Chapter 36
Standing near the balcony doors, Jake and Bishop were squared off, facing each other. Neither one of them looked happy. Likethatwas a surprise.
Bishop was telling Jake, "You were supposed to take care of it."
"I did," Jake said. "So don't worry about it, alright?"
Near their feet, I saw a white ceramic lamp, lying on its side. It was broken into at least a dozen pieces, and missing its lampshade. I paused. Nope. There the shade was, lying near the sofa.
That was the good news. In the bad-news category, the lamp itself was a goner. I was pretty sure this was somehow my fault. I had the worst luck with lamps. Unfortunately, that luck seemed to be rubbing off on Jake.
Next to me, Selena called out to Bishop. "We didn't break that, did we?"
We? Meaning her and Bishop? That was just like my sister, taking responsibility for something she had nothing to do with. If things weren't so tense, I might've smiled.
Near the balcony, Jake and Bishop turned to look – not at the lamp, at us.
It was Jake who asked, "Break what?"
I moved forward and pointed. "The lamp."
"Screw the lamp," Jake said. "Bishop's leaving."
I felt myself frown. I hadn't seen my sister in weeks. And seriously, weren't they done fighting already?
On impulse, I said, "He can't leave. We haven't had breakfast."
Jake's gaze shifted to the balcony. "It's still dark out."
"But it won't be for long." I pointed past the balcony doors. "Look, there's the sun, reflecting off that building."
Jake's voice was flat. "That's from the chicken place next door."
He was right, of course. They had this killer neon sign that lit up the whole block. But I wasn't going to let that stop me. "So?" I summoned up a smile. "It'll be light out eventually, right?"
In truth, I wasn't all that hungry. But Iwastired of them arguing all the time. Selena and Bishop were going to be married. Soon, we'd all be family, in a loose sort of way.
The thought of the two brothers brawling over Christmas dinner wasn't sounding all that festive.
I gave Bishop a quick glance. Speaking of things that weren't festive, he eyed Jake with cold disdain. "You want me to leave?" Bishop told him. "Then take care of it, so I don't have to."
Ignoring Bishop, Jake turned to me and said, "You want breakfast? Fine. I'll take you out."
I smiled. "Great." I turned to Selena and said, "What are you two in the mood for?" Before Jake could object, I added, "There's this great twenty-four-hour breakfast place a few blocks from here. They have killer pancakes." I looked to Bishop and said, "Trust me. You're gonna love 'em."
From the look on his face, he highly doubted it.
I looked to Jake. For someone who definitely loved pancakes, he wasn't looking too thrilled either.
I looked to Selena. At leastshelooked happy.
Twenty minutes later, we were all settled in a booth near the restaurant's window, with me and Jake on one side, and Selena and Bishop on the other. The guys weren't talking, and the tension was thicker than the scent of bacon, but not nearly as pleasant.
Selena and I kept the conversation going, and tried like crazy to include them, but so far, they weren't having any of it. They sat, grim and silent, eyeing each other across the booth's table, and speaking only when the waitress came to take their orders.
After about fifteen minutes, Selena set down her coffee cup and said, "Oh for God's sake." She gestured toward the nearby window. Outside, dawn was finally breaking over the city street. "You guys wanna fight? There's the parking lot. Go ahead."
Bishop gave the window a quick glance. "Who says we wanna fight?"
