Page 9 of Artifacts

“You see Brick on your way up? He said he’d try to get in to say hi.”

“No, sir.” Darrell slumped.

Brick had been in the service with Chief’s father and had opened this place when he’d gotten out. His son Luke was Chief’s age and had taken over, making the bar into a restaurant and bigger and better. There’d been no pressure on him to lockstep his father. Darrell wondered if Leah would have preferred to celebrate her engagement someplace else, a little more romantic, perhaps, than the place her fiancé had been coming to since he was a kid and where any minute now the server would—

His brothers cheered as the brunette, Kelly, rounded the top of the stairs and deposited the plates of hot chili-salt fries, along with the place’s signature homemade condiments and pickles, on the table. There was also a helping of plantain strips—for the girls, he guessed. The shrimp platter was next, the tang of the tartar sauce and the zing of the lemon as sharp as ever.The place we’ve all been coming to since we were kids and where we eat the same meal too.

“Hey, remember that time—”

“Son.”

“Sorry, Chief.” Travis, recounting a story with his mouth full, stopped on a dime at his father’s command and covered his mouth to chew the half a plate of fries he’d just forked in, sucking in air at the chili and garlic as he always did. Slivers of green and red pepper peeked out when he’d swallowed enough to continue. “Remember when Luke got a little fancy with the menu and added shrimp toast?”

“And Darrell said he wanted to try it and you let him!” Ryan raised his fork to his father.

Darrell remembered. They’d called himshrimpfor at least four months. “It’s good to try new things,” he said in self-defense.

“Luke certainly thought so, until he realized no one wanted Gulf shrimp mousse,” Jack said.

Ryan snorted and half-choked. He was more like Travis than Darrell was, for all Darrell came closer in age to Travis, the eldest, with Ryan being the youngest. “Hey, we getting the empanada platter too?” Ryan asked.

“What, the steaks not enough?” asked the guy walking up to the table. “Sorry, I couldn’t get out of the kitchen until now.”

“Luke!” Jack, then Travis, Darrell and Ryan greeted him in order, with Ashley and Leah following suit. The engagement news was relayed, Luke congratulating the couple and whistling over the balcony for a server to send up a round of free drinks.

“You cooking?” Jack asked.

Luke shook his head. “Zé. Says he knows just how you like ’em.” Luke knew, just as his father had, how regulars liked their meat. Well, their orders in general.

“Guess we’ll see,” Chief replied.

Luke took a quick seat. Darrell had known he would. He could even have predicted which table he’d spin it from, and where he’d place it, just as he knew which turn the conversation would take now.

“Engaged. Doesn’t seem a minute since Ryan graduated from burgers to steak.” Luke shook his head. “You told that lady of yours about those crazy competitions you and your brother had, seeing how much you could add to a burger? Cheese, bacon, onion rings…”

“Avocado, tomato, fried egg!” Ryan used his hands to show the height of the burger with the extras.

“So that’s where you got your bad eating habits from!” Leah slapped his arm. No one spoke, but Ashley cut her eyes at Leah. “And you grew up big and strong.” Leah stroked her palm over Ryan’s biceps.

“And didn’t Darrell work his way through one sandwich after another for, like, a whole year?” Ashley asked. “And you worked out he was going in reverse order up the list—”

“And the first one had pork butt!” Travis fed her a plantain chip.

Yeah, that had been a nickname too.

“Well, everything on the menu’s good!” Luke joked, getting to his feet.

True.And Darrell could just go for a bologna sandwich now, despite the teasing. He wouldn’t say no to going to play on the old skill machines down below. He’d leave the table football and ring toss to the others, his father included, like he always used to. He changed his mind when Luke, having fussed with the table and the space next to it, beckoned his son over with the portable stand to cook their steaks tableside.

“Zé.” Darrell gave him a big smile, Zé shooting him a sly wink in return. Zé was gay. Darrell had seen him out with a couple of different guys over the last few years. If things were different, he’d have liked to sit down and chat with Zé over a beer. They had a lot in common and, yeah, Darrell found him sexy. He watched Zé’s deft movements in slapping the tenderloin over to fry its other side in the garlic herb butter.

Travis used the noise and commotion of frying and plating as a cover to lean into Darrell and say, “Yeah, he knows his way around meat. So I heard.”

“You did?” Darrell kept his eyes front. “Where d’you go to pick up that sort of gossip?”

Travis spent a few seconds working out if that was an insult. “Just to warn you.” He made sure he was turned completely away from the others. “Because the way you were looking, like you were eyeing something hot and juicy…and I don’t mean the steaks!” He snorted then laughed.

“What?” Ryan called over, hating to miss a joke.

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