20 The Inner Shark
The Inner Shark
When I woke, I felt something like hammer blows inside my head.
Jack was still in a deep sleep. No surprise there. My morning run was the last thing I was interested in doing that day. But I should be responsible, I thought, and it would probably help to sweat out the poison. So I stood, put on my tights and my sports bra, and walked out to the living room.
When I made it back an hour and a half later, sick to my stomach but feeling more awake, I found Mike up and talking on the phone.
He seemed angry, which was weird for him, and he was almost whispering, so I guess he didn’t want anyone to hear him.
It must not have been working, though, because Will, Sue, and Jack were standing at the bar staring at him.
Jack grabbed me around the waist as I came past and kissed me on the lips, almost leaving me breathless.
I’d need to learn to get used to that, because I knew a lot more kisses were coming, but every time still felt like the first. Sue snorted, and when I asked her, “What?” she replied, “I just realized I’m the only single person in this apartment. ”
Mike hung up and told her, “I’m single, too,” and she sneered at him before saying, “I’m sorry, I was speaking of the human beings that inhabit this apartment, not lower life-forms like yourself.”
Mike remarked that it was too bad I wasn’t still single—again, he called me sister-in-law —and Jack told him to get used to it and to keep his trap shut.
It was strange to me that no one asked about that phone call, which they’d all seemed so attentive to, so I decided to ask myself. “Is everything OK.”
“There’s no easy way to answer that question,” Mike said. “Maybe you should ask your boyfriend.”
“Don’t tell me…” Jack said.
“I’m afraid so,” Mike murmured, trying to grab a piece of toast off his brother’s plate. “You know how he is. He loves his traditions. And of course, he’s crazy about the two of us.”
Detecting the sarcasm in his voice, I said, “Sorry, guys, I know you two are brothers and you have some kind of ESP with each other, but the rest of us have no idea what you’re talking about. Can you explain?”
Jack pursed his lips and sighed. “Every year, my father celebrates his birthday at the lake house, and every year, he tries to get the whole family to join him. And since it’s just three days away, I thought we were in the clear this year. But apparently I was wrong.”
“You don’t want to go?” I asked.
“You know, you should switch your major to psychology,” Mike said, “because you have an incredible knack for telling what other people are feeling.”
I slapped him on the shoulder. But before they could tell me more, someone knocked at the door.
Jack muttered a curse under his breath as Mike answered, walking back inside a few seconds later with their mother, Mary.
Jack’s expression darkened further, while Mike, for some reason, found the whole thing entertaining.
“Hello, everyone,” she said.
She was always so well dressed that she made me feel like a monster.
Especially in my running clothes. But her genuine smile told me I had nothing to worry about.
She reached up and grabbed Jack’s cheeks, trying to turn his frown upside down, and when he stubbornly resisted, she asked me, “I guess the cat is out of the bag about the lake house?”
I nodded a little cautiously.
“Well,” she continued, “my husband wants everyone to come. You, too, Jenna. He says he’s looking forward to seeing you again.”
“That’s a no,” Jack said coarsely. “Does he really think he can treat her the way he did last time and have her come to his birthday? Screw that. He can leave her in peace.”
“Son, please. Watch your language. And I’m sorry to tell you, but I’m asking Jenna, not you.”
“And I’m speaking for both of us when I say no.”
“Ross,” Mike said, “don’t you think it’s time for you guys’ big coming-out?”
“Shut up, Mike,” Jack and I both replied in unison.
“Jackie, your brother told us you two have made it official,” Mary told him. “So your father wants to see you as a couple. It will hurt his feelings if Jenna can’t come. I’m sure he’ll behave better than last time now that he understands.”
“Would it kill you to try and keep your mouth shut once in a while?” Jack asked Mike.
My first question was if their whole family would be there.
I wasn’t sure I could face meeting a bunch of strangers.
But Mike reassured me that it would just be the four of us, their father, and Agnes.
“She hit him with her cane last time,” he said.
“It was amazing. Maybe we’ll see a rematch this year. ”
“Mike, don’t forget that time you brought a girl and ruined everything,” Jack said.
“That won’t happen this year,” Mary rushed to add.
“Jenna’s a wonderful girl and she’ll be a perfect addition to the party.
If you can make it, we’re heading out tomorrow morning.
The house is an hour away by car, or probably half an hour if one of my sons is driving. Now don’t forget a bathing suit.”
“It’s winter, though,” I said.
“It’s for the hot tub,” Mike informed me.
I couldn’t believe it. I’d never met anyone who had their own hot tub.
Jack started complaining that his mother had played a dirty trick on him, just showing up at their house like that.
He told me not to let her guilt me into going, and she responded by doubling down, reminding me that Agnes would be disappointed if she didn’t see me there.
I felt everyone’s eyes on me, almost as if I were shrinking on the spot.
And of course, my brain kept telling me, Hot tub, Jenna.
They just told you there’s a hot tub there.
“I’ll go,” I announced.
“Perfect,” Mary said, her smile radiant, as her younger son tried to stutter a response. When she asked if she should pick me up, Mike interjected, “Ross will take us both.”
“Perfect. Try and make it before lunchtime,” she told them, adjusting her jacket and saying she had to go. “I’ve got tons of work. You all have a lovely day now.”
And she left, as though the ensuing chaos were no concern of hers.
For a moment, Jack stared at me so intensely I think it frightened everyone else.
Even Mike was uncomfortable and announced he was going to take a shower.
Sue put the ice cream she’d been spooning up back in the freezer and made an excuse to leave, as did Will.
Thanks, guys. Just leave me hanging over here.
“Jack,” I said, “you’re looking at me like I just killed your puppy.”
“Why’d you say yes?”
“It seemed rude not to.”
“After the way that asshole treated you, he doesn’t deserve any better.”
“Jack, he’s your father. Don’t call him an asshole. Maybe he wants to apologize. He deserves a second chance.”
“Trust me, he doesn’t,” Jack said, picking his plate up and dropping it in the sink. I reached up and grabbed his hand. Instantly, I felt him soften as I pulled him toward me.
“It’ll be fun,” I said. “I want to see your lake house. We can just spend the whole time in your hot tub.”
“It’s overrated.”
“And your bedroom.”
He smiled. “Now you’re speaking my language.”
I giggled and pushed him away, and he came back in for a kiss.
“So then, the killer grabs her by the foot, and bam! She’s dead. And when the police show up, they’ve got no idea what’s going on, so he gets away with it! Amazing! Right, Jenna! Right?”
Mike spent the entire drive to the house recounting every detail of some stupid movie that apparently was filled with blood, guts, and murder, and the whole time he kept getting louder and louder, until toward the end, he was basically screaming at us.
Jackie had on his sunglasses and was looking straight at the road, but I could tell he was fantasizing about doing the same thing to Mike that the movie killer had done to all his victims. Since I could tell he had no intention of answering Mike and that made me feel bad, I said, “Yeah, incredible.”
“At least one person’s listening to me,” Mike replied. “What’s wrong, Jack? Your girlfriend didn’t give you any this morning?”
“What’s wrong is, I can feel my IQ dropping the longer this story goes on,” Jack said.
“He didn’t sleep well,” I told Mike, but Jack instantly corrected me, “I slept like a baby.”
Jack had been in a good mood, despite everything, but that changed the moment we got in the car.
Admittedly, Mike was being more annoying than usual, but the real problem had to be his parents.
Hoping to distract him after a long, uncomfortable silence, I asked Jack if he’d gotten his father a present.
When both brothers looked at me strangely, I continued, “That is what people do for someone’s birthday, isn’t it? ”
They still didn’t answer. It was bizarre how similar their expressions were. I didn’t know if they were trying to make me feel nervous, but I went on, “Hello, are you guys listening to me? You know, birthdays, presents, that is a thing? You guys like getting presents, don’t you?”
After still more incredulous silence, I said, “Fine,” crossing my arms. “I guess we’ll just be silent for the rest of the trip.”
Jack had spent much of the trip with his elbow resting on the edge of the window, his cheek propped on his arm, but when I finished talking, he sat up and cleared his throat with a grin and asked, “Hey, Mike, that movie you were talking about…Isn’t there a part two? It sounds familiar.”
In that way, the conversation started again, and for a moment they seemed to be getting along well, but then Mike said he thought Tarantino sucked and Jack threatened to pull over and kick him out of the car.
That made me realize I’d been mistaken to try to break the silence.
Jack put on some music, which was a better option than listening to them bicker.