Chapter 19
Jasmine considered chucking her phone across the room.
Maybe that would silence the incessant ringing.
They’d arrived back in Spokane after one o’clock, and she’d spent some time sitting on the apartment building’s stone steps kissing Nathan before crawling into bed.
That couldn’t have been more than ten minutes ago.
The ringing stopped, and she relaxed against her pillow. Good. They’d gone away. Whatever it was could wait until morning.
It rang again.
What, had someone died? Jasmine’s eyes sprang wide open and she focused on the caller ID. Dad? Wasn’t he still in Montana? Maybe Davy’s wound had gone septic. Maybe Nonna had had a heart attack. It had to be something that serious.
She tapped the icon and fumbled with the phone. “Hello? ”
“Sweetheart, I hate to call at this time of night. Your brother…” Dad let out a frustrated growl. “Basil’s at the police station. He was driving under the influence.”
All vestiges of sleep blasted into the distance. “Was he in an accident?” Please, Lord, don’t let Basil have killed anyone.
“No, thank God. But he tried to run a checkpoint by the bridge then refused to cooperate for the breathalyzer.”
“Not good.” Jasmine scrubbed her hand through her hair.
Yeah, her family had a glass of wine with dinner, but moderation had always been advised and demonstrated.
How could this have happened? It wasn’t because her parents hadn’t instilled a healthy respect for its effects in all of them.
No one abused alcohol. Except, apparently, Basil.
“Your mother and I are packing up and heading home in a few minutes. I don’t know why Basil used his one call on us when he knew we were out of state.”
Jasmine let out a sardonic chuckle. “I think it’s well-proven he isn’t thinking straight.”
“There’s that. But, well, we’re a solid five hours from Spokane, and I didn’t know whom to call besides you.”
“Me?” Words failed her. Surely Dad realized she and Basil hadn’t agreed on anything since childhood.
“You’re the steady one, Jasmine. The dependable one. I’m not sure how Alex or Evan would handle Basil, and Marco and Daria are still in Helena, too.”
“Is this where I tell you I’m likely to handle Basil by punching his face? I’m not sure I can look him in the eye without giving him a piece of my mind.”
Dad snorted. “Maybe you shouldn’t do that in the police station. Not sure I can handle having two of my kids arrested in one night. ”
Basil. Driving drunk. Arrested .
Jasmine shook her head, willing the words to seep into her mind. This wasn’t a nightmare. It was real. “What do you want me to do?”
“Thanks, sweetheart. I don’t know that they’ll release him until he’s sobered up, but I feel like he needs family. He needs to know we’ll support him.”
“ Support him?” She choked the words out.
“I don’t mean enable him or cover it up. Your mother and I are praying this will be a wakeup call for him. God has allowed this for a reason, and I choose to believe it’s grace. He’s not done with Basil.”
Obviously God was bigger than Jasmine because, she, personally, was so done.
She’d known her brother’s life choices had degenerated over the past couple of years, but going out with Dixie Wayling and then being arrested for a DUI brought him to a new low.
What on earth had he been thinking? In either case?
With a start, she realized Dad was still talking.
“—needs to know he’s loved unconditionally, the way God loves us.”
“But he’s an idiot.”
“God doesn’t love saints any more than He loves serial killers, Jasmine.
It’s not because He made us and is required to love us, so He divvies up a pre-wrapped piece of love to every human.
No, He floods us all with vastly more love than we can absorb, more than we deserve no matter what we’ve done.
God already loves Basil with everything in Him. He couldn’t possibly love him more.”
Well, when Dad put it that way. But she wasn’t God. She wasn’t that big, that magnanimous. Basil bugged her, taunted her, belittled her .
I created him and died for him, and he rejected Me.
Jasmine closed her eyes. It wasn’t all about her.
She knew that. But still, Basil got under her skin like no one else could.
He always had. Big brothers were supposed to be there for their little sisters.
Protect them on the playground, not tease them along with the other kids then run away laughing.
Forgive him.
He’d be a whole lot easier to forgive if he were sorry. If he came to her asking for it. Even now, she could see the raised eyebrows and sardonic sneer. He’d see her as weak. Allowing him a glimpse of her vulnerability had only ever resulted in giving him more power over her.
“Jasmine?”
She sighed. “Which station is he at?”
Heavy footfalls, followed by angry raised voices, woke Nathan from the light sleep he’d fallen into, a rude awakening from the dreams of kissing Jasmine in the moonlight. He lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to make out individual words.
Who was arguing? Should he go upstairs? But it wasn’t any of his business.
Basil’s car hadn’t been in the driveway when Nathan walked home from Jasmine’s.
Maybe he was back now, drunk and argumentative.
Alcohol could do that to a guy. Nathan’s temper when drunk had driven Kendra away.
The breakup had been coming anyway but, no matter how Nathan tried to sugarcoat it in his mind, he’d driven the final wedge.
Had he loved Kendra? Not like he loved Jasmine. He’d been far from God then, avoiding everything he knew to be true and pure. He hadn’t treated Kendra right. Nor Pauline and her son, for all that he’d changed a few diapers. Nor Rae, for that matter.
The only way he was any different from Basil was that Nathan was on the other side of it. He’d had his wakeup call in California when the chaplain had pointed him back to Jesus. Nathan had left his old ways and joyfully accepted his restoration to faith.
Basil was still stuck.
Nathan swung his legs over the side of the bed. Maybe he was interfering. Maybe he should mind his own business. But, maybe he could make a difference. It was worth a try.
He padded up the interior stairs and knocked on the door leading into the kitchen at the top then poked his head around.
Peter and Alex stared at each other across the kitchen table, cups of black coffee in front of each. Peter raised his head at the sound of Nathan’s entrance. “Hey. Sorry if we woke you up.”
“It’s okay. I was having trouble sleeping anyway.” Nathan glanced around. “Where’s Basil?” Surely his friend was back from the bar by now, unless he’d gone to Dixie’s place. No, Dan would be there with the kids. A motel? A knot tightened in Nathan’s gut.
Alex spat one word. “Jail.”
The room swam around Nathan. “Pardon me?”
“Arrested for drunk driving,” Peter expanded. “Thankfully he didn’t kill anyone.”
Headlights. A crash. Twisting metal. A scream. Pain. Sirens.
Nathan gripped the edge of the counter.
“He’s so stupid.” Alex’s voice held an edge of bitterness. “What was he thinking? ”
“He wasn’t.” Nathan made it across the room and sank into the third chair. Basil’s. “People don’t think when they’re muddled with alcohol. What happened to… to the other guy?”
Peter frowned at him. “Other guy?”
“The driver of the car he hit.”
“There wasn’t an accident. Just a roadside checkpoint he tried to run.”
The sirens in Nathan’s head slowly subsided. His own memory, not Basil’s. “That’s good.”
Alex jerked to his feet. “Yeah, I’d have to disown him if he’d caused a death. He’s such a disgrace to the Santoro name. I might disown him, as it is. Kick him out of my house.”
Peter leaned back in his chair, eyeing his cousin. “That’s not going to solve anything. We need to love him like God loves us. There’s nothing we can do, positive or negative, to make God love us more or less. Family is family, no matter what.”
Not in Nathan’s experience.
“But I can’t turn a blind eye to his stupidity. I don’t see how you can, either.” Alex pivoted, thumbs hooked in his belt loops. “He’s the only full-timer with Bridgeview Backyards. You’re trusting him with your livelihood. Your future.”
Peter ran a hand over his eyes. “Don’t think I haven’t thought of that.”
Jasmine’s dreams, too. Did she know about Basil’s indiscretion? Nathan didn’t want to be the one to tell her. Not after he’d delivered the news about Basil and Dixie earlier in the day. No, that had been yesterday. Still, with little sleep to separate the events, everything ran together .
A motorbike roared up the street and cut out in front of the house. Jasmine. He’d know the sound of her Harley anywhere.
The guys exchanged a look and turned toward the door. They were expecting her. They could have told him she was coming.
Jasmine strode in, swinging her helmet from one hand, unzipping her leather jacket with the other. Her glance took Nathan in then shifted between the other guys.
Alex crossed the room to his sister. “What’s up? Where is he?”
She shook her head. “They’re keeping him in until he’s sober. He’ll be going to court. Probably lose his license for a while. Fines. Jail time. Who knows what all at this point.”
Alex snarled something under his breath and turned away, looking like the embodiment of a tornado.
Nathan took a deep breath. “What was his blood alcohol concentration?”
Jasmine focused on him for the first time, but if he hoped she’d come to him for comfort, he was mistaken. “Point one nine.”
“And the legal limit is…?” asked Peter.
Nathan knew the answer to this one. “Point zero eight.”
Peter let out a low whistle. “So, he was more than double.”
Jasmine’s gaze narrowed at Nathan, her knuckles whitening against the dark strap of her helmet. “Common knowledge where you’re from?”
He should never have provided the information. This wasn’t the time or the place to go into the details of his past. Nathan shrugged one shoulder. Don’t push, Jasmine. Not now .
Her eyes narrowed. “Not common among those who don’t have a drinking problem, I don’t think. I certainly never knew the number until an hour ago. If they taught us in life skills class, I didn’t remember it.”
Nathan tried to look away, but her gaze gripped his.
“Experience, Nathan?”
“Uh…”
Her eyebrows rose.
“I don’t drink anymore. You know that.”
“But you did. Have you ever been charged with driving under the influence?”
He cast a fleeting glance first at Peter then at Alex, but both were watching him. No hope of a change of subject. Maybe a phone would ring? Could happen. There were four of them in the room.
Silence.
“Nathan?”
Please, Lord. Let her understand that was the old Nathan. Old things have passed away. All things have become new.
He drew in a long breath. “Yes, I have.”
She twisted away and slammed her helmet against the counter. “Of course you have.”
At that, his ire rose. “What was that supposed to mean?” He placed both hands on the table and began to rise, but Peter’s hand on his arm held him back.
Alex’s voice was crisp. “Jail time?”
Jasmine’s back stiffened. Peter’s hand fell away.
This wasn’t a man asking so he’d know what to expect for his brother. This was a man who wanted to protect his sister.
Nathan closed his eyes for a second, breathing a prayer, then focused again on Alex. “Yes.”
The younger man’s eyebrows rose and his eyes drilled into Nathan. Alex could have become an attorney like Evan aspired to. “How long was your sentence?”
“Three months.”
“You spent three months in jail.”
“Yes.” And when he’d been released, Kendra had offered him a few boxes of his stuff she’d claimed before the eviction and walked out of his life, leaving him homeless and alone.
Nathan spoke to Jasmine’s unyielding back. “That’s when I knew I was at the end of my own big plans for my life. When I knew I needed Jesus. Maybe this is what Basil needs, too. Maybe this will make all the difference in his life.”
She turned slowly. “I doubt it. When I left him to sleep it off, he thought it was all pretty hilarious. There’s not a serious or remorseful bone in his body.”
“It will come. I’m sure it will.”
Jasmine shook her head. Then her eyes found Peter.
“I’m going to close the clinic for the summer at least. Basil’s going to lose his license, and he’ll probably go to jail.
Someone needs to run Bridgeview Backyards, and he’s obviously unfit.
We might need to buy him out.” She let out a mirthless chuckle.
“He’ll probably need those funds to pay his DUI fine. I doubt he’s got any savings.”
Peter surged to his feet. “Don’t make a hasty decision, Jas. Let’s see how it goes. What he’s convicted of and what the penalties are. We can decide when we have all the facts.”
“I want him out.”
Wrong decision. Nathan couldn’t keep his mouth shut. “He needs you to stand with him. It will make all the difference for him. ”
Jasmine’s gaze flicked off Nathan’s. “I didn’t ask you.”
The words drove an arrow into his heart. Had it only been a few hours ago when they’d kissed and he’d nearly asked her to marry him?
“Nathan’s right,” said Peter. “God doesn’t dump us when we sin. He keeps right on loving us, no matter what.”
“I’m not God.”
“But we’re supposed to be striving to be more like Him.”
Jasmine slammed her helmet on her head. “I’m going home. In the morning, you’ll see I’m right.”
Nathan yearned to take her in his arms and recapture what they’d had earlier — to erase the past half hour — but she was out the door and clattering down the steps before he’d risen from the chair.
Her motorbike roared to life and zoomed into the night.
Nathan glanced between Peter and Alex. He should never have come up the stairs. “I guess I’ll try to get some sleep.”
“How about Alex puts on another pot of coffee and you tell us your story instead?”
Did he have to? Both men waited expectantly. What was there to lose? Finally, Nathan nodded. “Okay.”