Total pages in book: 48
Estimated words: 45785 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 45785 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 229(@200wpm)___ 183(@250wpm)___ 153(@300wpm)
“Okay, um…can you promise not to fly off the handle?”
I threw her a frown over my shoulder. What the hell? I wasn’t exactly the fly-off-the-handle guy around family. “Why would I fly off—”
“Joel’s on his way.”
I laughed. Yeah, right. “Good one.” I opened the fridge and began pulling out condiments and dipping bowls.
“I’m serious, El. Jane passed away last week. He’s not doing well.”
I froze.
His mom was dead?
Fuck.
Oh fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.
My chest tightened painfully as my brain tried to throw a bunch of childhood memories at me, and I wouldn’t go there. Well, I tried not to. I couldn’t. Work assignments, work assignments. Tariq and I had a meeting on Monday with the guys in our New York office. Madison was gonna come in late. Crew had a new client. Jane had always been so happy to see me.
I screwed my eyes shut and thanked my lucky stars Piper couldn’t see me behind the fridge door.
“Blake caught him in a weak moment,” Piper explained. “She made him promise to come up and just see what she’s learned at swimming practice.”
I clenched my jaw and swallowed hard. This couldn’t fucking happen. I saw Joel precisely one time every year, at Blake’s birthday party, and that was it. I had to mentally prepare myself for that too. At least for a few days. Because I just couldn’t look him in the eye without wanting to kick his goddamn ass. I didn’t hate easily, I really fucking didn’t, but that guy… I despised him with every fiber of my being.
I closed the fridge door and looked at my sister. We had the same silvery-blue eyes, but I’d never managed to use mine to get my way.
“Why is he still in our lives?” I asked quietly. I had to fucking know. “You’re divorced—at fucking last—”
“He’s still Blake’s dad,” she replied irritably.
“Stepdad,” I bit out.
She gave me a look.
Fine, whatever, legally too, he’d adopted her and…yeah. I didn’t wanna hear it.
“You know, most people would be happy that Joel and I can still be friends for Blake’s sake,” she told me.
I wasn’t most people, because most people thought Joel was a good guy.
I saw through that bullshit. He was a fucking snake.
The fact that Jane had died broke my damn heart, though. And no shit, Joel wasn’t doing well. She was all he’d had for years.
“I miss him, Elliott,” Piper confessed. I ran cold at those words. Cold and fucking nauseated. “Can you please just let him hang out with us for a night? I wanna remind him I can make him happy.”
Oh, for chrissakes, just shoot me.
Was she honestly going to take advantage of his grief? “You’re over forty. Don’t play high-school games with him.”
She flinched and got pissy. “What the fuck? I’m not playing games.”
Right.
I shook my head and went back to hauling out food. “Do whatever you want.” I didn’t wanna think about Joel—or his sweet mom. Goddammit. But I could think about Blake… I sighed and suddenly felt like an asshole. “It’s for Blake,” I added reluctantly. “If she wants her dad here, he should be here.”
Now I was gonna tell Crew to dig out my boxes of booze, ’cause clearly beer wasn’t gonna cut it tonight.
Joel showed up right as we all sat down to eat. We’d essentially turned my patio into a picnic, with a couple blankets on the floorboards, two pool loungers, the table that seated six, and Crew not giving a fuck, so he just sat down on the ground.
To be fair, most of us would’ve done the same if it hadn’t been for Marisa and Piper “making things pretty.”
“Daddy, you’re here!” Blake rushed over to Joel, who scooped her up and buried his face in her hair.
My mouthful of food slid down like a chunk of lead at the sight of him. The familiar tightness around my chest, the unease in my gut, the fucking anger… But the loss of Jane made me feel resigned too. I could go back to hating his guts in five minutes.
I set down my plate next to Tariq’s and got off the blanket. Then I grabbed a bottle of beer from the cooler next to the grill before I crossed the patio, feeling Piper’s eyes on me the whole way over to Joel. What did she think I’d do, dropkick him in front of everyone?
Joel tensed up and composed his expression as I stopped a couple feet away.
I extended the beer to him. “I’m sorry about your ma. She was a wonderful woman.”
Judging by the curious look on Blake’s face, it was glaringly obvious that Joel and I hadn’t exchanged a single word in a few years. Except for a handful of snide comments when Blake wasn’t around.
Joel relaxed just a little bit and nodded with a dip of his chin. “Thanks.” He accepted the beer.