Chapter 13
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
GATSBY
I breathe deeply as I march toward my apartment building.
The two blocks feel like two thousand miles. My feet are made of lead and not skin and bones. Running the New York marathon last year was a lot easier than this walk. Once I get to my place, I decide to visit Aslan instead of heading to my apartment.
He might have some advice.
I helped him fix his relationship three months ago. He probably has some advice to give me, doesn’t he? The elevator doesn’t give me access to his floor. The asshole blocked it. I step out on my floor and take the stairs. This is an emergency, isn’t it?
When I open the door, I find my brother in the kitchen, in front of the stove.
“This is refreshing. Are you alone and cooking?”
He turns around, holding a spatula and wearing an apron that reads, Don’t feed the Lion.
I laugh. “That’s pretty cool. Did Keaton give it to you?”
“No. It was Savannah. She likes to joke that I’m like her father. You know, since Keaton is like her mother and all that.”
Keaton’s mother has dementia. When she was first diagnosed, Keaton became her sister’s guardian. “You three have a weird little family, but I like it.”
Since he got together with Keaton, he became the happiest man in the world. I’m glad for him.
“Should I assume that Keat is with her sister or visiting her mother?”
He goes back to cooking. “Nope. She’s taking a shower. Why are you here?”
“I think I fucked up.”
“You always do, but let’s hear what you did today.”
While he cooks, I give him the SparkNotes of my day. I’m not proud of my behavior. Fuck, I want to bang my head against the wall. I’m so stupid.
“You’re lucky she didn’t call the police.” I hear Keaton’s voice before I notice she’s leaning on the loft’s railing, watching over us. I’m pretty sure she listened to the entire conversation.
“Hello, Keat.”
“Don’t you hello me, Gatsby Spearman. You messed up badly.”
I sigh, rubbing the back of my neck. “I admit, it was stupid. At the moment I thought it was brilliant. We would be on the road for at least an hour…” I can’t even finish that sentence.
She shakes her head, tsking. “First of all, you have to apologize for what you did.”
“That’s not going to fix everything else. Will it?”
As she makes her way down the stairs, she asks, “No, but it’s a good start. Is this the girl you dated in college?”
“Yep, you know about her?” I glare at my brother. “Seriously, Aslan?”
He shrugs his broad shoulders. “There’re no secrets between us.”
I grunt. Since I plan on sticking around, I help them set up the table.
When we sit down, Keaton asks, “I don’t understand why you ghosted her, but I’ll let that go for now. Why didn’t you look for her after things settled down at home?”
“It’s complex. As you know, when Dad died, we were a mess.
Raising five children and taking care of Mom wasn’t easy.
Once things were less stressful, I went back to school.
Findzy was taking off, same as Rencontrer.
Mom seemed better, but what if she wasn’t?
Aslan needed us. It wasn’t until five years ago when her name circulated the tech circuit that…
I don’t know. I thought it was time to look for her.
The first step was to open an office in New York because that’s where her company was operating. ”
“And you couldn’t tell me that because…” Aslan rumbles.
“You’d think I was an idiot,” I mumble.
He nods in agreement. “Now that her company is here, do you plan on moving to San Francisco full-time?”
My brother always focuses on what’s convenient. “Are you paying attention? She hates me.” I try not to sound annoyed at him, but it’s impossible.
“Fix it,” Keaton says.
It sounds simple, except it’s more complicated than it sounds. “How can I fix something I didn’t know I broke.”
“What do we do when Mom is upset, but we don’t know what we did?” Aslan’s response doesn’t make any sense.
Maybe I came to take advice from the wrong person.
I should go and read the blog of my Rencontrer magazine.
They know how to deal with romantic shit—or at least, I pay them to know.
I often read their articles and bring them up to help my sisters or brothers with their relationships.
Not that any of us are good at them. I glance at Aslan and Keaton.
Well, at least one of us is in a serious relationship.
Maybe there’s some hope for everyone else.
“What does Mom have to do with this?”
“When we fuck up, we grovel,” Aslan answers. “Grovel! And when she’s ready to talk, then you fix what you broke.”
His suggestion might work, except… “After what I did today, I think she’s going to serve me with a restraining order.”
He smirks. “Make sure you remain three hundred feet away from her while groveling.”
Keaton and Aslan laugh. Assholes.
I stare at him with hooded eyes. I swear, some days, I want to punch him in the face. “You’re an idiot.”
“Send her texts, bring her favorite drink to work…” Aslan shrugs. “The sky is the limit.”
I look at Keaton. “Does that work?”
She smiles and squeezes Aslan’s hand. He kisses her knuckles. “Romantic dinners in a private winery. Flowers, holding a door, just listening to her day. There are many things you can do. Be creative.”
“We’re in a war,” I remind them.
“You’re fighting different battles. What are you trying to win?” Keaton asks.
“I don’t know.” Her heart, her trust, her…
Her gaze says something like, you poor clueless man. “When you can answer that question, then you’ll know the weapons you’ll use and how to win. In the meantime, try apologizing for today.”
“What’s going to happen with Haux Drinks?” Aslan’s concern is valid, but he should know better. I wouldn’t let anything happen to the youngest of the family.
“They’ll be fine.”
“Cory and Hux shouldn’t be a casualty of this.” The warning in his voice tightens my chest.
“She’ll probably withdraw the contract. I made sure to warn her. It’s not like they need it to succeed.”
“Wait, you went to see her and threatened her?” Keaton glares at me. “Gatsby, you began by shooting instead of opening the communication between the two of you. You really have to grovel and then grovel some more.”
“What was I supposed to do?”
She huffs, exasperated. “You Spearman men are clueless sometimes.”
“Thank you, you’re making her rethink our engagement,” Aslan growls.
“Hey, I said you’re clueless, but you’re still mine,” Keaton says with a sweet voice.
“I love you.” Aslan then gives me a look that says, get out of here now.
I’ve never envied anyone, but for a moment, I wish that I could have what Aslan has with Keaton. I didn’t think it mattered, but now that I see one of us happy, I want that for me too.
Maia and I were happy once. We loved each other so much that we didn’t know where one began and the other ended.
Will that ever be possible again?