Chapter 13 Going Home #3
Although her mother still wore a vacant expression, her mood seemed to have lifted a little. “You brought a man home?” she asked, a slight gleam in her eyes.
Jordan knew that look too well. She’d seen it a million times when Max and Danny were around. It was a look of hope, a silent expectation of more grandbabies. “Don’t even let your thoughts go there, Ma.”
“What star sign is he?”
She rolled her eyes. “I don’t know. What star sign is non-committal and indecisive about what they want.”
“Oh, honey, that’s not a star sign. That’s just men.” She smiled. “I’m gonna go talk to him.”
“No, mom. Just—” Her words were cut short when an arm caught her around her neck and forced her down into a chokehold.
Only one idiot would do that, the idiot she’d been waiting impatiently to see.
“Max,” she yelled, jabbing her fists into his ribs.
And then his knuckles rubbed hard against her head.
She’d wanted to see him, but this she could have done without. Time for reinforcement. “Mom!”
“Max, let go of your sister.”
He let her out of the chokehold but kept his arm around her shoulder. “Hey, Jo-jo,” he said. He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before shifting his attention. “Momma, how come you always take her side?”
“Because I’m her favorite,” Jordan responded stiffly. She stuck out her tongue at him and shifted her glasses back into place.
“Now, Jordan Alberta…”
Jordan cringed at the name. It was bad enough that her parents had given them such stupid names, but it was exponentially worse when they actually used it.
“Enough of that,” her mother reprimanded firmly. “I have five children and I love all of you equally. I don’t have a favorite.”
“Except Kevin,” Jordan and Max chanted in unison. It was their standard response to that statement.
“Well…yes,” she admitted, sheepishly toying with her fingers. “Except Kevin.”
“Who’s the stiff in the suit?” Max asked, pointing his thumb towards the living room. “Looks like it’s gonna come to blows with him and Makayla. The argument seemed pretty intense when I saw them.”
She couldn’t hide her shock. They’d been there for less than an hour and Tyler was already doing something weird. “What? She’s only three years old, Max. Why didn’t you do something?”
“ ’Cause my money’s on her.”
“I’ll go check on them.” The offer from her mother came much too quickly and Jordan knew she was using it as an excuse to speak to Tyler.
She turned to her brother once they were alone and noticed something was different, something was missing. Oh, that’s right. His other half wasn’t there. “So where’s Danny?”
He nipped his lower lip, a tell-tale sign that he was about to lie. “I didn’t want her meeting everyone at a time like this. Who’s the guy in the suit?”
She knew him well enough to know that reason didn’t make sense. “You’re lying! Why didn’t you bring her?”
“It’s complicated, Jo-jo. Who’s the guy in the suit? Is he the one you were obsessing over?”
Her eyes narrowed with scrutiny. “You tell me then I’ll tell you.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“Bullshit! You and Danny are attached at the hip. So where is she?”
Max walked across the kitchen and took out two cups and a jar of instant coffee. She didn’t have to ask for that either. “You first,” he said.
She let out a slight huff of exasperation. “Fine. Tyler’s my boss.”
“And?”
How could she say this in the least uncomfortable way? “And…we’ve…made out.”
“Didn’t need to know that part.”
She ignored the disgusted look on his face and moved swiftly along.
“He’s weird and I think slightly crazy. He thinks I’m…
tall and that’s about the only concrete thing I can get out of him.
He just got out of a long term relationship so I’m not sure what’s going on, but whatever it is, it’s nothing serious. Now you.”
Max exhaled slowly. “So you know what happened with Danny, right? And I may have told her a small white lie.” He paused, looking nervous and unsure. “I stretched the truth a bit and now…and now we’re kinda…dating.”
“What?!” Her eyes widened as his words sank in. Her brother had been in love with Danny for six years, but never, ever had she expected him to lie to get what he wanted. “Max, this is…not good. Is that why you don’t let mom talk to her? This is seriously a bad idea.”
“I know that. I didn’t even want to do it, but then Charlie—”
“Charlie?” she shouted. Now the stupidity of the idea made sense. “You took dating advice from Charlie? The same guy who jerks off to CGI characters?”
He handed her a cup of coffee and they sat down at the wooden table. “It was stupid, Jo-jo, and now I’m stuck in this lie and I can’t get out of it. It seemed like a good idea at the time, but I didn’t think…it would get so out of hand.”
“Oh, my God.” There it was, showing plainly in his brown eyes. Guilt. He’d taken it that far. “Oh, my God. You slept with her. What’re you? Insane? What were you thinking, Max?”
“I wasn’t thinking.” He shrugged almost helplessly. “It’s just…how…how could I say no to the idea? It’s what I’ve always wanted. I’ll tell her the truth, Jo-jo. I will, just not now.”
Although she understood his reasons for doing it, she knew this lie was going to end in disaster. Lies always ended in disaster. “I hope you know what you’re doing,” she said with a heavy sigh. “Now enough about me and enough about you. How’s Kevin?”
“He’s…Kevin.”
“You need to talk to him.”
Turning his cup on the table, he tossed his arm over the backrest of the wooden chair. “I was just in there. All he did was play video games. He doesn’t want to talk, Jo-jo.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You’re telling me that you’ve been here since yesterday and all you did was play video games? Geez, Max! Get back in there and do…I don’t know…just do something.”
“What do you want me to do? You know how he gets. He wants to be alone.”
“Well, Bink shouldn’t be alone right now. He’ll do something stupid.”
“Then you go talk to him,” he clipped irritably.
“Me?” He couldn’t be serious. He was very aware of her severe case of foot-in-mouth syndrome.
How could he even suggest such a thing? “Max, we both know that I am the worst person to be around in a time of crisis. You remember what I said after Penny the Parrot died. Shane cried for two days. I didn’t even send you a message on your birthday because of what happened to Danny.
I always end up saying the wrong thing. I think it’s better if you go. ”
“No, you.”
“No! You!”
“Let’s settle this the democratic way,” he said, leaning forward. “Rock, paper, scissors.”
She rolled her eyes. He was an asshole. Possibly a bigger asshole than Mervin. Then again, this was precisely the reason why she’d wanted to see him. She gave in and leaned forward as well. “One…two…three.”
She went for paper but Max threw out a fist with his index finger pointed out.
“What’s that?” she asked, confusion wrinkling her face.
“It’s a stick of dynamite and…”
This was why Mom had banned them from playing games together. “It doesn’t work like that.”
“…it can blow up rock, paper or scissors…”
“You’re being ridiculous!”
“…so I guess that means I win…”
“Just when I thought you couldn’t be a bigger moron.”
“…and you’re going in there.”
Dread built inside her and she hoped pleading would help. “Max, please.”
“Jordan, it’s up to you now. Who knows what will happen if I go back in there? We could get all emotional and then our dicks will fall off and then we’ll start listening to boy bands and you don’t want that for your brothers, right?”
She groaned, recognizing the words from a text she’d sent him in April.
It was official. He was a bigger asshole than Mervin and she found herself asking God the same question she had asked a million times.
Why couldn’t she have had four sisters? “I can’t believe you would use my own words against me. ”
“You should always watch what you say to me. It may come back to bite you when you least expect it.”
“I hate you!” She finished her coffee and stood up. “Fine. I’ll go talk to Bink but you’re on Tyler duty. Just make sure he doesn’t get into any trouble.”
She left the kitchen and grumbled again. The last person she wanted to see was Kevin. Max was just a momentary distraction. Now she had to suck it in and face the pain.
* * * * *
So far it hadn’t been as bad as he’d expected.
It was a beautiful home with wooden beams across the high ceilings and smooth, rock finishes.
Take a cozy log cabin, quadruple it in size, add just the right amount of modern décor and that was the Shepards’ family home.
The sheer size of it gave Tyler a sense of comfort, because it was easy enough to stay hidden.
Pictures of them hunting were lined up on the mantle above the fireplace, so he knew they had guns and staying tucked away in the living room was his safest option.
Her dad was a great man, open and welcoming, just plain easy to talk to.
In certain respects, Mark reminded him a lot of his own father.
Firm in his approach, but still soft and humble in matters of the heart.
It was only when they’d discussed sleeping arrangements that he’d seen a stiffer side of Mark.
It wasn’t a threat or even a warning. It was a message that Tyler got loud and clear. Jordan’s room was only Jordan’s room.
Her mother was a sweetheart, through and through.
She’d come into the living room to talk to him a few minutes ago.
Tyler had noticed the similarities immediately.
Same blue-gray eyes like Jordan and although graying at the edges, she had the same messy, dark hair.
She possessed a vacuum of warmth that sucked everyone around her into it.
Tyler was a complete stranger and even though he could see she was grieving, she made him feel at home.