Page 146 of The Fates We Tame

Bates grins and looks back at Vi, causing a ripple of envy to pass through me.

“Okay,” I say, grabbing a cloth that sits on top of the bar. “Lesson one about money. You gotta respect it and be grateful for it.” I wipe the bar top down until it is dry.

“I said thank you to Uncle Colton for the money.”

“Good girl. Now, open panda up.”

When she does, fives spill out all over the bar top. Some are crumpled, some folded, all are bent. “Ave,” I say. “Girl. We gotta take better care of the notes than this. Let’s unfold them all and lay them flat, yeah?”

Avery kneels up on the stool. “I have so much money, Uncle Vex.”

“I can see.” I mean, there might even be a grand here. Maybe more. “What are you going to do with it?”

“I’m gonna buy my own bike and start my own clubhouse where boys aren’t allowed and only girls make the rules.”

Her answer makes me chuckle. “You’re gonna need a bit more than this.”

She turns and points secretively to my brother, Niro. “Do you think Uncle Colton is gonna stop swearing anytime soon?”

“Definitely not.”

She claps her hands with glee. “I know.”

“Girl, you are gonna be a troublemaker when you are older.”

I glance up to the mirror that frames the bottles behind the bar and can see club life playing out behind me.

Voices raise, women hug, couples kiss.

Blah. Blah. Blah.

If my life were a movie, this would be a montage. Beer spilling in slow motion. Happy faces. A room full of hope and potential for the next three hundred and sixty-five days.

Another three hundred and sixty-five days of…

I draw a blank.

I’ve got no New Year’s resolutions. Don’t even know what I’m going to do tomorrow or beyond. My life plays out no more than a few hours in front of me. I’ll turn and hug my best friend Switch, I’ll message my mom, I’ll drink a few more beers, then I’ll find a club girl to take back to my room for some…

What? Fun?

I glance back down at the growing piles of notes as we straighten and unfurl them. This is more fun.

“You know, if I invest this for you, it means you’ll have to give all these notes over to me. And we’ll have to get you a little book called a ledger, where we write down how much you gave me, and I write down where it’s all gone to be invested.”

Avery bites on her lip for a second. “It won’t be in your office?”

I shake my head. “It will be in a safe place though.” I’m not gonna explain to a kid how internet banking or trading platforms work. Not when I’ve already got too much whiskey sloshing through my system.

“I trust you, Uncle Vex.”

When it’s all unfolded, we put them into piles of twenty notes. “So, if each pile is one hundred dollars, how many piles do you have?”

Avery taps the top of them. “Nineteen.”

“So, what’s nineteen times one hundred?”

Avery laughs. “I can’t count that big, silly.”