And then, it slowly dawned on me. "Oh." Already, my face was in flames. "So the Sally thing, that was just a word to go with—"
"Uh, yeah." Joel cleared his throat. "Sandpaper."
I lowered my voice. "So, what was her real name?"
Joel's mouth twitched at the corners. "Debbie."
"Oh." I tried to think. Sandpaper Debbie? Nope. Definitely not as catchy.
I looked back to Jake. He'd stopped laughing, but he still looked annoyingly amused.
I swallowed my embarrassment and gave him a stern look. "Go on, tell him."
Jake said, "Tell him what?"
"Tell him what really happened." I crossed my arms. "And why."
Jake's eyebrows lifted. "Shouldn't you wait 'tilafteryou're married to give me grief?"
"I’m not giving you grief," I said. "I'm trying to clear up a misunderstanding."
Next to me, Joel said, "Sorry, but Jake admitted it. Ididtell you that, right?"
"Yes," I said, using my overly patient voice, "but like I said, he was lying."
Joel shook his head. "He was not." He looked to Jake and said, "Go ahead. Tell her."
But Jake didn't. And the longer the silence stretched out, the less certainty I saw in Joel's eyes.
Finally, I broke the silence by saying, "He only said that to make your dad angry – and to get rid of Sally. I mean, Debbie."
Joel was still looking at Jake. In a careful voice, he said, "Why would he do that?"
"Because," I explained, "Debbie was always giving you grief, pushing you around and stuff. And Jake didn't like it."
Joel was staring now. As if thinking out loud, he said, "But dad was so pissed."
Jake shrugged. "Eh, big deal. He was always pissed."
Joel said, "At you."
I spoke up. "Right, because Jake, being the oldest, decided he'd rather have his dad, well I guess I mean your dad, too, beating onhimrather than the rest of you."
Jake made a scoffing sound. "Beat on me? Get real. I could hold my own."
I gave Jake a look. He looked tough as nails now, but I couldn’t help but wonder how he looked years ago. No doubt, hehadto be tough.
I turned back to Joel. He was still looking at Jake. With a slow shake of his head, Joel asked, "And what about the other stuff?"
When Jake only shrugged, I said, "You mean the thing with that sports agent? It was like everything else. He was just looking out for you." Again, my voice softened. "Like a brother should."
After a long, intense moment, Joel asked Jake, "Is that true?"
Jake gave something like a shrug. "Hey, someone had to do it." He grinned. "Pussy."
I rolled my eyes. Neither one of them were pussies. And from the look on Joel's face, he took the remark the way it was intended – as a twisted sign of brotherly love.
Or maybe that was just wishful thinking on my part.
Behind Jake, the front door opened, and Bishop walked in. He looked to Jake. "You ready to go?"
Joel spoke up. "Hey, it's late. You guys wanna stay over?"
