“No, dammit,” he said, defeated.
“So, a college kid?” Tyler asked, somehow remaining the calmest of us. I suspected that he might be the most skeptical of Danny being involved, and this was just proving his point.
“Yeah, apparently he was hammered out of his mind and got tossed out of the bar earlier that night. Mason, do you remember anyone like that?” I asked. He seemed to think for a moment, and then his eyes widened.
“Oh, shit. Yes. I do, some spoilt rich brat, came in already drunk and without an ID. I told him he could stay and sit with his friends, because they all seemed sober and had theirs, but he couldn’t drink. Then I caught him drinking their beer,” he said,
“And I tossed him,” Matt said. “I remember Mason telling me about him, but he was busy behind the bar. So, I went up and asked him to leave. He acted like a fool trying to get up like he was going to fight me, but one of his buddies got him out of there without any problems. I guess he came back.”
“A college kid,” Jordan scoffed, the anger that bubbled in him starting to simmer. “Just some stupid college kid. Jesus. I was ready to beat the hell out of Danny.”
“Speaking of,” I said, making eye contact with him. “You and I owe him an apology. We both made accusations I’d like to take back.”
“All of us do,” Mason said before Jordan could respond. “We all went to the bar together to accuse him, and we all sat around this table and said awful things about him. We all should head down there together to make it right.”
I nodded. “You’re right. No worries one of us could still harbor a grudge if we all do it together. We’re all agreed?”
There was a general mumbling agreement, and we stood.
“I’ll tell the girls we’re headed that way,” Mason said, leaving the room.
“I still think he’s a dick,” Jordan said.
“He is,” I said, putting my hand on his shoulder. “But being a dick isn’t the same as burning down our bar.”
When we arrived at the bar, all arriving in two cars, we got out and saw that Danny had increased his “security” as it were. Two ancient bikers stood at the entrance, neither of them looking like they were on the young side of seventy. I was sure they had been intimidating men in their day, but at that moment they looked like they could be defeated by a strong wind. I walked up to one of them who had crossed in front of the door.
“Anderson, aren’t ya?” he asked in a gruff smoker’s growl.
“I am. I need to see Danny,” I said.
“Over my broken bones,” the other one said, his long, red flowing beard moving like shag carpet in an earthquake with each word.
I sighed. “I’m not here for trouble,” I said. “We came to apologize.”
The first one, with a patch over the heart of his leather vest that read “Ace,” squinted his eyes at me. I wondered if that was meant to further intimidate me or if it was because he genuinely couldn’t see me well. I settled on a mixture of both.
“I don’t trust ya. Not with all these boys, too. Mind if I pat you down?”
“Fine,” I said, raising my arms. He gave me a quick pat down, paying special attention to my pockets, before letting me go.
“You’re clean,” he said. “Just you, though. One of you can go in.”
I turned to my already protesting brothers and held up a hand.
“It’s fine,” I said. “I’ll go talk to him. You guys stay here in case I can get him to come out here and you can apologize yourselves.”
I opened the door of the bar, and “Ace” stepped away from it. Going in was like walking into a cave. The room was dark, with only harsh, green bar lamps lighting various areas of the space. The people inside didn’t seem to mind. They must have known the bar well enough they didn’t need to see where they were going anyway. I went up to the bar and sat down on the same stool I had before and noticed Danny look over. It took him a moment to recognize me, and then he looked at the door. Seeing his guards in place, he stomped over to me and put his hands on the bar.
“I thought I told you I didn’t want you back in here again. I ain’t sellin’!” he said.
“I’m not here for that,” I said. “I came to apologize.”
He sputtered for a moment, clearly knocked off guard.
“Apologize?” he asked.
“Yes, apologize. The police found the guy that burned down our bar. Some drunk college kid that we tossed earlier that night,” I said.
There was a moment of silence before Danny looked down to his shoes and muttered a curse.
“Blonde kid? No ID?” he asked.
“How did you know?” I asked, surprised.
“Shit. I kicked him out, too. Right before you guys did, I suppose. He came in here with some buddies and caused a ruckus, but my guy had him out the door before he could do much,” he said, thumbing back toward his heavyset bouncer, who nodded at me in response. “I forgot all about it until the cops questioned me and him again the other day. They had footage of him walking down the street and asked if I remembered him.”
“Ah,” I said. It made sense now. The cops caught this kid because Danny recognized him, and they put the pieces together. In a way Danny was partially responsible for catching him.
“Look,” Danny said, his voice suddenly softer and unsure, “I’m sorry your place burned down. I know I said some things out of anger that were real mean, and I hate that I did it. I was just jealous of you guys getting so much business down here and I couldn’t get that crowd, you know? I have a bar for regulars, not college kids looking for a dance night or whatever.”
“I understand,” I said, but Danny waved me off.
“No, it’s not okay, you know? I did everything I could to make you think it was me, all out of spite. I should have been more empathetic and helped you out,” he said. “I don’t want there to be any hard feelings. I couldn’t imagine losing this place, myself.”
I smiled. “There are none. Not from me, and not from my brothers. They’re all waiting outside to tell you the same thing, but uhh…” I turned and looked at the door being blocked by the octogenarian bikers, “they can’t make it past the gates at the moment.”
Danny laughed. “I told you, it’s a bar for regulars. Some have been coming here since they were much more… intimidating. Back even before I owned this place.”
We both exited the bar, and my brothers apologized one by one to Danny, and in a way, I had never been prouder of them. It took a man of a certain dignity to apologize, publicly, the way that they were doing. I appreciated that.
When we headed back to Mason’s house, we were in a much better mood, relieved to have that off our shoulders and the guilt being erased by how gracious Danny was about the situation. His admission of his own part in making us think the worst of him alleviated a lot of the guilt we all shared. Everyone, including Mom, was at the house when we arrived, and I pulled Amanda to the side for a moment before we agreed that this was the time. We entered the living room, where everyone was, and I made our announcement.
“Oh my God,” Mom cried, taking Amanda into a big hug. My brothers cheered and started clapping my back, congratulating me and laughing. The girls were also smiling from ear to ear, with tears welling in the corners of their eyes.