I was sure it wasn’t. “Yes, ma’am.”
She narrowed her eyes at me, then sighed, put her hand on my cheek, and shook her head. “I’m glad you’re home, Jakey. I missed you.”
I covered her hand with mine. “I missed you, too, Mom.”
She tilted my head down and kissed me on the cheek. Then she patted it. “Six o’clock. Sharp. Bring dessert.”
She gathered Sammy with a look. “Sammy, say goodbye to your friends, you’ll see them tomorrow.”
Sam grinned broadly. “Awesome! Bye, friends!”
There was a chorus of goodbyes.
There was an awkward silence as we all stood looking at each other. Get the fuck out of here, I subvocalized. The boys startled.
“So, about the job?” Danny said.
Eric looked over at Maddie. I’d forgotten she was even there. “New assistant?” she asked Eric.
“We’d discussed it briefly, but we haven’t even talked details yet,” Eric said. “Responsibilities, salary. I don’t even know if he wants the job.”
“I want the job,” Danny said quickly.
“He wants the job,” she said to Eric. “Great.” She stood up. “Come with me, kid. I’ll get you set up.” She pointed at Ridge and Breck. “You two, scram. Check the schedule. I’ll see you on your first shifts.”
The boys scrammed. I waited for the door to close behind them. “So, that went better than I expected.”
Maddie scoffed. “Better than you deserved.”
“Probably. Speaking of things I don’t deserve. Eric, I believe you owe me a date,” I said.
“Oh, is that why you’re all dressed up? For me?”
“Of course I am.” I tugged my sweater straight. “Where are we going?”
“Pizza Doctors?” he said with an arch look.
I gave him the look that the suggestion deserved.
He laughed. “Hey, it was your favorite.”
“When I was ten and thought Oreo cookie dessert pizza was the peak of culinary excellence.”
“Remember when you puked after eating like six slices of Froot Loop pizza?” he said. “That was awesome.”
“It was colorful, that’s for sure.” My stomach lurched just remembering that. To this day, I couldn’t stand the smell.
“Fine, be picky. There’s a new Cajun place I’ve wanted to check out. Supposed to be excellent. The owners are the real deal.”
Cajun? Steele said in my ear. Really?
Stop eavesdropping, I said through clenched teeth. Not that I blamed him for sounding skeptical. In my experience, it was best to stick as close to Louisiana as you could if you wanted to eat Cajun food. But I would do more than eat sub-par gumbo to spend some time with Eric. “Cajun it is.”
“Awesome. I’ll drive.”
“Why Eric, I’d love to come,” Maddie said. “Thank you!”
It took all my willpower to keep my expression neutral.
“Sorry, Mads,” Eric said, not sounding a bit sorry. “Maybe next time.”
She scoffed. “Like I’m going to be your third wheel. You can take me to lunch tomorrow and tell me all about it.”
“No problem,” he promised.
“Bye!” I called to her with a small wave as she left. She made no attempt to hold in her glare.
A burst of chatter over the coms caught my attention. This was going to require a little bit of privacy. I made a show of patting my pockets and frowning.
“Everything okay?” Eric asked.
“I seem to have left my phone in the car. I’ll get it and meet you in the parking lot?”
“Give me a second and I’ll walk out with you.”
Of course, he would. Because he was a gentleman. I turned to the low bookcase against the wall, pretending to examine the souvenirs of his career that he’d placed there. Team photos, newspaper articles, pictures of him in different team uniforms. He looked so good in a hockey jersey. What’s going on? I asked the group in general.
Your favorite boy, Davis said. Ryan. He’s been harassing me, asking me for a meet. There’s something about that guy I don’t like. He’s so vague about what he wants to talk about.
Take the meet, I said. I’m headed to some Cajun restaurant downtown. See if you can get him to meet you there.
Clone his phones, Wesley said.
How? Davis asked. I’m not a hacker.
There’s an app on your phone.
Really? I heard Ridge pointing out the app on Davis’ phone. Wow. That’s not terrifying at all, Davis said.
Should I take Big Daddy? Davis asked.
No, start with just you, I said. Make him feel special. Make him think there’s tension between us.
Thank God, Leo said.
Don’t laugh, you’re coming to dinner with me at my mother’s house, I said. Take Steele. It will impress Ryan. He’d cream himself to have a personal bodyguard. He’ll probably hit on you, I warned Davis.
Already has, Davis said sourly.
“Are you talking to yourself?” Eric asked from behind me.
“Oh. Was I? So sorry.”
Eric looked at me funny. Crap. That was my Carson voice. I cleared my throat as if I could physically banish it. “Don’t look at me like that, Tiny. I got an earworm, you know how annoying they are.”
“What song?” he asked.
“Uh, ‘I Want it That Way.’” My mom had been obsessed with the Backstreet Boys. The song had come out when we were ten years old. We must have played that song a million times. Eric, my mom, his mom, and I had danced to it in the kitchen more times than I could count.
Eric was grinning before I’d even gotten the whole title out of my mouth and my heart thumped. “I bet you do,” he said. That smile hadn’t changed since he was a boy. It was the “you’re a dork but you’re my dork” smile and I hadn’t seen it since before…well, before everything. “You know what they say, the only way to get rid of it is to listen to the whole song.” He sang at me, complete with pointing and heartfelt expression.
When we got into the car, he hooked up his phone to the stereo and the Backstreet Boys started to sing. “You should be embarrassed by how quickly you found that,” I said.
“Are you kidding? It’s on like four of my playlists.”
We listened to it four times on the way to the restaurant. I was proud of myself. I only sang along to it twice.
13 Eric
The buildings of downtown La Crosse slipped past us looking almost unchanged since the last time Jake and I had ridden like this together. Halfway through the third replay of ‘I Want it That Way’, Jake was ready to kill me. What choice did I have but to let it play a fourth time? When he reached for the power button on the radio, I slapped his hand away. “Driver picks the music.”
“I hate you.”
“You’re so pretty when you’re angry,” I said.
He glared at me. He really was pretty. No, elegant. Jake had grown up into a very elegant man. His beauty wasn’t flashy and obvious. It didn’t attract attention at first glance. But his golden-brown eyes were fringed with thick dark lashes. His bone structure was delicate and the way he moved was eye-catching. He’d always been a slinky kid, moving like a cat through the house. Come to think of it, he was cat-like in many ways. You couldn’t make him do anything. You had to wait for him to come to you. When he liked you, it made you feel special. And if you touched him just right, he purred.