24. Cowards #2
The doorbell rang, and Robbie jumped. He was a bundle of nerves, so before he set off toward the calling sound, Jake put his hand on his shoulder. “You’ll be all right,” he said. “I’ll help make sure you’re all right. That’s why I’m here.”
“I know,” Robbie replied. His voice was tight. There was no love in it tonight.
Jake stayed in the living room while Robbie went to the door.
Polite, stiff hellos bounced off the high ceiling.
The warmth from the central heating felt stuffy now, and Jake shrugged off his jacket, draping it over the back of a chair before snapping it up again to hold onto.
He didn’t want to look like a slob in front of Robbie’s parents. That wasn’t helping Robbie at all.
“Mother, Father, you remember Jake Wynn,” Robbie said, leading them into the room.
Jake smiled and waved. “Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Eaton. Great to see you again.”
The senior Robert glared at Jake, his eyes blank behind their glasses, but recognition flickered across Madeleine’s scrutinizing expression. “Yes,” she said coolly, offering Jake little more in greeting than a passing nod.
She turned around to survey the house, Jake’s gaze catching on the red soles of her black heels.
She was wearing a skirt today in the same matte black as the sweeping trousers she’d had on the first and only other time Jake met her, and her sheer brown tights were a little too perfect.
If Jake found out she opened a new pair to wear every single day, he wouldn’t have been the least bit surprised.
“Well, son, why are we here?” Robert asked, clearly exasperated on behalf of both himself and his wife. He adjusted his glasses and crossed his arms.
“I want to talk about my future here,” Robbie said, “now that you’re renovating the bookstore.”
“The cafe,” Madeleine corrected him. “We’re referring to it as the cafe now so we don’t slip up once it’s finished.”
Jake rolled his eyes. He couldn’t help it.
Then he glanced sheepishly over at Robbie, hoping he hadn’t noticed.
Robbie had his gaze trained directly ahead at his parents, unflinching and yet terrified all at once.
He looked like he was deciding whether to run or stand his ground and fight, and Jake hoped—prayed—that he would stick to his guns.
He took a step closer to Robbie in the thought that it might help bolster him, but Robbie sidestepped away. He hadn’t told his parents about them yet. Was he afraid they would figure it out on their own and get even more upset?
“As you may know by now,” Robbie continued, his voice warbling ever so slightly, “Jake will be leaving once his aunt’s house sells.”
“Your aunt is selling?” Madeleine asked.
“Yeah,” Jake said. “I mean, yes, she is.”
Madeleine and Robert exchanged glances that made Jake’s heart do somersaults.
“It’s in the Clam district, yes?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Excellent property there.”
Jake shrugged. “I guess. It’s not a very big house, though, and it’s old.” After spending weeks trying to extoll the virtues of the place, underselling it to the richest people in town seemed ridiculous, but that didn’t stop him.
Robbie didn’t stop him either. Robbie didn’t say anything, and judging by the expression on his face, which was now queasy and checked-out, he’d lost all the bite that had led him up to this crucial moment.
“All right, Robert, what is it?” The senior Robert asked, tapping the sole of his black oxford on the floor. “Let’s get on with this before it’s too late.”
But it was already too late. Robbie snapped his gaze up to meet his parents’ again.
Madeleine moved over to the velvet sofa, picked up a book Robbie had left on one of the cushions, and dropped it unceremoniously on the coffee table, an unmistakable little grunt of disgust spewing from her parted lips.
One book. One book was out of place in Robbie’s beautiful house. It was more than the elder Eatons allowed in their own house, obviously, but it was only one book.
“I just want to ensure I have a place at the cafe once it’s open for business.”
“You’ll be running it, dear,” Madeleine told him.
Another cold, aching shiver ran down Jake’s spine. The way she said that term of endearment, the way it burned as the last letter left her lips, made him want to run to the nearest bathroom, kneel on the heated floor, and retch.
Robbie gave a stiff nod. “I was only thinking…”
Come on, Robbie. Jake clenched his fists at his sides. Do it.
“I think now is the perfect time to take a sabbatical, maybe do a bit of traveling. As I was saying, Jake is leaving soon, and I thought I might go with h—”
“Why?” Robert interrupted, cocking his head as though he was genuinely confused. “Why would you want to do that, son?”
Jake clamped his jaw shut tight enough that it twitched. His teeth hurt. His palms hurt where his nails dug into them. His temples throbbed with a tension he hadn’t felt in months.
“For a change of pace,” Robbie said meekly. He’d already lost. Now he was just making a fool of himself in front of people he shouldn’t have even cared about making him look a fool. “It simply seems like perfect timing.”
“With him?” Madeleine arched a single, thin eyebrow. It was so severe, it could have cut through Robbie like a knife.
“We’re friends, Mother. This is what friends do.”
Jake glanced back at the chair a few feet behind him. Had he been any closer, he might have allowed himself to stumble back and drop into it, but from where he stood now, he forced himself to remain upright, hurt and rage blinding him in flashes.
“You can go,” Madeleine said with sudden disinterest, “but don’t be surprised if your role as manager is filled when you return. We cannot run a cafe without a manager. You must know that.”
“Of course.” Robbie nodded resolutely. He shoved his hands inside his pockets, then removed them when Robert Jr. shot a critical eye at the stance.
“I wouldn’t be gone for long—a few weeks, maybe a month at most.” He looked toward Jake, who refused to spare him a single glance anymore beyond the peripheral view he got when he tilted his head just enough.
“Then that’s hardly a sabbatical,” Robert said.
“Why not stay here and help us for once? You’re old enough that you really need to start thinking about settling down and starting a family of your own, and the knowledge you could glean from this renovation might prove invaluable for when you finally do take control of the family businesses. ”
Robbie dropped his gaze to the floor. Jake was certain that Robbie had heard this spiel before, and at this rate, it would not be the last time he heard it either.
Only now, when his eyes were cast down, did Jake finally look at Robbie again.
He was miserable. He was deflated and beaten and pathetic.
A pang of guilt rushed through Jake, and then he remembered why Robbie had called him here and how Robbie, not for the first time in his life, had failed to do the one thing he needed to.
“You’re right,” Robbie said quietly. “I’ll stay. Sorry for wasting your time.”
“It’s all right,” Madeleine said, her voice softening as if she were playing her role as mother picture perfectly. “And Jake—” she turned to Jake.
“Yeah?”
“Safe travels when you leave.”
Jake recoiled at those words. He already knew Madeleine thought he was a bad influence on her son, filling him with flighty ideas of a free, albeit destitute life. But it was never clearer than now, when she turned on her heel and gestured for her husband to follow her.
“We’ll get the door,” she called back to Robbie. “Have a good evening, Robert.”
Robbie sank into the nearest chair, dropping his head into his hands. The front door clicked closed, and Jake listened for the hum of an engine or crunching of tires on gravel before remembering their car was electric and Robbie’s drive was paved.
“What the fuck was that?” he asked, turning to Robbie’s crumpled frame.
Robbie didn’t look up. “I don’t know,” he mumbled through his hands. “Please, Jake. I know I fucked up.”
“That was your one shot.” Jake pulled his coat on so harshly, he felt a thread in the shoulder go. “You fucking coward.”
Robbie nodded, face still buried in his hands.
“You’re not leaving now, are you? I mean, you’d have to run away like a thief in the night, and Mier knows you’d never do that.”
Robbie finally looked up. His eyes were shining, and his hair fell limply over his brows, obscuring exactly how pitiful his expression was.
“I could never have left,” he murmured. “I’m sorry, Jake, but you were right about me: I am a coward, and I was reacting in haste.
I strung you along, but the truth is…” He took a shaking breath, hiding his face again while he regained his composure.
“The truth is, I was afraid of losing you.”
“Well, you’ve lost me now. I can’t be a part of this anymore, Robbie.”
“I still love you.”
“I know. I have to leave.”
A single, silent tear trickled down Robbie’s cheek. Jake had to stop himself from stepping forward and wiping it away, and Robbie did it himself a second later with a rough hand and a sniffle. “I’m sorry I wasn’t strong enough for you.”
“And I’m sorry I wasn’t good enough for your family.”
Robbie closed his eyes. Jake knew him well enough to understand that he wasn’t going to open them again until Jake was gone, so he did him one last service and hurried out of the room, leaving Robbie and that gorgeous house and everything it stood for behind.