Although it was a pretty big deal for these two brothers to confess their secret plan to their father and pretty much everyone else in the gang, they did not hesitate to have the meeting as soon as possible. After Harvey was quite certain that Amelia’s condition was stable enough for him to leave her side, he got Hayden to schedule a meeting with the boss immediately.
Within three days of our visit to see Amelia at the hospital, the meeting with the boss was upon us.
"You should come along," Hayden told me the night before.
"Huh? Me?" I asked with unfeigned surprise.
"Of course. Who else could it be?" Hayden replied sarcastically.
"I didn’t expect that you would want me to come along," I admitted honestly.
The talk concerned matters between the brothers and the boss so I hadn’t considered that Hayden might want me there. Why would he want me there anyways?
"Did you think that you would be the only one to get off the hook so easily?" Hayden teased as he narrowed his eyes at me menacingly.
"That’s not even funny..." I muttered.
How can he make a joke like that? This whole mess was something that the two of them cooked up together. It had nothing to do with me!
"Don’t act like it doesn’t concern you or you don’t have a hand in this," Hayden said a little coldly.
"But that’s the thing. I don’t have a hand in this..." I said defensively.
"Oh, really?" he asked with a chuckle.
Well, at least I didn’t think that I did.
"Really..." I replied.
Hayden didn’t reply but he laughed a little to himself. I had no idea what he found so amusing about this stressful situation. The boss is going to be so mad. He’s going to scream so loudly and I’m probably going to burst my eardrums.
"The thing is..." Hayden began saying.
"The thing is?" the boss prompted impatiently.
"There’s someone that I think you should meet," Hayden said before he smiled.
The boss eyes narrowed even further, and I started feeling scared for real this time. Hayden didn’t tell the boss that Harvey was alive and is instead going to show him. This wasn’t what we agreed with Harvey. This is definitely going to be bad for the boss’s heart. He didn’t really have a heart condition, right?
"Who is it?" the boss asked without much interest.
"You’ll see..." Hayden said as he got up from his seat.
A large knot formed in the bit of my stomach and started clenching tighter. I started praying but found out that I was too nervous to concentrate.
"Dad...big brother came back to life," Hayden announced as he opened the door and pulled Harvey in by the arm.
My mouth hung open at how abrupt and rough that introduction was. The entire room went silent, and I dared glance over at the boss’s face. Just like me, he was shocked and stunned into silence.
"Harvey..." the boss managed to say after a short while.
Harvey stood in the open doorway next to his younger brother before he lifted up his right hand and waved it at his father.
"Hi. It’s good to be back," Harvey said before laughing a little shyly.
Something told me that this isn’t going to end well. Why can’t they explain things properly! Both of them!
"Hayden! What is the meaning of this?!" the boss yelled at the top of his lungs.
Finally, it has started. The volcano has erupted.
"Listen to what he has to say..." Hayden replied coldly like none of this was his problem.
--To be continued...