Page 103 of Takeover

Ethan takes it in good stride and pours each of us a drink from the pitcher on the table.

“She beat him with flowers?” Hunter asks. Vickie and Alan tell him about it, and he throws his head back and laughs. “Please, tell me one of you has video?”

“Hunter, what the hell are you still doing here?” Ethan asks.

Hunter takes a long sip of his drink, which I discovered is a very strong Long Island Iced Tea. After he finishes his drink, he pours himself another.

“I swear, I get no credit. Here,” he pulls out a new iPhone and hands it to me. “The boss told me you broke your phone. And,” he says turning back to Ethan, “I stayed just in case she dumped your ass for good. I figured you’d need someone to drive you home.”

“And that’s why you’re getting drunk?” Ethan tries to snatch the drink from Hunter, but he drinks its contents before Ethan can get his hand on the glass.

“Leave Hunter alone,” Vickie says. “I want to introduce you to one of my colleagues.” She turns to Hunter and grabs his hand. “His name is Cody Dennis, and he teaches chemistry. Let me find a picture of him on my phone.”

“What happened to your eye, Ethan?” Alan asks. That gets my attention. For the first time, I notice a slight discoloring under his left eye. I grab his chin and lower his face. I shake my head, flag down the waiter and ask for a cup of ice.

“Your dad happened. He punched me.” Vickie, Alan and Hunter all start to laugh and high five each other at the table, but I am not amused.

“My dad did this? Dad wouldn’t hurt a fly,” I say.

“Maybe he wouldn’t hurt a fly, but he had no problem hurting me.” As soon as the waiter brings a glass full of ice, I scoop ice cubes and put them in the cloth napkin. I tenderly press it to Ethan’s eye.

“I think I love your dad. You think he’ll adopt me?” Hunter asks the table.

While Vickie distracts Hunter with her phone, Alan turns to us. “You okay, Tar?” he asks, looking from me to Ethan. When Ethan looks at my brother, Alan holds his stare.

“I’m fine.” I reach over and touch his hand.

He looks at me, but he doesn’t smile. He studies me for a while, until he relaxes and nods. “Okay.” He winks at me and lifts his glass. I do the same and we clink, but when he looks at Ethan, he doesn’t offer him a smile. “So, are you two still going to Montauk?”

Before Ethan can answer, I speak. “I’m not abandoning my family after you changed your plans for me. We’re having a Taylor weekend. The evil one is practically salivating at the thought.” I turn to Ethan and say, “I want you and Vincent to spend the weekend with us.” He seems relieved by the invitation. He nods and kisses my temple. After he finishes his drink, he pulls out his phone, and we call Vincent. I can hear Vincent giving his aunt a hard time about getting on the phone until she tells him that I’m there too. I hear something fall to the floor, then running footsteps. He snatches the phone from Liz, and when he finally sees me, he smiles wide enough to show off all his teeth.

“Tara! My dad is there with you? Are you coming home? Can we go to Montauk now?” The questions come flying out, and he doesn’t give me a chance to respond before he goes on to the next question. “You still live with us, right? And you said you were going to teach me to make homemade bread.”

I answer all his questions but skip the one about still living with them. “You’re going to spend the weekend with me and my family. Your dad and I will pick you up in the morning. The three of us will go to breakfast, and then we’ll drive back to my house. We can make bread there, and the evil one will love to have your help in the kitchen. And guess who else is here?” I turn the phone to Alan, and Vincent forgets all about me and his dad, and gives all his attention to my brother. Alan takes the phone from us, and I turn to Ethan.

“I hope it’s okay that I told him that,” I say to him.

“Don’t do that, Tara. You don’t need to second guess yourself. I want you to help me raise him, and I want us to grow our family.” When I start to speak, he puts his fingers on my lips and says, “At your pace.” I relax, and my shoulders sag in relief. “But I’m forty, baby,” he whispers in my ear right before he kisses my temple. “Don’t make me wait too long, okay?”

“You’ll wait as long as I make you to wait.”

The tension from earlier dies down while we consume more drinks. Alan finally hands the phone back to us, and we say goodbye to a happy Vincent, who tells us he can’t wait until tomorrow.

The hotel restaurant gets more crowded with each passing minute. Vickie and Hunter are hunched over her phone looking at pictures, then she asks Hunter to pose for a picture.

“Hunter, what the hell are you doing?’ Ethan asks while he pours himself another drink.

“I’m posing for a picture, boss.” He does an awkward pose, half twisting himself in his chair. He gives the camera a fake smile, barely showing his two front teeth.

“Well, you look constipated,” Ethan says. The statement catches me off guard, and I end up spitting out my drink. Even Alan laughs. Vickie takes more pictures while Alan and I give Hunter tips on how to relax, but our advice seems to have the opposite effect.

“Come on,” Vickie says, standing up. “I’m starving, and Hunter obviously needs some food and more alcohol before we take his picture.” We stand up to leave for our reservation. “Forget the picture for, Hunt. I’ll have a dinner party in a couple of weeks.”

“Great, but where does that leave me?” Hunter grumbles.

“I’m going to invite you both to the damn dinner party,” Vickie says. “Duh.”

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