But what did that mean now?
Because now he was just as much my best friend as he was Will’s, which created a sinking feeling in my gut, like an anchor pulling me down to the depths of the ocean. Because for the past ten years, I’d believed that nothing was worse than being rejected by the guy you were in love with so he could save his friendship with your brother. But now I knew there was something worse. It was as if that same guy rejected me to save his friendship with me.
I wiggled away from Jonah’s arms—albeit reluctantly—in order to explain that I was going to the bathroom at a distance. Knocking him out with my morning breath was an actual concern.
He let me go, even if it was also sort of reluctantly. Swooping down to grab my toiletry bag, I realized it was my phone that kept buzzing. I grabbed that too and then held everything up for Jonah.
When I spun around to face him, he did that wide-eyed double take. But this time, he said, “I’m sorry, sometimes your makeup in the morning is surprising.”
I scowled at him and finally explained, “I’m just going to take care of it.” Then I lunged into the bathroom and slammed the door behind me.
Ah! He was not wrong. My makeup was... terrifying. My eyes looked like sparkly raccoons, and my mascara had somehow smudged all over my right cheek. I had forgotten to take my makeup off last night because of all the kissing. And now I looked like the bride of Frankenstein. Fantastic.
I quickly took care of business—cleaned my face, brushed my teeth, resecured my hair. Voila, fresh-faced and not terrifying. Good job, Eliza.
Then I finally reached for my annoying phone. As I put my hand on it to pick it up, I realized I hadn’t checked it in a long time. Which wasn’t like me. Owning a business with my two brothers had taught me to always have it within reach.
But last night, we’d been in a hurry to leave town, and then we’d had spotty to no service on the ride up here, and then again at the tasting party... and then I’d been drunk enough not to think about it... and then there was the kissing and... and now it was morning.
My notifications were intense. More intense than they should have been, even for taking a spontaneous trip out of town. I scrolled down and realized they’d started last night with Charlie in a panic.
There was too much to fully comprehend, so I called him instead. Then I hung up. The last few phone calls had been from Will. Oh, my gosh, what was going on?
I stepped out of the bathroom with my phone pressed to my ear, waiting on Will to answer.
“Fucking finally,” he growled into the phone by way of hello.
“What is going on? My God, Will. You’re blowing up my phone as if the bar burned down.”
Jonah sat up in bed, startled by my sudden panic. “Is everything okay?”
Will stilled on the other end of the phone. I didn’t have to be in the same room as him to interpret that silence. I knew it oh too well. Big Brother Will had just arrived for the conversation. “Where are you, Eliza?”
Fuck. “I’m out of town.”
“Yeah, Charlie mentioned that last night. But it was hard to get a clear explanation from him after his surgery.”
Stone-cold dread rocketed through me. “What? What surgery?”
“Did you happen to mention before last night that you were going out of town? Because for the life of me, I can’t remember you saying anything. And it wasn’t on the schedule. When I showed up at the hospital, Charlie said you were out of town, and Ada wasn’t any help with the details. Meanwhile, our little brother had to have major surgery, the bar was a complete and total disaster last night, and someone stole about four thousand dollars from the till. So do you mind explaining where you are and when the fuck you can get back here?”
“Will, oh my gosh, everything was under control when I left last night.”
He spit out a series of mumbled curses that told me I had found the lowest spot on his shit list. Great.
“Why did Charlie have surgery, Will? Please, put me out of my misery. Is he okay?”
“Charlie had surgery?” Jonah demanded from the bed. I glanced over at him with his mussed hair and askew T-shirt and winced. What was I doing here, waking up in the same bed as Jonah Mason?
“Is that Jonah?” Will demanded in my ear. “Where are you guys? What are you doing? When are you going to be back?”
I didn’t know how to answer any of his questions. We went to a vodka tasting and spent the night in a one-room igloo sounded... not great. But his silence demanded an answer. It wasn’t that he was patiently waiting for me to explain what was going on, rather, he needed the damn reason I wasn’t there to stop this shit show from happening.
“Will,please. Why is Charlie in the hospital?”
He let out a ragged sigh. His weariness reminded me of our childhood, of how Will had taken the brunt of my dad’s cruelty, of how he’d stood up for my mom and for Charlie and me, yet my dad had always made him feel like a loser for doing so. The thing about doing good deeds was that they didn’t always feel good. Sometimes they were the most crushing, exhausting, soul-squeezing acts you could do. And they came with zero rewards besides getting to keep your own heart intact. Will had been stripped of his self-esteem, dignity, and a relationship with our dad throughout his childhood. Charlie too. It was a testament to my mom and God that they’d turned out the way they had.
They were so much more than halfway decent. So much more than survivors. They were good men. Who would never treat people the way they had been treated.
