“Mr. and Mrs. Tanaka are planning to be with us until Saturday morning,” my mother interjected. “Did I forget to tell you?”
I shook my head once, but said nothing, recalling the conversation that took place earlier that week. My mother tried to convince me that my father merging his business with Mr. Tanaka’s was a strategic maneuver; however, I was too smart for her to pull the wool over my eyes. Merging the two companies was my father’s last-ditch-effort to regain control of a rapidly spiraling situation at Arata – a situation that had all of us on constant high alert. Mr. Tanaka’s money would help my father repay a large portion of the debt that he owed some very unsavory characters following a shoddy business deal; that’s what this was all about. Mr. Tanaka had my father by the balls, although I doubt Mr. Tanaka was aware of it. Knowing my dad, he made sure to highlight all the benefits of becoming business partners, leaving out how desperately he needed someone to bail him out of the mess his greed created. If I had to bet, he even put a crafty enough spin on it that Mr. Tanaka actually felt like he was the one getting over.
“His daughters will be joining us as well. You remember the twins, don’t you, Son?” he asked smugly, pulling me from my thoughts.
I ignored him again.
“I believe Kira and Reina are just about Anthony’s age,” he added, addressing my mother, but staring at me.
My mother perked up when he addressed her. “Actually, they just celebrated a birthday last month. Their twentieth if I recall.”
My father smiled at me again and it took everything in me not to reach across the table and hit him.
“It’s been years since they’ve visited,” my mother added, smiling at a memory. “You and the girls used to play for hours when we’d all vacation at the lake together. Why is that you never kept in touch?” she inquired innocently.
Hearing the calm tone in which she spoke made me ease up a bit.
“We weren’t friends, Mom. We only hung out when you guys decided to force us to spend our family vacations at that godforsaken cabin.”
My father laughed. “Nonsense. No one was forced. The Tanakas are close friends of the family.”
“Friends that you’re about to take advantage of to save your sorry a–“
“Anthony!” My mother yelled before I finished.
The fake smile on my father’s face began to fade. We sat there in a silent standoff that only ended because the doorbell rang. Mother glanced back and forth between us both before realizing that she couldn’t keep our houseguests waiting to be greeted any longer. She left the room in a huff, wearing a weary expression. My father held my gaze, silently trying to put me in my place, but if I hadn’t inherited anything else from him, I had his stubbornness. We’d kill each other before either one would give in.
The Tanaka’s footsteps could be heard echoing as they made their way down the marble-tiled hallway coming toward us. My father straightened in his seat and his expression changed like a switch had flipped – shifting into business mode.