Chapter 10
chapter ten
easton
I drove up to my parent’s house in Cayuga Heights and as soon as I got there, I remembered why I hated coming to these parties.
There was valet parking, of course. I sighed as I passed the long line of luxury cars parked along the street, because heaven forbid any of these people should walk the four-hundred yards from their cars to my parents’ door.
I noticed the valet was our old housekeeper’s grandson, Martin. I went in for a one-armed hug instead of handing him my keys. “Hey man, making some extra cash for college?”
The kid grinned at me and gave me a back slap as he passed me a ticket. “Yeah man, it’s coming up soon.”
I smiled at his sunny face; he’d always been such a happy kid. “Dude, you’re miles ahead of most high school kids. I didn’t pull in a steady paycheck until it was absolutely necessary,” I said jokingly.
Martin looked at me with a funny expression on his face, like he wasn’t sure what I was talking about.
“Dude, you never had to work. Believe me, if I didn’t have to do this, I’d be home playing video games.
Besides, you more than make up for it now.
Grandma’s always talking about how proud she is of you, how her “baby boy” is out there fighting the good fight.
” I’d always loved Alfreda; she’d been good to us.
She’d see my mom, sister, and me smarting from whatever scathing comments my father had directed at us, and feed us, or give us an excuse to smile.
“Thanks for saying that, man. Is Alfie in there? I’ll go say hi.” He nodded distractedly and pointed toward the house, already busy taking keys from another customer.
I braced myself as I walked into my parents’ place. It was my grandfather’s eighty-fifth birthday and he’d asked for something with close family. My mother interpreted his request as a themed party with a hundred guests and high-end catering.
I made my way through the crowd, dreading the inevitable clash with my father. I was so not up for the usual passive-aggressive jabs my father used as a way to communicate with his children. I think my mother sided with him just from sheer exhaustion.
I spotted my grandpa hiding in a corner with my sister and smiled as I walked over to them.
I was looking forward to seeing my grandpa, though.
These days, he had no filter and a hilarious low tolerance for what he called “blue-blood bullshit.” My sister, Emma, I actually enjoyed spending time with.
She worked for the family as the winery’s marketing director, but she did not take any crap from my dad anymore.
She was brilliant at marketing and had done amazing things for the business since she’d taken over. He needed her, and they both knew it.
I bent down to give my grandfather a hug as soon as I got to them. “Hey, old man. You’re looking fancy.” He was dressed in a burgundy cashmere sweater and slacks. His feet ensconced in the handmade house shoes I’d gotten him for Christmas.
He held on to me for a few seconds longer than usual and let me go with a sigh.
“How are you, son? How’s the business of putting bad guys away going?
” I smiled at the pride. When I told my family I’d be joining the district attorney’s office after I finished law school, my parents weren’t exactly thrilled.
My grandpa, on the other hand, thought it was fantastic, and he’d been supportive ever since.
“It’s all right. Some troubles with the sheriff’s department.” My sister, who had been talking to someone else, turned back to us as I said that.
“Hey bro, I was going to text you about that,” she said, leaning in to give me a kiss on the cheek.
“What’s going on? Looks like every story I see involves a black or Latinx student.
” Her expression looked a lot like I felt, tight and unimpressed.
“Not a good look. It’s frankly super disturbing, and not a trend I want to see picked up here. ”
I shook my head as I pulled back from kissing her.
“Believe me, I am not thrilled about any of it, and I’m still not sure how I’m going to deal with it.
” I thought about the meeting with Day in the morning and whether that would bear any results.
I doubted it. In some ways, I felt like I was infringing, that I shouldn’t interfere, but I also couldn’t just let these stops continue to happen without saying anything.
I remembered Patrice’s face when he’d told me about Ari and felt sick to my stomach.
“You don’t look so great, is this getting to you?” She gave me a concerned look and my grandfather looked up from whatever game he was playing on his iPad.
I lifted a shoulder as I made a move to grab a mimosa from a tray one of the servers was passing around.
“Of course, I’m worried about it. I’m also frustrated because Cindy wants to be extra cautious about not stepping on toes, and I want to go in guns blazing and tell the sheriff to tell his people to cut it out. ”
Emma’s brows furrowed and she moved in to squeeze my shoulder. “You know I love Cindy, and the joy it gives me to have an out and proud District Attorney who is the boss of my brilliant and out and proud big brother—”
I knew a “but” was coming.
“But, Cindy fought long and hard for that office, I mean she was in the trenches for years.” She frowned, and I could tell sharing this was not easy for her.
“I don’t know if she’s going to take up arms for this, too.
And someone has to, East. No matter how many good people we have in this town, and we have plenty, problematic things will continue to happen until they are dealt with head on.
That’s why you need to think about running for DA.
You’re ready and this town needs some shaking up. ”
I looked at her for a moment, really looked at her, and felt so much pride in my litter sister, always a truth teller. And because my brain could not help itself, the thought just appeared, she’d get along great with the other truth-teller in my life.
I ruthlessly stamped that shit out of my head and responded to the advice my sister was giving me, even when, at the same time, I felt totally unprepared to take it.
The more time that passed without any real action from anyone in town, the more it seemed like it might come down to me.
I also had the sinking feeling that my best would not come close to enough.
People like Patrice and Ari were looking to me to find the answers and all I had were bad questions.
Still, Emma was right. “I’m going to see Day tomorrow, and I won’t leave until he gives me a better answer than ‘I’ll deal with it.
’ Because clearly, he hasn’t. As far as running for DA, I’m considering it.
I know you think I’m ready, but I’m still wondering about the politics side of it.
” Cindy’s waffling in this situation had been disappointing in ways I hadn’t wanted to explore too closely, and I was not going to willingly go into a job where I had to choose “saving face” to acting on something.
Emma came in for a hug as she snagged the glass of champagne from my hand and took a sip.
“I’m not gonna get pushy on you, but I know you can handle this.
Now let’s talk about your hot professor moving into the building.
” Emma had a little house in town, but that did not keep her from being in my business.
But she and I were not new at this and I could hold her off for days.
“You look great, sis, that green looks amazing on you.” She gave me a look that said, “I know what you’re doing,” but still looked down at herself, feigning like she didn’t even realize what she was wearing.
Emma was petite like my mom, but after years of struggling with never living up to my father’s exacting standards, she’d finally arrived at a place where she loved herself exactly like she was.
She ran a hand over the front of her dress and smiled.
“Thanks bro, grandpa helped me pick it out.”
I cracked up at that image, as Emma and my grandfather looked very pleased with themselves. “You let her convince you to go shopping?”
This time it was grandpa who was at a loss for words, then shook his head and pointed at the iPad I’d gotten him for Father’s Day. “We did it all on the tablet. She got me this sweater, too.”
My chest warmed looking at them, preening for compliments. “You both look great,” I said with a smile, as the thought from earlier flooded my mind again.
Would I ever get a chance to introduce Patrice to Emma and Grandpa? Probably not. Not by how things went this morning.
“Boy trouble?” my grandpa asked, completely serious.
Emma and I both laughed at his question. But he didn’t look like he was letting it go. My grandfather, unlike my father, hadn’t batted an eye when I came out in high school. He’d also proved to be a surprisingly good relationship advisor on the rare occasion when it had come to that.
I played with some kind of salmon mousse and toast canapé I’d snagged from a tray, as I came up with an answer. “I wouldn’t say trouble, more like self-imposed angst. I’ve been trying too hard with someone who doesn’t seem to be very interested in me.”
Despite the pile of evidence I had to support my statement, the words sounded like lies.
I thought about this morning and the intensity with which Patrice had touched me.
His eyes and hands so focused on my body.
It hadn’t felt like disinterest. It felt like need.
I turned to Emma, who was examining my face as if figuring out a math problem. “What’s with the face?” I asked.
“I just haven’t seen you this wistful in a long time. Now I really do need to meet him.” Emma and I were only two years apart, so we had a lot of the same friends and knew a lot of each other’s dating history.