The Crown Jewels (38 page)

“I know, and who the hell can afford a car like that? Nobody that lives around these parts, I guarantee,” Seth replied, eyeing the fancy car as we passed by.

“That’s a fucking SLR McLaren, holy shit! That car cost like a million bucks!” My youngest brother, Jesse, was much more up on current car trends than I was.

“Well, then you know they’re just passing through. Nobody in this town has ever had that kind of money. Not even old man LaCroix. At least we know they’ll be able to afford the parking ticket when Regina comes by,” I replied. Regina Stewart had been the sole meter maid for our tiny town for as long as I could remember.

I parked my truck halfway down the block, doing my best to count my blessings, instead of getting frustrated at the inconvenience.

“We’re gonna have to haul this load down the block,” I said to my two helpers. In addition to our sister, Georgia, I’d be lost without these two.

We were all that was left of the Hope family. Our parents had died in a car accident a year ago, leaving us forced to quickly pick up the pieces and continue business as usual, or abandon the only hope we had of surviving. It was all we knew, and I would never have been able to do it alone, without the support of my siblings.

I threw the truck in park, turned off the rumbling engine, and slid out from behind the steering wheel of my pride and joy - my 1978 Ford Lariat pick-up truck. It was black and rugged, and had been in the family since my father, Ward Hope, bought it new - right after he and my mother bought the farm. Every dent and ding had been put there by a member of the Hope family. More than once since the accident, I’d found myself trailing my hands along its curves, appreciating every one of those character giving flaws.

It was just like each of us - it wasn’t perfect. It had its moments, sometimes it was a little cranky in the morning, but it was loyal and dependable, despite its imperfections.

Today, it was a work horse. The truck bed was filled to the rim with fresh eggs and produce. After lowering the tailgate, my brothers stood by while I grabbed a box full of lettuce and tomatoes and stacked it on top of another box of potatoes and peppers.

“Norma needs an extra two dozen eggs today, get them from the back cooler, okay?” I asked Jesse as I strode by him with the boxes. Jesse nodded solemnly, and I smiled at his sincere effort to help out as much as possible these days.

After our parents died, Jesse slid down a dark spiral of dangerous behavior. So much so, that we had almost lost our farm because of his irrational acting out.

I hated thinking about how scared I was back then. It was so soon after the accident, and one thing after another kept happening. The fires were overwhelming to me, and as much as I hated to use any excuse for being a loser, I think the stress of everything I was under is what allowed that almost fateful bull ride to go down the way it did.

My ego appreciated having an excuse, but damned if I wouldn’t go back and change everything. My pride wasn’t so easily comforted.

I was glad it had turned out to be Jesse who was setting those fires, honestly. At least it was someone I knew, something I could understand, something I could fix. Hell, I more than half blamed myself for the fires, too. Jesse was a sensitive kid…well, a man, now, I had to keep reminding myself. But I had neglected him in those first few months, and he had needed my support.

I guess none of us really knew how to handle our parent’s death. It had effected us all in different ways. Nothing was the same anymore. Nothing would ever be the same again.

As I walked down the sidewalk, I took a deep breath, once again forcing myself to count my blessings. I had lost a whole hell of a lot. But I still had some important things, too. I wasn’t at my bottom just yet.

The door to Norma’s was propped open with an old red brick, the same brick that had been propping that door open for the last twenty years. Today, I was even more grateful for it, as I strode in with the two boxes partially blocking my sight.

I was just setting the boxes down on the corner when I heard a loud voice bellow through the place. I turned my head to see a man yelling at Sammie, Norma’s waitress.

Sammie had been serving breakfast at Norma’s for the last ten years, and she knew everyone in town. She also knew exactly what they wanted to eat before they even got in the door. Sammie always said she liked doing the breakfast shift, because everyone was always nicer in the morning, before the irritations of life had a chance of stacking up on them all day.

She said dinner was always the worst, with everyone bitching about how shitty their day was. In addition to that, they’d already spent most of their money and they kept their wallets closed a little tighter at night.

She made good points, I figured.

At any rate, Sammie was a sweetheart, never had a bad word to say about anyone, and did her best to rise above the urge to gossip that seemed to befall every other woman in Sugar Hill county.

That’s why I was a little more than shocked to hear some stranger yelling at her. That just didn’t happen here at Norma’s. We were all family, and if you weren’t, well - we welcomed you with open arms, just the same.

“These eggs are like rubber!” the man roared, as he pointed violently at his plate with his fork. “What is this garbage you’re serving me? It’s absolute dogshit!”

Sammie looked at him, baffled at his outburst.

“Sir, I’m sorry, but to be honest, nobody’s ever asked for soft boiled eggs before. You know? If you’re boiling an egg…it makes it hard, sir.”

“What the hell? Where did you learn to cook?” His voice was getting louder, and as I approached his table, I took a quick look around the diner. Norma must have been in the back, because I knew she would never stand for someone talking to Sammie like that.

And I knew Sammie, by the lost look on her face, had no idea how to handle someone talking to her like that.

Everyone else just sat in their booths trying, for Sammie’s sake, to ignore the guy. As far as being polite goes, I figured it must have gone out the door a long time ago.

“Sir, I sincerely apologize, I’ll take this back and have the cook try again,” Sammie was saying as I walked up.

“Forget it! You’re all incompetent, obviously,” he said, standing up and screaming in Sammie’s face.

“Sir,” I called, as I strode up to them. His shiny grey suit looked expensive and when I glanced down at his shiny black leather shoes, I knew he had to be the asshole who had parked his Mercedes illegally outside. He was slight, but he was tall, as tall as me at least and I’m six-three.

When he turned to me, he squared up against me as if he was ready to fight.

“What the fuck do you want? Are you the manager?” he asked, his eyes squinting, sizing me up.

“Nope. I’m a friend of Sammie’s,” I said, throwing my arm over Sammie’s shoulder casually. She looked up at me questioningly. “Right Sam?”

“Y-yes…” she stammered.

“Sir, I don’t know who you are or why you’re so upset, but if you’ll kindly lower your voice, and show a little more respect to the lady, I’d appreciate it.” I tipped my hat at him, and watched silently as he took in my words, his rage growing with each slow second. “I’m sure whatever is wrong with your order can be fixed.”

“What the hell kind of stereotypical bullshit excuse for a cowboy are you? Did you just step out of a Ford truck commercial?”

“Sir, I beg your pardon, but —,”

“— and that hat!” he exclaimed, pointing.

My blood began to boil at this asshole’s insulting bullshit, and I let a slow smile spread across my face as I let go of Sammie and subtlety pushed her behind me before I geared up to slam my fist into his smug grin.

“I take it you aren’t from around these parts,” I replied.

“Hardly,” he scoffed. His birdlike nose was begging for my fist to make contact. I took a step backwards, just as Seth and Jesse appeared at my side.

“There’s three of you?” he asked, his voice full of sarcasm.

“What’s going on?” Seth asked, his gaze welded to the jerk in front of us. I felt Jesse puff up next to me quietly.

“Seems this fella doesn’t know how to properly talk to a woman. I was just letting him know that we do things differently around here. But apparently, he doesn’t know how to talk to anybody at all.”

“I see,” Seth said, nodding and tensing up.

Norma walked out from her office, after being summoned by a worried Sammie.

“What’s going on?” she barked. Norma was a no-bullshit kind of gal, and it was the secret to her success with the diner she had run for the last twenty years.

“What’s going on is that this is a shit show, and the food is complete garbage!” the stranger yelled at Norma.

“Well, I’m sorry you feel that way, mister,” Norma replied, her voice full of steel and anger.

“Fuck you!” he snarled.

“That’s it,” I said, stepping forward. “It’s time to go.”

“Who the fuck are you? The town’s cowboy security force?”

“Nope,” Jesse said, standing proudly beside me. “We’re the Hope brothers.”

“The Hope brothers? Well, fuck you too!” the man spat out.

“Where are you from, buddy, that you think it’s okay to talk to strangers like that?” I asked, my face inches from his now.

“I’m from New York City! The only place that really matters in this goddamned backwards ass country!”

“I see. Why don’t you do us all a favor then, and go back then, Mr. New York City?”

“I will, soon enough!” He pulled out a twenty and threw it on the counter, squaring off against the three of us again. His eyes connected with mine, and he glared into them.

“If there wasn’t three of you, I’d kick your ass,” he said, his voice low, his lip turning up in an ugly snarl.

“Is that so?” I replied cooly. My hands were itching to make contact with his ridiculous face, but I balled them up into fists at my sides. “If you weren’t such a little bitch, I’d kick yours, too. Now, get the fuck out of here before I change my mind and string your sorry ass up and give you a real taste of Sugar Hill county.”

“Wait!” Jesse said, gesturing to the cash lying on the table. “Leave another twenty for being such a prick. Sammie doesn’t get paid enough to put up with assholes like you.”

We stood menacingly in front of him until he pulled out his wallet and peeled another twenty from a thick bundle of bills. He scoffed again, shook his head and threw it on the table.

“Fuck this town!” he yelled, flipping us all off as he walked out of the diner. He was still flipping us off as he sped down the street, his New York plates only serving to prominently display exactly how out of place a man like that was in Sugar Hill county.

“Wow,” Sammie exclaimed, now safely behind the counter. “For such a handsome guy, he sure was nasty, wasn’t he?”

“A man like that won’t last long in Sugar Hill,” Norma said.

“No, I reckon he won’t,” Sammie replied. “Thank you, boys.”

“It was only right we defend your honor, Ms. Sammie,” I said, tipping my hat.

“You’re a good man, Crit,” Norma said, “all three of y’all are. Your Mama and Daddy raised y’all right.”

“Well, that’s about the biggest compliment you could give us, Ms. Norma,” I replied with a smile.

“Don’t get too full of yourself now, son. If you didn’t bring me those extra eggs I asked for, I’m going to take it all back.”

I shook my head and put my arm around Norma. She had been one of my mother’s best friends and I had nothing but fondness for her.

“You know I wouldn’t dare forget your eggs, Ms. Norma.”

“That’s my boy!” she said, hugging me and then padding away to the back with one of the boxes we had left on the counter.

My cell phone rang just as we walked out of the front door. I was sure it was probably Ruby, but I didn’t want to answer it in front of my brothers. They looked at me insistently, so I pulled the phone from my pocket.

“Hello?” I answered.

“Crit, it’s Barnard Johnson.”

“Hello, Mr. Johnson,” I replied. Barnard Johnson was my father’s lawyer. Now, he was mine. He handled everything that had to do with our land and my parent’s estate. All that stuff that I had yet to truly deal with. I had been overwhelmed with grief, drama and injuries for the last year. Luckily, Mr. Johnson had offered to take care of everything until I was ready. I had eagerly accepted, instead concentrating my time and energy on the day to day running of the farm, making sure Jesse went to all of his community service appointments and therapy, keeping food on the table, and all the while healing from being mangled by that damned bull.

“Something’s come up, Crit,” Barnard replied. “I was hoping you could come into my office tomorrow.”

“What is it?” I asked.

“Best we talk about it in person, Crit. It’s important, though. Can you come by at two?” he replied.

I looked over at my brothers and my heart skipped a beat. The last thing any of us needed was more bad news.

“I’ll be there,” I replied, my heart gripped with worry.

Ruby