29. Sully
Sully
“ Y ou honestly think I don’t know your son by now?” Brian looks down at the list I gave him.
Maybe I’m being over-the-top, but I can’t risk ruining Sloane’s night, and a surprise from my unpredictable son could very easily do that.
“I know you do, but even I wouldn’t have expected him to try to eat the leaves of Cal’s fern to see if they tasted like lettuce.” I sigh. “Plus, lately, he’s taken to climbing the counters and jumping off.”
Brian chuckles. “That kid definitely takes after his uncle. The only other person I know who’s eaten a leaf just because is Cal.”
I run a hand over my face. “We’re screwed. My brother has been a bloody pain in the arse most of his life. Is that what I’m in for?” And we’re about to add another one to the mix.
He drops his hand to my shoulder with a heavy thud. “I couldn’t think of two people more equipped for the challenge.”
The smile he gives me could be described as encouraging, I suppose, but it’s foreign on my typically salty friend’s face. That can’t be a good thing. Brian doesn’t bullshit me, ever.
“Wow, I didn’t realize I was that utterly fucked.” I shake my head .
“Nah.” He backs away, propping himself up against the ugly Formica countertop. “I’m just happy to see you and Sloane working things out. Together, you can handle anything life throws at you.”
“You think?” I’ve been clinging to that hope. With Sloane, I can do anything. Raise a hellion, have another little one, be happy. All of it.
He nods and tosses the list I gave him onto the counter. “I hated watching you two fall apart. I wish I could have stopped it somehow. I may be an outsider looking in, but…” He shrugs.
“It was always the three of us,” I correct, my chest pinching. “You brought her into my life, and half of our memories include you.”
His smile builds slowly. “I’m forever the third wheel.”
The statement hits too close to one he made a couple of weeks ago.
“Never seemed like it to us.” I take a breath and gear myself up for what I need to say. I hate this kind of none of my business statement.
Historically, Sloane has taken on the heart-to-heart conversations with Brian when they were needed. But I’m here, and if he wants to talk, then I want him to know I’ll listen. Fuck. I rough a hand through my hair. I wish I was better at this shit.
“Do you ever think about giving a relationship a shot?”
For the almost twenty years I’ve known Brian, he’s never been involved in a situation that even remotely looked like a relationship. He’s not a monk. I know that. But bringing a woman home for the night isn’t the same as opening up his heart.
For a few beats, he gives me a blank look, like his mind has checked out. I consider backtracking. Telling him to forget that I asked. I really should leave this shit to Sloane.
Finally, he sighs and blinks back to the moment. “If you lost Sloane, would you try again?”
I don’t even need to think about that. “Nope.”
My whole adult life, there’s only ever been one woman for me. Losing her for good is my worst nightmare. But if that happened, I’d still love her with my whole heart.
He gives me a clipped nod. “When you lose the right one, no one else could ever be enough.”
His eyes are haunted, the ghost of his past rearing its ugly head. He was head-over-heels in love during his undergrad. It was before he and I met, so I never got the full story.
Maybe I should have tried harder. We were roommates through the entirety of law school. I had the time.
My father put me up in a flat close to Columbia, and for the first couple of weeks, I lived alone.
Brian and I became fast friends. Though in the beginning, we did little more than meet to study.
He was too busy commuting from his father’s house in Brooklyn for much else.
His younger sister was raising a baby on her own, and he helped her as much as he could.
But quickly, the drive to Columbia five days a week got to be too much, so I offered to let him move into my spare room.
He took me up on it, and although he still went home a couple of times a week to help, the time saved by not commuting allowed him to become the overachiever he is today.
“You ever look her up?” He’s mentioned her name before, but I’m fucking awful at remembering shit like that. Julie maybe. If Cal were listening in, he’d know.
Slowly, he shakes his head. “Nah. She’s probably home in Vermont, married with four kids, and happy as hell. She should be.” His words are rough at the end, his throat bobbing.
“You should try. You never know.” After the shit Sloane and I have been through, I fully believe that.
“Try what?” Lo bops into the kitchen, eyeing me, then Brian. “You thinking about asking someone out?” The excitement radiating from her is so painfully obvious that I can’t help but chuckle. “You are ,” she accuses. “I need the tea.”
“Dammit,” Brian mutters.
The cat, who’s been lounging on the floor beside him, lifts his head, as if he’s been summoned.
“What did the cat do now?” Sloane appears behind Lo.
“Nothing.” Brian glowers down at the massive feline. “Go back to sleep.”
The cat doesn’t seem bothered by Brian’s attitude. In fact, he purrs and rubs against his black trousers, leaving a trail of light gray hair on the dark material.
“Now look at what you did,” Brian chides.
Sloane breaks into giggles, the sound lighting me up from the inside out.
“I’m so excited for karaoke.” Lo ignores Brian, probably because she’s used to his attitude.
“Me too,” Sloane agrees.
“That’s it. We need to party hardy with a singy blingy.” Cal clambers up from the living room floor, where he’s been playing with the boys, and rushes into the kitchen.
“What?” Lo frowns.
“Murphy needs a full-out over-the-top karaoke party.”
My brother has become obsessed with throwing the world’s greatest birthday party for his son.
I can’t blame him, really. He’s missed out on six of them already. Though he will absolutely go overboard. Knowing Murphy, who’s reserved and pretty easy to please, he’d be thrilled just to spend the day with his dad, but there is no telling Cal that.
Brian shakes his head, roughly batting at the cat hair on the leg of his trousers. “No, he doesn’t. Kids don’t have karaoke parties.”
Cal frowns, his hands on his hips. “I need a good idea.”
“You’ll come up with one, baby.” Lo wraps an arm around my brother’s waist.
“You know who won’t be invited though,” Cal says, expression hard.
Lo sighs. “I know, your mother.”
I don’t think I’ve ever seen my brother as angry at our mother as he was when he read her text this morning.
She said she was heading to Arizona for some facial treatments.
She never made an effort to meet his son.
Never asked about T.J. either. I’ve made my peace with it but I know he’s still struggling.
She expect us to apologize but it’s not happening. I have a feeling we won’t be hearing from her for a while. Or at least until the next time she decides to randomly show up and expect us to cater to her.
“Are you all leaving or what?”Brian huffs.
I wince. Fuck. I hate that he’s annoyed. And I hate even more that, though he’d never admit it, it’s because he’s alone, while Cal and I are with our girls. He feels like the odd man out because he’s missing his other half.
But I don’t have a clue how to fix that for him. And right now, I’m still focused on ensuring that I won’t lose the love of my life. With any luck, in the near future, Sloane and I can find a way to help him.
“Come on, sweetheart,” I whisper into her ear.
Brian’s attitude aside, tonight is going to be perfect.