“To be with you?”
I shrugged. I had no idea
“Simone, you need to talk to him. I know I’m a screw up when it comes to relationships…”
“Don’t you just screw them?”
He ignored me. “But even I know you need to speak to him.”
I shook my head. I’d gone through all of this and it was futile. Everyone brought baggage to relationships at my age, but I had enough to be turned down by an airline it was that heavy. “He’s one of my employees. It was a stupid idea in the first place.” Although the sex had been better than any I’d had in my life before, not that I had a lot to compare it with. “What’s happening with you?”
His expression morphed into that of a small boy’s, unsure and lost. If there was a party, Seph would be there. He was the poster boy for his family’s law firm, tall and gorgeous with a reputation for being a phenomenal solicitor. No gathering was complete without Seph’s jokes and conversation and the string of women he entertained but I’d never seen him properly happy unless he was surrounded by his siblings.
“I need to move.”
I’d been hearing the same thing from him for a couple of months. Seph hated living alone and stayed with one of his siblings for a few months at a time before moving in with another. He’d been at Maxwell and Victoria’s for more than a year, but with their wedding imminent, I understood his need – and theirs – for him to move on.
“Where to? What about the house you bought off Ava?”
“It’s got a tenant in it. And I never wanted to live there.”
“How about looking for a flat-share?”
He shook his head. “I might ask Payton about her place. She’s always at Owen’s and I reckon she’ll be moving in with him soon. Her lease has another four months on it, so that’ll give me time for a plan.”
“You could try living on your own.”
“Fuck that. Tried it, hated it. Worst comes to the worst; I’ll shift in with Callum even though he’s away for three months soon.”
“He’s still filming that show?” Callum Callaghan was a veterinarian and a social media celeb, regularly posting videos on various channels. He worked at London Zoo as a large animal specialist and had been persuaded to go out to somewhere in Africa and be filmed as part of a documentary. He hadn’t seemed overwhelmed with the idea when I’d last seen him, but it was good for the zoo and for his career.
“Still. Filming was postponed – something to do with the other vet who’s going out there – but it’s still happening.” Seph drained the cup of its coffee. “Are you still going to have Jack as your chef at the Tipsy Toad?”
I nodded. “He’ll be good. He’s emailed me a few times about menu choices and his ideas are great. I can’t carry on trying to do everything myself, I know that, and even though he’s pretty much ghosted me, he’s a reliable employee.”
“You need to speak to him. Or at least find out whatever it is about his brother. Have you googled him?”
“Kind of.” I was one of the last remaining people who weren’t a master of internet stalking.
“What’s his brother’s name?”
“Robert.” That much I did know. “Surname Rhodes. If they have the same surname.”
“Doesn’t matter if they don’t. That’s the beauty of census information.” He started tapping away on his phone. “And thanks to a sister who’s obsessed with family history, I’ve got access to shit tons of records.”
He was lost to the online world for a few minutes, giving me chance to order more coffee, which was also Seph’s life force.
“Robert Clayton Rhodes. He’s eight years older than Jack. Army. Officer in the army. Looks like he saw action. Honourably discharged four years ago. Can’t find any records after that, including housing.” Seph locked his phone. “I can dig about later. Claire may have taught me some skills.”
“How far back has she traced your tree?”
“Sixteen-hundreds on Dad’s side. Seventeen something on her mum’s and about the same on our mum’s.”
I’d met Marie Callaghan a few times. She was the biological mother of three of the Callaghan siblings and the step-mother to the eldest four. She was also one of the biggest badasses I’d ever met, mincing no words and taking no prisoners.
“I have no idea about mine. Not sure I want to know.” But I did want to know more about Jack.
“You think Jack’s brother’s homeless?”
