I shake my head, turning the laptop back toward me. “She says we’re running out of time, man. We need to make a decision.”
As he chews, his jaw works back and forth, all muscle and stubbornness.
“We have a harvest coming up, like right now. We can't do anything about that. How are we supposed to get this all arranged? We have to finish the harvest, put the house up for sale, find a place to live, not to mention inspecting the new orchards and getting visas and paperwork and shots and —”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I interrupt, holding my hands up. “You know that you don't have to worry about any of that. That's all under control. I got it.”
His nostrils flare as he chews the last of his protein bar.
“You got it,” he repeats with just a little bit of suspicion in his voice.
“Dude, I got it,” I reassure him. “All we have to do is pick. Portugal or Germany. Everything else will be handled.”
He nods slowly. “Portugal or Germany.”
“What are we talking about?” Tom asks, walking in with his shirt off and his hair all pushed to one side. When he turns around, I see the rake marks on his back from Vanessa's long nails.
“Portugal?” I call out, smirking, “or Germany?”
He fills up a coffee mug and gulps down half of it.
“Why you asking about that now?”
“Are you serious?” I ask, exasperated. “I’ve been working on this for over a year. You knew this was coming. What's the deal? What's the big —”
They look at each other, then at me.
“Oh.”
“Honestly, I didn't even think you were going to finish it all,” Tom shrugs. “I mean, I figured we would just end up here forever. You know. Which would be fine.”
“No, I don't know,” I insist. “That's really news to me. Stan? Is that what you thought too?”
He scratches at the patch of thick hair on his chest.
“Well… I just figured it would all take a while. It didn't seem so urgent. And really, there's a harvest, juicing… a lot of stuff going on.”
Frustration bubbles inside of me. Seriously, what have I been doing the last year if not putting together this deal?
“Okay, how about this,” I start again reasonably, “I'll put together a team of locals to do the harvest. Juicing too. We can get everything started here, get everybody trained. And then we can get started on… wait. Should we take a vote? Portugal? Germany?”
They look at each other again.
“You guys!” I yell out. “Focus! What the fuck are you doing?”
Stan shrugs. “Listen, I appreciate everything you did. It's just that… maybe now's not the right time to be leaving the country. It's a big move, Charlie. We can put it off til next year, couldn't we? I mean, what's to stop us?”
Seriously, I'm about to hyperventilate. I try to slow down my breathing so I don’t pass out.
“If I have to cancel the deal with Margarita, there's no saying there is going to be another deal. Like, ever. We might just be on this plot of land for another hundred years.”
“That wouldn't bother me,” Tom yawns. He downs the rest of his coffee. “It's worked for so far. Maybe we could… I don't know. Get settled in. You know. Family stuff.”
I shake my head in disbelief. “Settled in? How much more settled in could we get? What kind of family stuff are we… wait a second. Is this about Vanessa?”
Both the guys back away, shaking their heads and shrugging their shoulders.
“Answer me. Stan? Tom? Are you telling me that you want to cancel all this because of Vanessa?”