“Sorry, Ma.”
A little bit more of the confidence I had seen from Jack chipped away as he became a mama’s boy who was getting scolded. However, he didn’t let it get him down for that long. He refused to meet my eyes now but his body was fully facing toward me. His attention still evident. I turned away from Jack finally, pulling myself away from his pull and looked to see an annoyed look on Margaret’s face. I tried hard not to laugh and placed the back of my hand over my mouth, trying to hide my growing smile.
“You’re lucky we’re finished here young man.” Margaret rolled her eyes and pulled the papers that were in front of me toward her.
She looked to me now, refocusing her attention on anything other than her son.
“Arlene will get in contact with you later this week with details and a schedule, love.”
“Thank you so much for this opportunity.” I stood from my chair, knowing that I was being dismissed.
“It’s no issue. Max is family and family takes care of family around here.”
I stuck out my hand to give her a shake before leaving but instead she rounded the desk to wrap me in an embrace.
“Max?” Jack spoke up behind us as Margaret pulled away from me.
I would be lying if I said I forgot that Jack was in the room. His presence was that of a hurricane. It came in as a category five and then the eye hovered over you, not letting you out of its grasp.
“Yes, Max.” Margaret stated and then turned me around to face Jack once again.
He was standing a lot closer now. Close enough that I could smell cinnamon rolling off of him. I wondered if it was his cologne or his after shave. Wade always wore one that smelled like evergreen.
“This is Melanie, Max’s sister.”
“And where has he been hiding you?” Jack clicked his tongue, his eyes roaming over my body again. I shifted on my feet, uncomfortable with the attention now that I was standing. At this level, we were eye to eye and there was no running away or turning around, not with his mother’s hand on the small of my back.
I did what I knew best and stood tall, not letting his attention get the better of me. Jack’s look was predatorial but I was nobody’s prey and he was about to find that out.
“No one’s been hiding me.” The words came out of my mouth harsher than I intended but maybe that’s what Jack needed to back off.
He raised an eyebrow at me and then stuck his left hand out for me to shake.
“Let me formally introduce myself.” He took another step toward me.
If I couldn’t see Margaret out of the corner of my eye, I would have taken a step back. Instead, I stood my ground and didn’t let Jack get the upper hand.
“I’m Jack. One of Max’s business partners.”
It all clicked together in my head at once. I knew who Jack was. I had grownup hearing stories about Max’s friends from college but had never seen a photo of Jack. Even though we had almost four years between us, you wouldn’t have guessed it. We were inseparable growing up, Max and I, but as distance came between us, it became all phone calls. We hadn’t ever made it a rule but we tried to not talk about work as much as possible and when we saw each other. It was almost always at our house in the suburbs, rather than in the city where Max lived.
The one time I went to the publishing house my brother owned together with Jack and their two other friends, Jack wasn’t there or at least not that I remembered. I’d met Chase and Greg but couldn’t remember seeing the man standing in front of me. There was no way I would have forgotten him. He owned the room and made a statement with not just the way he looked but the way he talked.
“Jack Moran,” I said his name, dripping it with sarcasm, and placed a hand over my heart, pretending like it meant something to me. “You mean the guy who threw up tequila shots on Max’s twenty-first birthday?”
I cocked my head to the side and raised an eyebrow at him, challenging him.
“So, you’ve heard of me.” He placed a smug look back on his face. It wasn’t a question, but a statement from him. I needed to try harder to throw this man off.
“I have.” I stuck my hand out toward Jack. As if I shook his damn hand maybe I could get out of here. I had a one up on Jack right now and I was going to run with it. Even if Max had never mentioned me, it was clear he had no idea who I was.
Jack reached out with his left hand, taking mine in his. I wasn’t expecting him to take my left hand, let alone feel his thumb rub against my wrist. I tried to pull away but his grip on my hand tightened. I stared where our hands were locked together and felt the charge of energy surge through me and then looked up to Jack who was still staring at our hands. I pulled away again but this time he looked up to meet my gaze. There had been a spark there and it needed to end. I hadn’t felt that kind of zing since many years ago when I first met Wade and he gave me my first kiss. Fascination was waning on me as to why I was feeling this but I didn’t want to weigh on it because it’s not like it mattered.
I was happily married.
Jack was just someone that my brother worked with.
He meant nothing to me.
