Page 35 of For the Fans

For once, I agree with him, although I won’t give him the satisfaction of letting him know it. We both stare at our parents, waiting for them to drop whatever bomb they’re obviously delaying unleashing on us.

Hannah fiddles with her napkin, then peeks at my father. “Tom… we need to tell them.”

“Tell uswhat??” Avi fumes, gripping the edge of the table in suspense.

My father still refuses to look at us, but I can read his face like a book. Frustration, devastation, lines of anger, resentment, and hostility… It’s all so familiar to me, I feel like I might pass out.

Finally, he pulls in a long breath, then lets out slowly before muttering, “The business went under.”

The silence in the room seems to echo his words, like they’re pinging off the empty walls.

Okay… that’s definitely not what I expected.

Swallowing a lump of confusion in my throat, I ask, “What do you mean itwent under? What happened??”

He shoots me a defeated look. “Robert made some bad investments, covered them with our pensions... You don’t need to know the specifics, but essentially, I’m fucked. We all are.”

My mouth is hanging open for so long my tongue starts to feel dry, unblinking eyes causing the same. I can’t even believe what I’m hearing…

My father started his business from the ground up, with a hefty start-up donation from my grandparents, of course. But still, he’s been growing it like another one of his children sincebefore my sister was even born. And it’s always been his least disappointing baby.

Now he’s saying it’s… gone?Just like that??

“I’m so sorry this had to happen on your birthday, Ky…” Hannah says.

I blink in disbelief. “Who fucking cares about my birthday?! So you’re saying we’re…broke?”

“Calm down,” my father growls.

“No, he’s right,” Avi jumps in. “We deserve to know what this means.”

“Well, in case you can’t tell, we’ve been selling things,” Hannah says, clearly trying to remain positive, though I’ve never seen her so stressed. “Some of the home furnishings, both of our cars… I’m going back to full-time at the dealership.”

“This is fucking crazy…” I rake my fingers through my hair.

My thoughts are rushing a mile a minute, all the possibilities of what this could mean jumbling inside my skull until I can barely hold my head up.

“And the house…?” Avi asks, his tone much more anxious than I thought he could sound.

“We’ll be able to keep the house,” my dad answers. “I’m looking for new work. I have some leads, but it will be a big transition…”

“What about school??” I cut him off frantically.

His eyes snap up to mine, but he doesn’t respond. Thesilencein this room is deafening.

Abruptly, my father stands up, waltzing over to his minibar to pour himself a glass of whiskey. He tosses it back fast, then pours another. Hannah is just watching him with unease all over her face.

His shoulders are visibly hunched as he says, “Unfortunately, we won’t be able to pay for either of your college expenses any longer.”

“Holy fucking shit, this isn’t happening…” I rub my eyes hard with my fingers.

“Your scholarships should have paid for most of the tuition,” Hannah stammers, in an attempt to comfort us.

“But we can’t cover housing,” my father adds in a blank, emotionless tone.

My heart tumbles down into my stomach.

“It’ll be fine,” Hannah goes on. “You can both move back home after this semester if you need to. It’s a short commute. I know plenty of kids who would kill to live this close to school…”