Dad frowned but tried to hide it. “Is that for a weight lifting competition or something?”
“Nope, that’s for an I’ll-show-him-I’m-still-hot kind of thing, since my dad left her for his twenty-six-year-old personal trainer.” Jolene gave me a thumbs-up under the table to indicate how well she thought she was handling my dad’s questions.
I kind of wanted to kiss her.
Well, I always wanted to kiss her, but I wanted to more than usual in that moment.
When Dad excused himself to go to the bathroom, I seriously thought about it.
“Shelly?” Jeremy finally decided to stop scowling long enough to join the conversation. “She’s only twenty-six?”
I threw a curly fry at his head. “Idiot. Don’t you have a thing going with Erica?”
Jolene’s hand froze with a fry midway to her mouth. “No way, you’re dating Erica now? Like for real, not just to mess with Adam?”
My brother’s skin did its best impression of ketchup, and I felt my own face turning red. Was that what I looked like when I blushed? And Jolene claimed she thought that was cute?
Jeremy shot a pleading glance at me, but I grinned and shook my head. He was overdue for a little squirming.
Watching us, Jolene’s laughter bubbled up out of her as she leaned toward him. “You have to tell me how that happened.” She nudged my shoulder with hers. “Tell me you’re not made of questions right now?”
I didn’t care nearly as much as she did, but I propped my forearms on the table. “Yeah, Jer, and I’d make it quick if you want to finish before Dad gets back.”
“There’s nothing to tell.” Jeremy reached for the basket of fries, but Jolene hooked a finger around it and slid it out of reach.
“But I mean, she had to have hated you by association. And, offense intended, you can be a massive turd, like, all of the time.” She popped a few fries into her mouth.
His ears were the only part of him that were still red and I was guessing that was due to annoyance rather than embarrassment. I figured he was about to mouth off and prove her point but he surprised me.
“Cut me some slack. He—” Jeremy flicked his gaze at me “—was supposed to be spending time with our dad, and he was off with you from the first day. Was I a turd to you?” He wobbled his head from side to side. “I could have been nicer, and I was considering it before he got together with Erica and was still off with you the whole time we were here. That’s how she started talking to me, by the way. We were both pissed at him—and you by extension.”
“For the record, you were the king of turds.” Jolene nudged the fry basket back toward him. “But I get that I didn’t exactly make things easier for you here. And the Erica thing was not awesome.”
Jeremy studied her. She studied him back. He took a fry.
“So you literally sat next to her at play rehearsal and said, what? We both think Adam is a tool?”
“Hey,” I said. “I’m right here.” Neither of them glanced at me.
Jeremy took another fry. “Basically.”
“And whose idea was it to go to the dance together?” she asked.
Jeremy grinned. “Mine. Took a little convincing, but she came around.”
“Big-time turd move,” Jolene said, but she was smiling, too.
“Worked out though. Turns out we have other stuff in common than wanting to knock him out most of the time.”
“Still here,” I said, though once again they ignored me.
“Good for you,” Jolene said to my brother and I could tell she meant it. “Though I feel sorry for her, since she obviously traded down.”
My heart puffed up at that comment while Jeremy threw back his head and laughed. “I tell you what. Give my brother a little breathing room over here, and I’ll be moderately less of a turd to you.”
Jolene sat back in her chair and one side of her mouth lifted. “Deal.”
They were still smiling when Dad came back.
“What’d I miss?”
“Um. These are really good,” Jolene said, picking up her cheesesteak. “Thanks for letting me tag along.”
I could see the automatic response form on Dad’s lips before he squashed it, and I also saw Jolene grow uncomfortable. She set her half-eaten cheesesteak on the table and spent a solid minute wiping her hands clean on a napkin.
He’d been going to say anytime, except he didn’t mean anytime. If we’d been back home with Mom, he’d have gladly offered Jolene a seat at our dining room table whenever she wanted it. But we weren’t sitting around the table he and Mom had restored on their honeymoon. We were in a greasy fast-food place miles away.
That was Dad’s version of trying. He’d asked Mom to do something she wasn’t ready to do, but instead of staying and helping her get to that place with him, he’d cut and run.
Somewhere between talking to Jeremy and witnessing Dad at that support group, I’d started to forget that fact. Dad had just given me a huge reminder.
As the conversation died around us, my high from the newly minted truce between Jeremy and Jolene went with it. I found myself glaring at him. I felt Jeremy’s eyes boring into me, and I could practically hear him saying, Not the plan, bro. I turned to Jolene and stood up.
“Let’s go.”
Jolene looked from me to Dad as he said, “Go where?”
“Out. I don’t know.”
To Jolene, Dad said, “We’d love to have you join us for dinner again sometime, but I think we need to spend time together as a family tonight.”
“What. Family?” I said, biting off each word. “Mom didn’t get out of the car when she dropped us off, and I didn’t see you waiting on the curb.”
Wrong. Wrong thing to say. Jeremy tossed the rest of his sandwich on his plate and rolled his eyes at me.
Dad looked at me. “Sit down. Now.” His voice was low so as not to carry to the surrounding tables, but a few people were looking anyway.
Heat rushed to my face. Jeremy was glancing back and forth between Dad and me like he wasn’t sure what I was going to do, if I really was going to try to stare down our father. Try being the operative word, because we both knew how well that would turn out.
Jolene made things both better and worse. Her presence gave me the guts to consider holding my ground, but she was also the reason I sat back down. Watching Dad drag me out of a restaurant by the collar was not the cool image I cared to present her with. And Dad’s expression said he’d do it. I sat down while it was still my decision to do so. At least Dad gave me that.