And that’s the only comfort I can offer since he refuses to let me visit.
“I love you, bro.”
“Love you, sis.” A beat. “Tell Jake I love him, too.”
Those words send a little shock through me. It takes me a second to realize it’s because I’ve never heard my brother say that about—or to—another soul.
“I will.”
“All right. Have a good night. Make lots of money.”
I force a smile into my voice and say, “Sleep well,” since I can’t think of another thing to wish a man who’s got another five years in his sentence.
The phone rings again a couple minutes after I hang up and, for some silly reason, I think it’ll be him again. “Parlor,” I say, expecting the collect call message.
Instead, I hear. “Kitty. We need to talk.”
Oh, God. It’s the ex. The last person I want to talk to. Honestly now or ever.
“We’re open, Clark, this isn’t a good time and you know it.”
“Listen, you just need to listen. It’s important.”
“Actually, Clark, one of the benefits of no longer being with you is that I don’t have to listen to you anymore. Goodbye.”
I jam my finger to the button to end the call and stand there, out of breath, for a few minutes.
When I look up, Jake’s at the end of the bar, watching me. “You okay?”
I nod. “Great.”
“That your ex?”
“It’s…it’s fine, Jake.” When he doesn’t move for a few moments, I walk over to him, voice lowered, and say, “I’mfine.”
“You don’t seem it.”
“He’s an asshole.”
“I got that.”
“Frank called.”
“Yeah?”
“He says he, um,” I swallow back a weird wave of emotion. “Says he loves you.”
“Okay.” Jake goes still, his eyes doing a quick search of the room behind me before he looks at my face again. “I guess, next time, uh, you could tell him I love him back. If you don’t mind.”
“Sure.”
He nods. “Thanks.”
After he’s swung back into the kitchen, I look up and smile at a handful of diners being seated, say hi to a couple regulars, and serve a few cocktails for Riley’s big group of raucous women who come in once a month to, I believe, bitch about their home lives.
All I can think about, the whole time, is how my brother apparently loves Jake enough to tell him so, which is a big deal for men like that.
He loves Jake and Jake loves him and here I am, using the man as a sperm donor.
