the seismic activity was reported.”
“That’s not proof,” Seth points out.
“It’s not,” Levi agrees. “But it’s sure worthy of some suspicion, and Walter Fucking Eighton—”
“Levi,” I say as Rusty suddenly perks up.
I look over at her. She’s grinning from ear to ear.
“You’re not supposed to say fucking,” she says, delightedly.
“Excuse me?” I say sharply, and the grin drops off her face.
“Uncle Levi said it first,” she says.