Roly: While the inclination for human interference is a natural one, Nick, they are on a collision course that is, I dare say, inevitable.
Me: True, true. And the wagering is better if we let them figure it out on their own.
Evie laughs at our NatGeo routine, then goes a bit serious. “You know, it took Jake a long time to feel steady on his feet. And I bet he’s needed all of this time just to trust himself again. So, I think we let them play it out in their own time. I don’t think it’ll be too much longer. My guess is one of these days we’re going to look their way and find Jean-Pierre mauling Jake to within an inch of his life. It’s going to happen. Mark my words.”
“Bet?” I ask, smirking.
“I’ll bet.” Scout says, smiling broadly. “What are the terms?”
“I think it’s going to take him another year.”
Evie gets a funny look on her face and leans over and whispers in my sister’s ear. Scout bites her lip and gives her wife a once-over that practically scorches the room. She smiles at me and says, “Nah, under six months. Bet.”
Roly looks between all of us and laughs. “Guess that leaves me with the six- to twelve-month mark. Bet.”
We nod in agreement, and the terms have been set. In our family the amount, five dollars, never changes. And we bet on everything.
My mom, ever sharp, has not forgotten her original question. “Now that you finished illegally gambling in my kitchen, I’d like an answer to my question. Are you overdoing it at the gym of yours?”
I shrug. “Kinda. But it’s about to get better, and the better we do, the more help we can hire, and soon we’ll have an empire. This first part is just really hard.”
Taking her chef’s knife and pointing it at Scout, Roly, and even Evie, she says, “I’m trusting you three to keep him in line. Don’t let him go overdoing it like he likes to do.”
I check with Roly, and he gives me the smallest shake of his head. We both know this. Sure, we’re new business owners, and long hours are to be expected. But for him and me, silence is deadly. Busy keeps our heads on straight. My mind drifts to the past, as it sometimes does, and I brush my hand along the metal of my prosthetic. I know that between me and Roly, I got the better end of the deal, and the guilt of that probably won’t ever go away. Just the cost of doing business. The cost of survival.
I shake myself out of my reverie, unwilling to let myself backslide into my own pool of regret.
Suck it up, buttercup.
That’s the moment my dad walks in. “Okay, y’all look way too serious. We are here for Steak Saturday, and I’ll be damned if we’re all gonna sit around this kitchen looking like a bunch of sad sacks with our thumbs up our asses. Deal?”
I hand Evie her five dollars. That man can’t go a single conversation without saying the phrase “thumb up our asses.” It was something that Evie pointed out about six months into her relationship with Scout, and now we notice that he says it all the time, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s just his weird dad sense of humor, or somehow he understands that his son actually really likes that particular appendage-hole combination, even if I’d never admit to it.
Not that I’m to admitting anything.
We get through our lunch with minimal bloodshed and lots of laughs, many of which were provided by Evie. Not sure why it also gives me a bit of the melancholy, since I do just fine with my hookups, but maybe I’m just happy that Scout survived breast cancer, and that she’s got love on the other side of it. One of us deserves it.
I drop off Evie and Scout, since they live in North Austin, then take Roly by his house which is only a few blocks away from the gym. It’s a bit past nine when I roll into the gym parking lot. Elijah is coming around the side of the building to throw away the trash, and he sends a small smile in my direction.
“Have you eaten?” I ask, looking for an excuse to talk to him.
“I snacked a little, but I could probably stand a bit more.”
“Cool. Why don’t you come over and help me take up some of these leftovers from Steak Saturday? My dad knows what he’s doing around the grill.”
“Man, I haven’t had a steak in a long time. Sure you don’t mind?”
I inspect him, liking that he’s started to fill out slightly. “No, I don’t mind at all. Could use the company.”
* * *
Elijah
We walk up the stairs that lead up to his apartment and find that the door is ajar, sending a buzz of alarm down my back. Nick cocks his head to the side and starts to go in, but I brace my forearm against his chest and try to think about his safety, rather than the near-instant boner that I have from just making contact with the man. “Nick, no. We have to call the police.”
Nick raises his eyebrow, the one that’s never been quite sure about me. “Maybe in the Army y’all were willing to let other people do your dirty work for you, but in the Navy, we clean up our own messes. Tell you what, though, why don’t you step back and let me do a sweep first. Wouldn’t want to put you in harm’s way.”
I raise myself up to my full height and glare back at him. “Not a chance. If you’re going in, I’m going in with you.”
