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“Don’t pay for it,” Rhiannon said, coming around to drop off menus at the hostess stand. “I’ll just give it to you. Which one do you want? We have them in the back.”

“Really? Why don’t you pick one for me.”

“Okay. I’ll grab it when I get a break.”

I nodded to the claw machine. “Do you guys stock those too?”

“No, we don’t own those. A guy comes around once a week and fills it up and takes the money out.”

The kitchen dinged that an order was ready and she sped off to get it.

I moved over to the claw machines to look at the stuffed animals inside. I didn’t want any of them, but it was something to do, so I stood in front of the register to swap a five for some quarters.

Laci popped her head out from behind the server station. “Hey, Zombie Boy.”

“Hey. Can I get some change? For the claw thing?”

She came around and opened the drawer, loudly chewing gum. “Try for the black and white stuffed cat. She’ll like that one.” She took my five and paused to look me up and down. “Mind you, this is my first impression of you.” She changed the bill for coins, piled the quarters into my palm, popped her gum, and left.

I stood at the machine for the next couple of minutes, spending my only cash. I was down to my last two quarters when I bagged the goods. The cat plushie fell into the shoot and I pulled it out, pumping my fist, victorious.

I looked around to see where Rhiannon was. She was busy taking an order and didn’t see me. I stuffed the cat down my Santa suit and went back to my booth so I could surprise her with it when it wasn’t so busy.

Then I second-guessed myself.

Should I be giving her stuff? What if she had a boyfriend and had to tell me she couldn’t accept it and then things were awkward and I had to eat eight more stacks of pancakes in order to flee?

It was too risky. I talked myself out of it.

Leo, Paulie, and Simon were not like this. They had, as Grandma would say, all the confidence of mediocre men. Jeremy was more like me. He was more reserved when it came to the opposite sex and he didn’t date a lot before getting back with his ex.

This was the only time I wished I was more like my other brothers. The only time.

And then, as if thinking their names could summon them, they appeared. The bell chimed and everyone but Jeremy was coming in the front door.

And they had Grandma.

6

MATTY

I WATCHED IN HORROR as my four-foot-eleven, ninety-year-old grandma spotted me and began inching her way toward me on her walker.

Leo swiveled around her, jogged ahead, and slid into the booth next to me. “You’re so fucking screwed,” he whispered.

“What the hell?” I said quietly. “Why’d you bring Grandma?”

“Because she’s gonna shame you into quitting and I want my five hundred bucks.”

I glared at him. “I didn’t eat all these pancakes for nothing,” I whispered. “I will never quit.”

“We’ll see about that.” He looked up and grinned as Grandma made it to the table.

“Matty, what the hell are you doing?” she said, looking at me like I’d lost it.

She was on her way to bingo at her eighty-seven-year-old sister’s retirement home. I knew this because she had on her favorite rainbow pride and Ruth Bader Ginsburg pins that she liked to wear when she went. She did not look happy. “And I thought you were the smart one,” she said, shaking her head.

“Grandma, I lost a bet,” I said. “I had no choice.”