Domino Effect (Effect 2)

He paused for a second. “Have you made up your mind?”

“I think I have, but I w

ant to talk in person. Do you want to meet at nine?”

He paused. I knew he wanted to know what I’d decided, but this wasn’t the time to talk about it. “Sounds good. I’ll see you then. Congrats on your new home, neighbor.”

“Thanks, neighbor!”

Just minutes ago, when I spun Nikola around, I’d determined what I wanted to do with the club. First, I wanted to tell Nikola, and then see if Quentin could meet this evening. I liked sharing my thoughts with him. If I was jeopardizing my sobriety in any life changing decisions, he’d tell me. Not that I didn’t trust my wife and best friend, but it’s different when you’re a recovering addict and can understand that one decision can have a domino effect on your life.

I pulled up to Club Envy and saw Chris from The Thrillhammers talking to Adam in the parking lot. The sun burned off the residual morning fog. Chris had texted Adam last night, asking if we could meet before the club opened. I had a feeling that the Thrillhammers were about to move on. It felt like a season of change. After getting out of my car, I walked over to see what was going on. Chris had on a Thrillhammers T-shirt.

Chris put his hand out. “Hey, man, what’s happening? I’m sorry to hear about your wife’s grandmother.”

“Thanks, I appreciate it. I heard you guys brought the house down two nights ago.”

He laughed as he rubbed his goatee. “We did. It was a good show. That’s part of the reason I’m here. I’ll cut right to the chase, a record label happened to be at the club and they’ve offered us a deal. It’s going to be nonstop touring for a few months at least. We haven’t signed, since I wanted to talk to you guys first. Club Envy got us a lot of recognition. The producers think our sound is unique. It was a hard decision for Wayne, Greg, Shannon, and me.”

Adam and I both started talking, “Congrats.”

I nodded for Adam to speak first. He’d been the one to bring the band to the club.

“Congrats, Chris. You guys deserve it more than anyone I know. Just remember us little guys when you’re famous. Will you guys play one last time, to celebrate?”

Chris responded, “Hell yeah, we will. Let me talk with the boys, and we’ll come up with a date. Thanks for understanding. In the meantime, the Divas are making a name for themselves. They’ll take good care of Club Envy. They’re going places, too. Thanks for everything. We appreciate it.”

The Divas had become a substitution band we’d used regularly last year when the Thrillhammers’ schedule started to fill up.

I shook Chris’s hand. “Congrats again, you guys deserve it.”

Chris started backing up toward his car. “Thanks, guys. I’ll be in touch about a farewell bash.”

I looked at Adam. He looked at me like he did when he tried to figure out what was on someone’s mind.

“Do you want to go to your office to talk?”

“Yeah, but before we do, I need you to know something.” Adam scrubbed a hand down his face, a nervous gesture he had picked up over the years.

“Okay—go ahead.”

I worked on putting my neutral face on, in case I didn’t like what he said. I’d let him know how I felt, but I didn’t want to start this discussion on the wrong foot.

“Brandt, we started this together, and if we decide to sell, it’ll be because we want to. I don’t want there to be talks of buyouts or any of that other bullshit. Let’s hear each other out. If we don’t want to sell, we keep the club and figure out a way.”

This made my decision even easier as I walked toward the side entrance. I didn’t like being forced into things. “I agree. Let’s talk this out and see where the cards land.”

No one was at the club this early, and I took it all in. This place had been my safe haven, my security blanket, a place to hide out while I recovered. Nikola supported my decision, since it was what I wanted. We went into Adam’s office. I still rarely used mine, except on the few occasions Nikola and I came here. It seemed we’d had outgrown the club in some ways. We still had awesome sex here, but it was somehow different.

The first time we’d had sex at the club after getting back together, it had been amazing. We’d still connected on that erotic level. But the club wasn’t a focal point, like it had been in the past. We used to be here almost every night.

Adam hadn’t said a word as we walked to his office. He was probably organizing his thoughts. We sat in the two chairs in front of Adam’s glass desk.

“So, do you want to start?” Adam gestured to me.

Adam wanted to sell. He’d made it apparent in our last meeting. Part of me felt like I was cutting off a best friend by selling the club, even though the decision felt right.

“I think we should sell. But, I’ve gone over the contract in detail. The franchise option they gave for royalty payments is shit, and they need to up the amount. The non-compete clause needs to be changed from five years to one year. I get not wanting us to open a new club the week after we sell, but on the off chance we want to stay in this business, I want the option. The only other addition is for the employees. I want to add a clause to make sure they keep all employees for a minimum of ninety days. Anyone the new owners let go will receive a minimum of a thirty days’ notice. We have good people here. They’ve been loyal to us. I want to make sure we return the favor.”

Adam was stunned. It took him a few minutes to say anything. “You want to sell?”

Putting my arm across the back of the chair, I chuckled. “Yeah, if you still do. As you said in the parking lot, if we aren’t both in, then we don’t sell.”

“Why the change of heart?”

I ran my hand along the stubble on my chin as I organized my thoughts. “There are several reasons. Even with the managers we’ve hired, this club still requires an obscene amount of time from us. If one of us has a crisis, it puts a lot of stress on the other guy. I don’t want to be away from Nikola at all hours. When we have a family, I want to be there for my kids. Second, it feels like I’ve outgrown the place. When I come to work, the main thing on my mind is ‘When I can go home?’ The club deserves better. And, by the way, Nikola was neither for nor against this. She wanted me to decide.”

A lot of the reasons I stated were similar to Adam’s. In the end, it was time to move on. Adam looked around. There were a lot of memories in these walls. It was odd, realizing that this place might not be ours anymore.

We sat in reflective silence until Adam spoke, “I guess we’ll call our lawyers to draw up a counter offer. What the hell are we going to do when we’re unemployed?”

“I have no idea man, but I’m sure we’ll think of some sort of business venture.”

As we stood, I pointed out, “Well, if we miss the place too much, we could always apply for membership or even a job!”

We laughed as we stood and left the office. Adam pulled out his phone. “Let’s see if the girls want to go to lunch.”

And, like that, another chapter in our lives was about to close. It was a chapter filled with love, success, and hope. Adam had fallen in love at this place. I’d healed myself here. It was my home away from home.

“HEY, DAD. I just left Mr. Liars’s office.” I was driving back to our current house. I’d had forgotten the extra key for the realtor, since Mrs. Owens had accepted our offer, and we were listing our current place. May flowers were budding—I loved this time of year.

I heard a door closing loudly over the phone. I imagined he and Mom were at a dinner party. “Good. Did he walk you through the probate process? Do you have any questions?”

I was momentarily stunned. Normally, it felt like Dad was always trying to get me off the phone as quickly as possible.

“Umm—yeah, he’s going to take care of it and walk me through anything I need to do. He seems like a pretty nice guy. His name makes me laugh, when paired with his profession.” I chuckled, thinking about all the liar lawyer jokes that would swim through my head when Mr. Liars talked.

Dad chuckled, too. “It is quite the pairing. I got your email sayin

g that you were selling your house and had bought a new one. Congratulations. I meant to write you back, but knew you were calling me today.”

My dad was actually talking to me, like really talking to me. Generally when I sent an email, his secretary responded, conveying words from my father. I grinned like a fool. The noise on the other end of the phone became louder, which probably meant that someone had come in. There was a voice, but it wasn’t loud enough for me to hear. Sadly, I knew my time was ending, and my little happy balloon deflated. At least I got a few minutes.

Dad’s voice was authoritative. “Please, tell Mr. Chow to wait five minutes. I’m speaking to my daughter in America. He should understand, since he was five minutes late from watching his son play soccer. Yes, thank you. I’ll be out shortly.”

His voice returned to normal as he spoke to me. “Sorry about that. I’ll need to go soon, but I wanted to take a second to catch up. Your mother asked if we could all talk tomorrow. We don’t have any plans and would love to Skype with you and Brandt, if that sounds good.”

This was all surreal. It felt like a dream—I never wanted to wake. “That sounds great, Dad. I’d love that.”

“Good. Have you been to your grandmother’s house since the funeral?”

My spirits deflated some. I was doing better, but it was still hard. “Thanks for getting everything cleaned out of the fridge. I haven’t gone yet. I’m afraid to. I think it’s going to be hard. It’ll feel like she’s going to pop around the corner at any minute and ask me to bake with her or play a hand of Rook.”

I blinked rapidly and took in quiet, deep breaths to fight the tide of tears trying to push their way through.

“Nikola, I think you’d find something there that would help you through all this. Nothing will ever replace your Grandmama, but I think this would help. Well, I think you should go find out for yourself. Take Brandt.”

Memories from the hospital replayed in my head. How had I forgotten? Grandmama had said that she had something for me at her house. “I’ll go with Brandt later when he gets back from the Club. He and Adam have decided to sell, and they’re going over the paperwork with their lawyer today to submit.”