“I was, thank you. It was perfect. Just what I didn’t know Iwanted.”
“Awesome. It’s the least I can do. You’ve always been thereforme.”
A response didn’t seem necessary. We both understood his reference. Keith had, on occasion, required some special assistance that only a sum of excess money could provide, and I’d given it freely. Keith had always been my favoritecharity.
“So there’s something I’ve been meaning to talk to you about,” I said, hesitating as I searched for the rightwords.
“I know Sam will be there tomorrow. It’llbefine.”
Samantha was Keith’s ex-girlfriend. They’d broken it off a while back, and as far as I knew, tomorrow would be the first time the two had seen each othersince.
“Damn, you’re good,”Isaid.
“Not really. I’ve already heard from Mom and Emma, and I promised them the same thing… I won’t cause a scene,” Keith said, shaking his head. “You guys have no faithinme.”
“I wasn’t going to ask for your cooperation. I actually wanted toapologize.”
“Well, that’s new. I’mlistening.”
“Just so you know, I was against inviting her. I like Sam, but you’re my brother, so my loyalty is to you. That being said, Casey and Sam are still friends, and she didn’t want to leaveherout.”
“I got it, Jake. Casey called me a while back. She explained everything. It’s not a problem. I promise there will be nofireworks.”
Acknowledging him with a nod, I figured I’d try my luck and dig a little deeper. “I know it’s none of my business, but what happened betweenyoutwo?”
“Apparently women get tired of waiting for their men to get their shit together.Whoknew?”
Keith gave off the impression he was fine with the whole thing, but I could hear the frustration in hisvoice.
“What shit are you talkingabout?”
“What shit?” he asked, high-pitched and disbelieving. “Look at me. I’m a screw up… alwayshavebeen.”
“No. That’s not the way Irememberit.”
“Oh, yeah? How do yourememberit?”
“You had it all, Keith. We all worshipped you. Hell, I wanted tobeyou.”
“I bet you’re happy that didn’tpanout.”
Keith smiled, but there was no humor behind thepleasantries.
“What’s going onwithyou?”
“According to ‘what’s-wrong-with-me.com,’ I’m an insecure person who abuses alcohol and drugs as a way to both fit in and self-soothe.”
“What do you have to be insecureabout?”
“That’s a secret,” he said, putting his finger to his lips. “And I know you’re accustomed to bailing me out of tight spots, but this is beyond yourreach.”
Crossing my arms in front of me and keeping my eyes locked on him, I let it be known that very little was outside my scope, and not only that, but secrets were my goddamn specialty. Keith faltered, clearly uncomfortable with my silentultimatum.
“Fine,” he grumbled. “If you really want to know, it all started withMitch.”
“Mitch?” My voice did one of those weird upturns, twisting the name into somethingcartoonish.
“Yeah, you know, Dad’sotherson?”
