And they were the most important people in the world to me. So if something happened that I could have prevented...
A tear slid down my cheek. Jonah sat down next to me, his weight causing the bed to dip and for my whole body to lean against his. I didn’t try to put space between us. I needed his literal shoulder to cry on. And the strength it represented.
“It was just his appendix. Not the end of the world. I guess it’s usually an outpatient surgery, but he’d waited so long to deal with it that it had nearly burst. And then he apparently had some other gastrointestinal issues they wanted to run tests on. Anyway, they kept him here overnight. They’re talking about letting him out before lunch.”
“Will, are you kidding me? I thought he was dying. His appendix? What the actual hell?” I was seething with rage.
“Itwasserious, Eliza. Just because appendix removal is a common event doesn’t mean that it wasn’t serious in the middle of the night. And that was after Lola and I walked into a fucking disaster at the bar last night. Where were you?”
I took a deep breath and bit my cheek until I could form a sentence without saying things I would regret later. “I can’t take one night off? Where wereyou?”
“You know where I was. Picking up my girlfriend from the airport. You left Charlie in charge to go God knows where with Jonah.”
“Charlie is a co-owner with us, Will. He wants more responsibility. And you’re hamstringing him with your micromanaging.”
“That’s fine,Eliza. But when he’s doubled over in pain from appendicitis, you probably shouldn’t just abandon him to figure it out on his own.”
He was using my name in that patronizing way he had. It made me want to punch him in the kidneys. “Obviously, if I’d had any clue Charlie was having issues, I wouldn’t have gone anywhere. But he didn’t say anything. And I’m not a mind reader, Will. Ada was there too. Did she know he was in pain or uncomfortable?”
Even though I was defending myself, I thought back to his attitude before I left. He had seemed off. But I had projected my own issues with Lola and Will onto him and assumed it had something to do with that. In hindsight, maybe he just wasn’t feeling well.
Goddamn.
Something like this always happened when I tried to take a night off or any significant time away. Will seemed to be able to take weekends off or go on trips just fine. In our early years, Charlie wouldn’t show up for weeks. Months sometimes. He’d been going through some things back then, so we got it. Honestly, we didn’t even notice his absence.
But when I tried to leave? Three years ago, Ada and I tried to take a girls’ weekend, except a city water line broke and flooded our entire bar. Two years ago, I tried to go to a funeral with my mom in Georgia for her late aunt, and we ended up with a black mold issue in Craft’s basement storage. Last year, I got COVID, and while I was at home in quarantine, I ended up having to work the entire time via Zoom and FaceTime because nothing went like it should when I wasn’t in the building.
Why I thought I could just get away foronenight with Jonah was beyond me. And this time, it wasn’t the building that suffered. It was my little brother. Well, and we suffered a four-thousand-dollar loss.Shit. When and why had that happened?
Will let out a frustrated growl. “When are you going to be back?”
“Soon. Text me the hospital details. If he gets out before I get there, text me first, and I can meet you at his apartment. Is someone there to open the bar?”
“Lola will head over if we’re still dealing with Charlie.”
That was the real problem right there. Will’s attitude toward Charlie. And usually, it was justified, which was why I never gave him shit for it. But right now, we weren’t “dealing” with Charlie. We were taking care of him. Because he’d just been through a whole thing, and he needed us.
“All right, I’ll text you when we’re close. Bye, Will.”
“Bye, Eliza.”
I clicked the end button on my phone, acknowledging the small victory that we hadn’t hung up on each other at some point. That showed maturity, right?
Standing up quickly, I began to gather my things. “I’m sorry, Jonah, but we have to go. Like right now. Charlie apparently had appendicitis last night, which resulted in surgery to remove his appendix. The bar was a mess. Someone stole four thousand dollars from the till. Will is pissed I wasn’t there to deal with all this. And I don’t know—”
He grabbed my hands and pulled me over to him. “Slow down, Eliza. Take a breath.”
Jonah said my name the exactly opposite way Will used it. Instead of a curse or a hiss, it was a gentle caress. He used my name like a prayer. It undid the tension that had tied me in knots. And softened the sharpness to my tongue that couldn’t wait to lash out and cut something. Anything.
I closed my eyes and stretched my neck on either side. “He drives me crazy, Jonah. Batshit crazy.”
I could hear the smile in his voice when he spoke, although I wasn’t ready to open my eyes yet. Actually, I was trying to convince myself not to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over my head for the rest of the day.
“Is Charlie okay?”
His question caught me off guard because it wasn’t about Will. I opened my eyes and looked at him. “What?”
“You mentioned Charlie had to have surgery. Is he okay?”
