Page 83 of This Time Around
As if I needed it.I was Dad’s favorite the day I was born.
My smile faded by the time he was done talking.“Cooper’s not here, but thanks anyway.”
I flipped through leftover containers in the fridge, trying to find something that sounded good.Cooking for one was hard and I’d forgotten how good company was.Me and my pity party for one were perfectly fine with leftover steak.
“What do you mean he’s not there?Did he run into town?Got all night for dinner.”
A strange pinch pricked at my chest.“He’s in California.”
“What?Why?”
His voice took on that strange, guttural sound I was used to hearing after he’d lost a baseball game.Or when he was being a prick to my boyfriends.
“Jordan—”
“No way.He worked with us all day.And I saw you with him.He can do that, act like a member of your crew and then disappear?What the fuck?”
My brother.He was younger but mighty protective.He always was but became worse after he moved back and then our parents died.And then Joseph.Every time I lost someone important, his protectiveness magnified.I wasn’t in the mood for it tonight.
“Max called.It’s no big deal.There was something with Camilla he had to see to.He’s coming back when it’s done.”
“He’s coming back.”
“Well, yeah.That’s what he said.And he took the truck to the airport.”
“Joseph’s truck?”
His shock wasn’t a surprise.I hadn’t driven the truck since last fall.Hard to drive a truck your husband died in.I hadn’t done anything except get it repaired after the accident.Actually, Jordan had handled all of it, although I vividly remembered the day the truck was brought to my place.Jordan was there, and I was still living in a fog and not having showered for who knew how long.I’d lost mymindwhen he took the vacuum from my house to clean it out.
“Yes,” I admitted, that familiar prickle deep in my throat whenever memories of Joseph hit me hard and fast.“Listen, I gotta run—”
“Don’t run,” Jordan said, his voice harsh and commanding.“And don’t hide out on us.Bring your girls to the restaurant.Dinner and drinks on me.I don’t want you sitting alone in that house tonight.”
Again….He left the word unsaid but it came through crystal clear.I wanted to wallow.To consider what was happening to my life.With me and Cooper.If there was anything happening.
Silly.There wasn’t.There couldn’t.
I rubbed my forehead, the early thumping of a tension headache mounting.“Maybe it’s for the best he left.”As I said it, my throat clogged.“He’s leaving anyway.This is good.It’s good I take a step back.I’m not ready.”
I was more thinking out loud, almost forgetting Jordan was on the phone until his heavy sigh came through the phone.
“Come to the restaurant, Rebecca, or I’ll come pick you up myself.”
He wasn’t joking.“I don’t even know if Brooke or Kelly can make it.”
“Then call Christa.Hell, come alone and sit at the bar.Tank’s working, he’ll take care of you.”
“Oh my God.”I laughed despite myself.Tank’s real name was Tanner Johnston, but he got his nickname, Tank, when he was in seventh grade because he was suddenly six foot tall and over two hundred pounds.For two years, he had to play up a grade or two in sports until other guys caught up to him.He looked like a tank.By the time he was done growing, he was six-nine, almost three hundred pounds with a heart as big as an ox and a smile that had the ability to make everyone feel like his best friend within minutes.
Everyone in town called him Tank.I preferred to think of him as a gentle giant.
“He’s working there now?”
“Started bartending last week.Couldn’t handle breaking up fights at Jack’s anymore.”
“Well, who could blame him?”Jack’s bar was on the south side of town.At one time, before urban sprawl hit and our town started growing, it’d been one of the only places to go.Now, the rougher crowd went and cops pretty much stayed parked outside the lot all night long, knowing at some point, they’d be called to break up a fight.Tank was good at his job, but even someone as big as him had to get tired of throwing drunken idiots out of the bar, night after night.“I’ll come.Give me an hour and I’ll be there.”
“I’ll have your favorite wine ready to go.Text me if your friends come and I’ll make sure they save you a table.”
