12. Glass House
GLASS HOUSE
It was all Robbie. Every waking minute, every hour of his day, every breath he took and blink of his eyes, Robbie consumed him.
He tried to remind himself that lust faded with time, that physical infatuations dissipated eventually.
But he had to see Robbie regularly and have what almost was shoved in his face again and again, like a wound opened fresh just before it had a chance to scab over.
Jake was so close to getting on his knees and begging Robbie, and he was pretty sure that if he actually did it, Robbie would concede. Neither man was holding onto much more than a thread of resolve.
But he couldn’t quite bring himself to grovel, and Robbie wouldn’t be caught dead in such a position, so they were left to long evenings at the beach, stabbing at faded cardboard and crinkled foil.
Robbie didn’t mention what had almost happened three times now at all after lunch at Isabel’s, instead keeping to more conventional topics of town goings on and lighthearted drama. His parents were never included in that drama, immune to being mentioned by virtue of their very name.
More than once, Jake had been tempted to ask further questions about them. He didn’t want to get involved in some nasty family business, per se; he just wanted to know what went on between them and Robbie for Robbie to be so icy about them all the time.
But until Robbie thought it appropriate to bring them up first, Jake didn’t dare do it for him.
They were almost getting along now, chatting like old friends and even laughing occasionally, and until they consummated whatever fucked up relationship they had, Jake didn’t want to throw a wrench in it and make it take even longer.
The day he had been waiting for came at the tail end of summer on a cool, cloudy evening.
Kids were back in school by now, and the mornings were staying cold from the nights, leaving a layer of fog on the beach that lingered throughout the day.
Robbie had begun layering his pristine button-up shirts with equally perfect sweaters.
The one he wore that evening, a robin’s egg blue sweater that he’d pushed the sleeves up on to make room for his gloves, looked so soft that Jake couldn’t help but brush past him in an attempt to feel it.
“Oh, sorry,” he muttered, pulling away quickly. “I thought I saw some trash you missed.” It was as soft as a lamb.
“You’re good,” Robbie said. He turned back to his work, then stopped again. “Hey, want to run an errand with me tonight after we’re done here?”
“What kind of errand?” Jake’s heart skipped a beat, and he forced himself to take a few steady breaths before his thoughts ran too far unchecked.
“Something for my parents. I need to bring them some documents. I left them at the bookstore, but I promised them I would bring them over before the weekend, and, well, the weekend’s tomorrow.”
“That’s what you get for putting shit off.” Jake smiled, but when Robbie didn’t return the smile, he let his fade quickly.
“Believe me,” Robbie said darkly, “if you were beholden to my parents for every little thing, you would start putting off what you could too.”
“I still don’t get why you don’t just leave,” Jake said, dropping a pair of broken glasses into his bag. “You could go anywhere in the world and be rid of them. And I know that it’s all about the inheritance, but inheritance-shmeritance. It can’t be worth the misery they put you through.”
He’d missed a shard from the glasses, and Robbie stooped to pick it up. When he straightened, his eyes met Jake’s. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
“Not as long as you’re using me as a human shield tonight.”
“Ugh, fine.” Robbie pulled the handles tight on his garbage bag and set it down, beckoning Jake to follow him over to the water. “If I were to leave now, any meaningful resistance to my parents’ ideas would be gone.”
“You really think the rest of the town couldn’t keep them in line?”
“Maybe.” Robbie lowered himself to the ground, seeming to not care if he got damp sand all over his trousers.
Jake followed suit, sitting carefully even though his clothes were undoubtedly more replaceable than what Robbie was wearing.
“If I leave now, I guarantee I’ll be out of the will.
They’ll end up selling the businesses to someone else, and I’ll have no say in what happens to the Eaton empire.
It could be a disaster for the town in the wrong hands. ”
Jake nodded silently, wrapping his arms around his knees. The sea licked at their shoes, re-dampening the sand before it retreated again. He wasn’t cut out for this place, but Robbie…
“You love it here, don’t you?” he asked.
Robbie didn’t respond immediately. His eyes were dull, staring far out toward the sea and the amber horizon beyond.
“I do,” he said finally. “But more importantly, I feel a responsibility to it. I have to fix what my family has destroyed when I get the chance. Who cares if I have to suffer a bit in the interim?”
“I’ll drop off those documents with you,” Jake said. “It means I finally get to meet the all-important Eatons, right?”
“Yes, but—” Robbie pulled his lower lip between his teeth, scraping it until it was red.
In a different, less serious moment, Jake might not have been able to contain himself.
“Jake, don’t mention anything about… us to them.
You have to swear to me that everything that’s happened already and whatever happens in the future, you’ll keep it a secret. ”
“Why?”
“I just want to keep the peace in my family. And I don’t want you to suffer because of them either.” Robbie’s voice held an unmistakable weariness in it. “They wouldn’t like the two of us… you know.”
“And they have a say in who you fuck now, too?”
“Of course not. But they would make your life miserable if they knew I liked you. You’ll understand when you meet them. Please.”
“I can keep it a secret,” Jake assured him, reaching out to run his hand up Robbie’s arm. Robbie caught it before it could slide over his chest, squeezing it tightly before letting go.
Jake dropped his hand. Now wasn’t the time, and he would be an unforgivable asshole to do it anyway. “Well,” he said, clearing his throat, “I guess we should finish up here and then head over to the bookstore. Are we taking my car?”
“To the store, if you want,” Robbie said.
He pulled himself back onto his feet and began combing along the beach as if they’d just said nothing important at all.
“My car’s parked there, and we’re taking that to my parents’.
No offense, but if they see an unfamiliar car in that condition, they might not… ”
“Like me?”
“Oh, I doubt they would like you even if you drove a Porsche. No, it’s just that first impressions matter to them. Showing up in my car will be easier on everyone.”
“Yeah, whatever. If it makes life easier for you, I don’t really care.”
Robbie glanced up at Jake, his expression a funny mix of skepticism and intrigue. It was almost as if he didn’t expect Jake to be so considerate.
“What?” Jake asked defensively. “I don’t wanna get on the wrong side of the most powerful family in Eventide, even if I am only going to be here for a few more months.”
“Get back over to the other side of the beach,” Robbie said, swinging his bag at Jake, “so we can get out of here at a reasonable time.”
Jake drove Robbie to the bookstore just as the sun dipped below the horizon.
It was still light enough to see the surrounding townscape as they drove, but it was getting rapidly darker, and by the time they reached Eaton’s Book Nook, Jake had to let his eyes adjust for a moment after he shut his car off and lost the warm glow of his headlights.
Robbie’s onyx car didn’t help, but he found his way over using the shine that the nearest streetlight cast on it. Robbie got into the driver’s seat in utter silence, the large manilla envelope he’d slipped into the store to retrieve still in one hand.
“I can hang onto that if you want,” Jake offered, breaking the blissful silence.
“Oh, uh, sure.” Robbie dropped it into his lap. “Just don’t open it. Confidential business and all that. You know.”
“I mean, I don’t, but it doesn’t matter.”
Jake placed his hands firmly on top of the closed folder, just so Robbie could see that he had no intention of snooping—not while Robbie was sitting right next to him, at least.
Instead, he turned his attention to the car interior, which he could finally examine without the barrier of a window holding him back.
As Robbie pushed a button to start it, a screen in the center of the dashboard lit up.
Jake waited for Robbie to punch an address into the map before realizing how stupid that thought was.
Of course Robbie already knew where he was going.
Jake shifted awkwardly. The seat beneath him was warm, and while it wasn’t unwelcome on a night as chilly as tonight, he was acutely aware of how little control he had in this situation.
“If you want to turn the seat heating off,” Robbie said, as though he were reading Jake’s mind, “just push that button there.” He pointed to a small button icon of a seat that was lit up orange.
“I’m good,” Jake said. He may have been out of place, but he was certainly going to make the most of it. “I’ll probably never have a chance to sit in this car again.”
Robbie nodded disinterestedly. “Right. So, how’s your aunt doing in getting her house ready to sell? Is she still going through with it? She seemed a little uncertain when I was talking to her last week.”
“We’re making progress, yeah,” Jake replied. “I’ve got the name of the realtor she wants to use, and I’m gonna call him in the next couple of weeks. We’re just trying to get things cleaned up a little more.”
“Let me know if you need any help.”
“That’s not necessary.”
“I’m happy to do whatever I can,” Robbie insisted. “Anything at all, day or night.”
“Isabel appreciates it.” The other half of that, the half where Jake gave his appreciation too, hung unspoken in the air.