Page 91 of Sapphire Sunset

“Why? I mean, Christ, a dog just peed over there,” Logansaid.

“Oh, okay. So I’m on par with the pissing dog. Thanks, son.”

“Dad, I swear to God with you right now.”

“I…I don’t know, it feels weird here. The floor’s so shinyand nice, I feel like we’re going to get charged for walking on it, and thisshirt. Why am I wearing this damn shirt? I haven’twornit in, like, fifteen years. It smells like closet.”

“Actually, it smells like Polo,” Logan said. “A lot of it.”

“That’s because Petey went Rambo on me with the colognebottle when it came off the hanger smelling like mothballs.” Petey threw up hishands and rolled his eyes, which Chip didn’t notice because he was still toobusy suspiciously studying their surroundings. “It’s your damn cologne, by theway. You left it at my place when you moved.”

“It’s fine,” Logan said. “I don’t wear Polo anymore.”

“Oh, yeah, no. You probably switched to something fanciernow.”

Logan stopped and turned his father toward him. “Old man,you either knock off this routine or I’m going to pitch you headfirst over thecliff.”

“Oh, you have cliffs here too. You haveeverythingat Sapphire Cove.”

“We’re trying to have a special night for you,” Logan said.

“We were going to have a special night at The Scarlet Inn,”Chip whined.

“The Scarlet Inn is a shit hole. They have aBfromthe health department.”

“Ah, whatever. That’s’causethey didn’tbribe the guy.”

“Right.’Causethey were too busygiving him ptomaine.”

Chip looked at Logan like he’d kicked a puppy. “It’s my place.How can you talk about my place like that?”

“It’s not your place. You just make us eat there because thehostesses treat you like a rock star.”

“Yeah, well, maybe that’s what I deserve on my specialnight.”

“Logan.” Petey spoke up from behind them. Amazing that hisJersey accent had not dimmed in the slightest even after decades on the WestCoast. “Don’t pay attention to him. He’s just being Chip. You go ahead and takeus to whatever froufrou, fancy pants, hot pink dining room with big sparklyflowers you’ve got picked out for us. Who cares if it all looks like a Barbiecar?”

“All right, don’t you start too, Petey,” Logan warned.

Petey shrugged in a manner suggesting his choice of wordswasn’t meant to be confrontational, something he also did when he innocentlycalled someone he hadn’t meant to start a fight with a stupid fuckface.

“Is anything herenotpink?” Chip asked.

“Or white?” Jed asked.

“Boys,” Linda chided.

“Okay.” Logan waved his hands in the air. “Okay, here’s whatI propose. Dad, you’re right. It’s your special night. We should do what youwant. So the deal is this. Connor and I thought we’d be stuck here’causethere was a chance we’d have to rearrange some roomsif they reopened parts of the evacuation zone. But we found out a few minutesago that’s not happening tonight. So technically, we’re free to leave. So whydon’t I go tell him? Then we’ll call the hostesses at The Scarlet Inn and getyour reservation back. Which they’ll do in a second because they love themselvessome Chip Murdoch.”

Nobody said anything for what felt like an eternity.

“Nah, I’m good,” Chip finally said.

“Okay. Are you really? Because this is a one-timeopportunity. Once we get in that elevator…”

“Yeah, I don’t want to disappoint this Connor Harcourt guy.”

Logan glared at him, sensing the approach of another dig.

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