“How would you know if it was good or not? You didn’t eat anything. We’ll talk another time.”

“No, we won’t, Pop. We’ll never talk about this again. That’s an order.”

“Whatever you say, son.”

“You’re humoring me, Pop. I don’t like that.”

“Whatever you say, son. I’m tired. The girl was right, Kollar. Now sleep off that drunk you’re on. Tomorrow is another day.”

“So it is.”

At six o’clock the day after Christmas, Pappy woke with a glorious hangover that was so bad he didn’t bother to get out of bed. He closed his eyes and went back to his hateful nightmares. When he woke two hours later, he felt even worse when he opened his eyes to see his father standing over him. He had a tall glass of tomato juice and a cup of dark, black coffee on a tray. Pappy groaned. “Go away, Pop, let me die here in peace.”

Kyros laughed. “To my knowledge, the last time you were in this condition was when you turned twenty-one. At which point, if my memory serves me correctly, you swore you would never, ever drink like that again. Drink the tomato juice. I put a little hair of the dog that bit you in it. If you don’t want to drink it, don’t. I’m ashamed of you, Kollar.”

Pappy swung his legs over the side of the bed. He thought his head was going to pound right off his shoulders. He staggered to the bathroom. Kyros winced at the retching sounds he could hear through the closed door. “Did you hear what I said, I’m ashamed of you!” Kyros shouted.

“Yeah, I heard you!” Pappy snarled. “You’re right, okay.”

When Pappy returned to the bedroom, Kyros thought he looked like death warmed over. “I was working on this plan. I had it down pat. Then she started to avoid me. And she was…glued to Vandameer. That ticked me off. I blew it. I know that. The thing with Alpha…I saw red. I reacted like a fool. Look, I’m no Romeo, that’s a given. What I am is a spook. I dream up and put into action covert operations. It’s what I do best. It’s the only thing I do. I was never into the small talk, dating game. I don’t like it that I have no skills in that area. I was trying, Pop, and I’m not a schmuck. Where in the hell did you learn that word anyway?”

Kyros watched his son down the glass of tomato juice. He almost laughed aloud when he bolted for the bathroom a second time. “From Olivia. She says it all the time.” He shouted to be heard through the closed door. “What’s next in that crazy plan of yours?”