by Mary Calmes
Apparently from the grunted replies, the broods of both men were good. What was not, was how Kola had been treated by Mr. Parker.
Pat moved over beside me after Kola showed him what had been done. “I would kill anybody who touched one of my girls like that. I’ll talk to the doc and if he says yeah, that the injury is consistent with Kola’s story, I’m gonna have this guy picked up. You hear me?”
I nodded.
“Did he threaten you? Kola says you told him to back off.”
“He was too close to the kids. If it had been just me, I wouldn’t have worried.”
He nodded and put a hand on my back lightly. “Kids stay home tomorrow, J, all right?”
“Okay.”
Chaz and Pat walked out to go and find the doctor, and Rick Jenner, my friend Aubrey Jenner’s husband, walked in, followed by two women.
“Oh.” I smiled at him as he walked over to me, hand extended for me to take. “I figured you’d send somebody, I didn’t think the managing partner of Riley, Jenner, Knox, and Pomeroy would be the one in my son’s hospital room?”
He smiled warmly. “It’s actually Jenner Knox now, Mr. Harcourt, and I’m the founding partner; Tobias Knox is the managing partner because I like to golf.”
“I hadn’t heard. Congratulations, Rick.”
“It’s because you and the marshal don’t come to parties that you’re invited to.”
“We don’t live in your tax bracket, either.”
He chuckled. “I’ll see you tonight, though, right?”
“I dunno. We’ll see how Kola feels.”
“No, Pa,” Kola whined. “I have to go to Auntie Dyl’s. She’s gonna make s’mores in the oven, Mica said.”
Mica, Dylan’s son, because he was the oldest of our four kids, often made big plans that his mother had no prior knowledge of. “We’ll see how you feel, baby.”
“I’ll be fine.”
“Let me talk to your lawyer, okay?”
He squinted at me. “Isn’t he Uncle Dane’s friend?”
“Yes, he is,” I told my son before turning back to Rick. “Sorry, tell me what to do.”
“Well for one, I hope it’s broken, because a break will heal faster than a sprain, and what we’re going to do is sue that school to the ground.”
I shook my head. “Oh no, I just want Mr. Parker not to be able to be near my kid, either of my kids, at all.”
“You want him barred from school property?”
“Yes.”
He nodded. “Okay, I can do that. But you’re sure that’s all.”
“And he should pay for this doctor visit, don’t you think?”
“Again,” he sighed, “you’re being very nice. If this was me, I’d sue him for everything he’s got.”
I made a face. “No, you wouldn’t.”
“Yes, I would, but that’s how I am.”
“What do you need me to do?”
“I’ll have papers delivered by one of these nice people with me; this is Theresa Lin and Nadira Kothari.”
I smiled at both women.
“Whoever shows up will go over everything with you, and we’ll get the papers signed and filed. Right now, Theresa will head over to the courthouse to get a restraining order filed.”
“Okay.”
“Okay,” he echoed me, patting my shoulder.
I was finally starting to feel a little better.
I CALLED Dylan on the way to the loft and explained that Kola’s finger was broken and that I wasn’t sure if I should leave him with her.
The plaintive whining in the background notwithstanding, she begged me to drop them off.
“It sounded like fun, and you never go out, and it’s just to your brother’s house and back.”
“Yeah, but what if assassins come to your house after—”
“Really? Assassins? Are you sure they’re not ninjas?”
“This is serious.”
“I get it, but your life always looks like this in one form or another, and I don’t think anyone is coming after you or the kids. I don’t think Sam would have allowed you to not go into protective custody if that was really the case. Think about it seriously for a minute and think about what you know of your man.”
She was right.
“And really, on my street?” She scoffed. “Who has more busybody neighbors than me?”
“Oh yeah, you win,” I muttered under my breath.
“Hello! Mrs. Applebaum and her best buddy Mrs. Flores? And Mrs. Wong? Dear God.”
“So you’re saying that my kids would be safe with you?”
“Auntie Dyl, come get me!” Hannah squealed.
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“I just feel like Kola needs—”
“I want s’mores!” my son whimpered.
“Dyl—”
“I hear the chanting of the peanut gallery behind you, by the way.” She snorted out a laugh. “C’mon, baby, gimme your kids. I promise not to sell them to gypsies.”
I started laughing.
“Unless I get a really good price.”
“I hope Chilly didn’t make you crazy.”
“He made the dog insane. I was fine. I have a great picture of him hanging off the end of her nose.”
I groaned. Sheila, Dylan’s Saint Bernard, was nothing if not long- suffering.
“So?”
“Pretty peas, Pa.”
“Please, not peas.”
“Pees.” She started giggling. “Kola pees!”
“Pa! Hannah said I pee!”
“Fine,” I told Dylan. “Make sure the gypsies give you top dollar.”
Her snort of laughter made me feel normal for the first time all day.
Chapter Nine
I WAS hiding out on the balcony with the others. “What? What did I say?”
Aubrey Jenner had her hand over her face because wine had come out of her nose when she laughed.
Dane had his head back, and he was counting so he would not crack a smile even as he held on to the concrete railing.
Rick Jenner was standing beside his wife, arms crossed, head down, shaking just enough so you’d know that he was going to lose it at any second.
“Holy fuck.” Jude Coughlin, Dane’s oldest friend from back in their prep school days, swore as he walked into our circle. “We’re all gonna have to stay out here in order to breathe since there’s no air left in the entire goddamn apartment!”
Rick started snickering; his wife put her face down on my shoulder.
“Because he sucked it all out!” Jude went on. “Jesus!”
“What are you talking about?” I was indignant. “He has wing tips made out of seagull, for crissakes! That’s the important thing.”
“It’s seal,” Aubrey corrected me, obviously trying so hard not succumb. “Right?”
Jude threw up his hands.
“Who makes boots out of seal?” I asked her dramatically. “My God, woman, don’t you know anything?”
“Stop,” Dane warned slowly, because he too was just about to break down.
“I mean,” I went on, “so I like talking about myself, is it my fault that I’m incredibly wealthy, educated, funny, urbane, and gorgeous?
Why wouldn’t you want to talk about me? What else would you desire to discuss, peasant?”
He started smiling. “Peasant?”
“I have a ring you can kiss.”
Jude choked on a laugh.
“I have a house in the Hamptons, a penthouse near the Water Tower, and a Park Avenue residence. You’re just jealous. Perhaps if you spent more time managing your stock portfolio and less time masturbating, you would be rich too.”
That was it. Rick lost it. His head went back and he howled.
Aubrey was laughing so hard she was barely able to breathe; Dane was chuckling and rubbing his eyes because they were watering, and Jude was clutching Dane’s shoulder as he joined Rick in raucous laughter.
“I will beat you all dead,” Aja annou
nced as she came charging out onto the balcony.
“Not me,” Dane said. “You need me.”
She growled at him before turning on me.
I made big eyes for her.
“You.” She glared.
“What?”
“Oh, that innocent act is crap!”
“Daddy always said ‘An ounce of pretension is a worth a pound of manure.’”
“You’re gonna make me pee,” Aubrey barely got out. “Stop it!”
“Steel Magnolias?” Aja was fighting not to smile. “You’re quoting movie lines now?”
“He’s an ass,” I told my sister-in-law, enunciating the word for her. “How were you ever friends with that guy?”
She had to think.
“He probably changed,” Dane offered, rubbing his forehead.
“Right, love?”
She turned and looked at him, because the endearment the man was not big on using made her bite her bottom lip.
“Yes?”
“He was more grounded.” She took a breath. “I think he’s trying too hard.”
“Oh you think so?” Jude chuckled. “Aja, darling, may I buy you a diamond?”
His comment, his inflection, made me laugh.
She swatted his chest.
Dane intercepted her hand as she pulled it back, and drew her to his side, and she fit, as she always had, under the man’s arm. She passed me her wine glass so she could put both hands on Dane as she leaned into him.
“We haven’t even had dinner yet,” Rick finally said, still with traces of laughter in his voice. “We’ll all be held hostage through the meal.”
“Oh, those poor people we left him in there with,” Aubrey said sadly.
I couldn’t hold in the snickering. “If Sam was here, he’d shoot him.”
“Which is why Sam’s not allowed to bring his firearm to dinner parties,” Dane reminded me.
“And that reminds me,” I said, leveling a gaze at my brother.
“Why in the world did you pack Hannah’s Super Soaker to take with us to the apartment?”
He squinted. “Both my boys would want their water guns, why would your daughter not want hers? That makes no sense.”
“No,” I made a face at him. “A water gun in November makes no sense.”
“As though you and logic have ever been formally introduced,”
he scoffed. “Nine times out of ten your decisions are flawed.”
“At least I don’t have shoes made out of baby duck.”
His snort of laughter got him a pinch from his wife, and I noticed then that her focus was on me. I grinned like a crazy man.
“You.”
“Me?”
“You,” Aja nodded.
“What?”
“You’re so bad.”
“Me? He’s the one with seagull dress shoes.”
“Jory!”
The doorbell rang.
“Maybe that’s his missing date.” Jude sounded hopeful. “Please, God, deliver us.”
“Oh it’s not that bad,” Aja chided him.
We all looked at her, and Dane kissed her forehead.
Maybe Randall Erickson was a nice guy who was simply very nervous in the company of such a successful group of people. But he went to the bottom of my list when I emerged from the kitchen and saw my partner’s ex standing there.
“Everyone, I’d like you to meet Dr. Kevin Dwyer. He—”
“Jory,” Kevin greeted me, smiling, and I didn’t miss the way his eyes swept by me, searching for my mate.
I was instantly pissed.
“You know Jory?” Randall asked, and he looked concerned.
“Not Jory. We have a mutual acquaintance.”
Breathe in, breathe out.
“Oh? Who’s that?”
I cleared my throat. “He knows Sam.”
“Really,” Dane said like that was the most fascinating news ever.
“Really really,” I said.
The mock cheerfulness was not lost on him. “I see.” He nodded, his eyes meeting mine. “Shall we eat?”
“Yes.” I forced a smile for him.
I remembered, as I took a seat at the long table next to Jude, facing Rick, that before I had kids, I was a follower. It was not a revelation; it had come quite some time before, but at times like the present, I could actually see changes in myself. In the past, I had looked to Dane or others to make me comfortable in stressful situations. I had relied on the physical presence of my brother to steer me to the table or talk to me over dinner. But I wasn’t that guy anymore. Yes, I still counted on my brother for the big-ticket items, like shelter so hit men couldn’t get me and my kids when my other half was missing, but I didn’t need him to direct my life anymore and make me feel better in my own skin. I didn’t need to call for backup anymore unless there was something external like my kid was hurt and there had to be police or a lawyer. I wasn’t a child anymore; I had two of my own.
The meal was fine, nothing really memorable about it. The waitstaff was efficient and courteous. The chef must have been great because everyone remarked about how good the food was, and the wine, from Dane’s collection, was apparently a triumph. It all tasted fine to me, but nothing extraordinary. If Sam’s father had been there making his world-famous bacon cheeseburgers, then there would have been something to gush about. As it was, I was ready to go home. Even though I loved my brother and his wife, I realized that us mixing socially just didn’t work. My idea of a sit-down dinner was Sunday night with Sam’s parents or the evenings I had with Dane and Aja and their kids. I was no longer a cocktails and hors d'oeuvres and a four-star meal kind of guy—if I ever was.
When dinner was done, as the staff asked if the guests wanted coffee with their dessert, I stood up and walked to the end of the table and squatted down beside Dane’s chair.
“What?” His brows were furrowed.
“No, nothing, just”—my voice dropped low—“I’m worried about Kola, and my brain’s not here, and I was really douchey to Randall, and it’s not his fault. I normally make allowances for everyone, but I just wanna go.”
“Of course, I understand. Sunday, when you bring the kids back, we’ll have dinner just us somewhere,” he said, his hand dropping gently to my shoulder. “Are you sure you’re still up to taking them on Friday?”
“Oh, absolutely. You guys pack overnight clothes for them and I’ll grab them after school.”
“Thank you.” Aja’s voice turned me to her as she took hold of my hand.
“Course,” I said, kissing her as I stood up before going around the table to Rick.
“Hey, where you going?” Aubrey asked me.
“Home,” I sighed, leaning down to kiss her cheek. “I’m worried about Kola.”
“Oh honey, Rick told me. You’re so good; I’d be on a homicidal shooting spree.”
Smiling, I squeezed the hand she offered me and then turned to her husband. “You wanna get up so I can hug you or what?”
He chuckled, rose, and I leaned and he grabbed me. It was not something he and I did, the hugging, but it was warranted.
“I couldn’t figure up from down today and I really needed some help. You were great, and Nadira was awesome when she came over and she explained what she was doing and what was going on and what I should expect. Thanks for just stepping in and fixing stuff. That’s normally Sam’s part.”
He gave me a last squeeze, and then I moved back.
“It’s no problem,” he assured me. “We’re friends too, you know?”
“We are,” Aubrey chimed in, taking my hand and squeezing it.
“Okay.” I agreed before leaving them, heading toward the coat closet beside the front door.
I was pulling on my topcoat when someone called my name.
“Mr. Harcourt.”
“Oh, hey.” I grinned at Randall when I turned. “Man, I’m sorry I was a dick to you, so not your fault.”
“I… pardon?”
I pointed at my n
ose. “When I was doing you, I did that nasal thing you do when you talk, like a—goose sort of noise. That was bitchy, and—”
“I’m sorry?”
Uh-oh. “Well, when I was telling my friend Dylan about you on the phone,” I lied, “I said there was this guy at my brother’s party with me that had shoes made out of platypus or something, and I was sure that you had a lot of redeeming qualities but that so far, since you were the only one talking, it was kind of hard to get an idea of what those were.”
“You—”
“So she was saying that being gracious was a virtue and that maybe you were nervous, which accounted for the monologue of your charitable… activities.” I cleared my throat. “And I got to thinking that maybe we could have lunch far, far in the future.”
“I just wanted to ask for some clarification on how you knew Kevin, but… am I understanding that you were making fun of me?”
“Just the”—I pointed at my nose again—“honking thing.”
“Mr. Harcourt!”
“It’s just Jory,” I corrected him. “Dane is the Mister.”
“You—I—how dare you insult… why would you—I….”
How did I end up making people sputter like that?
“Oh, I know.” I had an idea for a peace offering. “You like rich people. I could invite Aaron Sutter, you know him, everybody knows him, and as long as you talk about stuff that’s not, ya know, just you, then we could all hang out and eat some endangered species of pelican or something, huh?”
“Who are you?”
“He’s my brother,” Dane said from beside me suddenly. “Please go home.”
“I was,” I defended myself. “He’s the one who stopped me.”
Dane pointed and I headed toward the door.
“You—he—”
“Come sit down, Randall,” Dane placated him as I opened the front door and then closed it behind me. Sometimes it didn’t pay to apologize to people.
“HIS shoes were made of seagull?” Kola asked me on the ride home from Dylan’s house. “That’s gross, Pa.”
“Yeah, I know.”
At the grocery store, we had to pick up milk and other various items.
“Hannah,” I called out in the cereal aisle when she was getting too far away from me, “how far is too far?”
