It was odd, as Levi had never seen the man so quiet. Jake had made more noise during the friggin’ movie they’d gone to see on their non-date, for Christ’s sake. The one contribution Jake did finally make was recommending they all head into the bar for what Levi was expecting to be the unhappiest, Happy Hour ever.
“Well, I think we can all agree—” Harold began once they were all seated and had a cocktail in hand.
“It’s beautiful!” Julia said excitedly. “I agree.”
“Well, yes, it is that,” Harold said.
Gloria placed a hand on Julia’s arm. “It’s a beautiful location, Julia, but I don’t think it’s fair to ask all our friends and family to make the three hour trek from the city for your anniversary party.”
“That’s why we book the entire place, Mother, so people can stay overnight.”
Gloria smiled sweetly, though there was a hint of condescension in her tone. “Darling, I have a sinking suspicion that you’ve neglected to ask yourself one very important question.”
Levi noticed Julia take her husband’s hand under the table. “What would that be, Mother?”
“Do you really want to be stranded all the way out in the country inside the same building with your father’s family?”
Jake snickered under his breath, quickly covering by pretending to cough. He and Gregory looked at one another knowingly and quickly took a drink.
Harold shot his wife one of his patented, less than pleased glares, which she completely ignored. That elicited the comment, “Yes, because your klepto-maniacal Aunt Tibby and that crackpot cousin, Millicent, who is so fond of sleeping with the hired help, are such a joy to have around.”
Levi’s eyes bugged out of his head slightly and he noticed Gloria’s mouth open to respond with no-doubt equal venom only to smile at Levi and faux giggle instead.
“Every year we end up missing more of the silver and find ourselves needing to interview new staff,” Harold muttered indignantly.
Family skeletons aside, Levi could see the place had been ruined for Julia and he felt bad for her. Jake was practically seething, visibly angry with Harold for speaking to his mother that way. Instead of offering comment, he leaned over and placed his arm around Julia’s shoulder.
“It was a nice idea, though, huh?” Julia asked, rebounding like a well-seasoned pro when it came to handling disappointment.
“It was a grand idea, old girl,” Jake said, grabbing his drink and clinking it gently against the one she’d left abandoned on the table in front of her. “They serve a damn fine cocktail, too.”
She elbowed her twin gently in the gut and picked up her gin gimlet. Taking a sip, she nodded her head that the drinks were a bonus, indeed.
“We can come up some weekend just the two of us, babe,” Gregory said, hoping that might further cheer her up.
Levi watched Gloria looking at her children and for the briefest moment he could see the sadness there, just behind her eyes, like it had been too long since she’d been able to see her babies as they were right now.
Thanks to some family background Levi had gotten from a late night conversation with Julia a few weeks back, Levi knew Gloria was equally culpable for Jake’s self-inflicted banishment by not putting her foot down with her husband. That knowledge couldn’t prevent Levi from feeling bad for her. He appreciated Ruby a little more in that moment. Even though there had been many times when he’d prayed his own mother would keep her opinions to herself, he never had to wonder whether or not his mother loved him.
He was fairly certain Jake wasn’t likely to say the same about Gloria.
“That sounds fine, honey,” Julia agreed, giving Gregory a polite peck on the lips.
In that moment, Levi decided that he simply had to ask Jake to share his room so Julia and Gregory could make the most of their evening at Glennellen. Looking at Gloria and Harold across the table, he decided that conversation could wait until they weren’t around.
“Um, isn’t that the guy from your office?” Jake asked.
Levi turned, completely shocked to see Angelo waving at him from the entryway between the bar and the lobby. Before he had time to react, Angelo started walking toward them. In the twenty seconds or so it took for Angelo to cross the bar and reach their table, Levi had just enough time to formulate an off-the-cuff and likely none-too-evil-genius plan.
“Apologies for the disruption, Julia,” Levi said, standing and placing an arm around Angelo’s waist. “This is my boyfriend…”
When Angelo began looking around in an attempt to see who Levi was referring to, he realized he should have given the evil-genius plan a little more time to percolate before pulling the trigger. Angelo’s wide-eyed smile signified that he had finally worked things out, which is when he slid his arm around Levi’s waist as well.
“Hi, honey.” Angelo had a roguish smirk on his face that made Levi mildly nauseous. “Have some papers for you to sign.”
A completely genius, brilliant rogue!
Julia was grinning and Levi knew the only thing that prevented her from pelting him with questions was the fact her parents were there.
“Will you all excuse us for a moment?” Levi asked, finally daring a glance at Jake only to see he was staring at Angelo, whom he didn’t appear very happy to see.
“Of course, take your time,” Julia insisted, smiling when Angelo winked at her.
Levi was dying inside, ready to kill himself and take Angelo down with him.
He whispered under his breath as he tugged none too gently on Angelo’s arm. “You do not wink at Julia Freeman-Kingsley, Angelo—especially when her husband and her father, a United States Senator, are seated next to her.”
“What’s the big deal?” Angelo asked, looking adorably confused. “It didn’t mean anything. I like dick. Your dick in particular, apparently.”
“I am really, really sorry about that, Angelo. I don’t know what I was thinking and I am completely mortified.”
“Using me to make that Jake guy jealous is definitely working. Did you see the way he was looking at me?”
“That is not your business—”
“As your boyfriend, I beg to differ.” Angelo winked at him.
Levi assumed that the whole winking thing must have charmed the pants off many conquests in the past, considering the man used them on nearly everyone.
“What the hell are you really doing here?”
“Valerie suggested I drive these up here to get them signed, something about a deadline and offering you some back-up? It wasn’t a big deal, Levi. I was headed to my parents this weekend for a family thing. They live in Halton, it’s like another hour up the interstate.”
Levi took the documents from him, scanning the pages until he saw the deadline date, which was three weeks away and he rolled his eyes. Angelo seemed confused, looking over Levi’s shoulder at the same date. He opened his mouth to no doubt voice that confusion but stopped himself, grinning like he was just now beginning to work out that he might be able to use this to his own advantage.
* * * *
Jake intently watched Levi and this Angelo asshole, failing miserably at attempting to read their lips. If they were boyfriends, it was either really new—like too new to be calling someone a boyfriend—or they had been dating for much longer and Levi was every bit as guilty for showing up at the theatre that night as Jake had been.
Funny Levi failed to mention that fact while he was attempting to persecute me by nailing me to the friggin’ cheater wall.
Jake sucked down the rest of his bourbon, listening to the ice cubes clink as he set the glass back down on the table.
“I think your mother and I shall retire to our room before meeting you all for dinner,” Harold said, following suit after Gloria stood.
“Your father will want a nap and I could use a freshening up.”
“You’ve never looked lovelier my dear,” Harold cooed.
Jake could feel his lip curling in disgust so he forced a smile in an attempt to keep the bile from rising any further. Sadly, he knew his parents well enough to understand his father was merely attempting to smooth over the feathers he’d ruffled when tossing Gloria under the bus by bringing up Aunt Tibby and Cousin Millicent.
Jake’s smile became slightly more genuine for a moment, knowing she was going to lay into dear old dad over that one.
“We’ll see you at dinner?” Gloria asked, lightly brushing the back of her hand across Jake’s cheek. “You’re looking a little pale, Jackson, I hope you’re taking care of yourself.”
Jake tried holding onto the gentle caress while doing his best to ignore the fact she’d referred to him by his given name, Jackson. Her touch said,
I love you
while the latter passive-aggressively screamed,
I still judge you for forsaking your birthright and cutting us out of your life all those years ago
.
“See you at dinner, Mother,” Jake said, looking around for the waitress so he could order another drink.
He overheard his father asking her why she still bothered as his parents walked away. He turned to see Julia was watching him and he knew she’d heard it as well.
“You gotta try not to take that stuff personal, man,” Gregory said, appearing to be a little disgusted by the exchange. “They can’t see past their own view of the world.”
“Whatever,” Jake said, staring at Julia, who once again had nothing to say on the subject. “I stopped expecting them to ever come around years ago.”
“I wish you wouldn’t give up all hope,” Julia said, appearing to be pissed at him. “The three of you always fighting and hating one another is very exhausting, Jake. I hate it and I hate feeling like the one thing you all have in common, everyone constantly looking to me expecting me to pick a side.”
Jake’s mouth fell open, ready to deny that fact until he realized he couldn’t.
“I’m not ever going to do it, Jake. I love all three of you and none of you are ever going to make me choose one over the other.”
“Okay, old girl,” he said quietly, hoping his pet name for her might instill a shot of nostalgia into his tone.
She sighed, settling back into Gregory, her forehead all crinkled up in frustration. “I see the way they treat you and I know it’s wrong. Daddy always wanted you to be just like him and the more he pushed the more you pushed back. And I say that knowing full well that you never wanted any of it, Jake. I’m not saying you should have made yourself miserable by going along with Daddy, but the way you reacted, cutting them completely off, refusing to see them or talk to them—that wasn’t right either. Believe it or not, you completely crushed Mother. She was devastated and the two of them bickered constantly for over a year because of it.”
Jake could feel himself getting angry, knowing full well that he was the last person who could be objective on the topic. “I have never asked you to intervene on my behalf, Julia, and, I never will. I never wanted to hurt them.”
“I know that, Jake,” Julia said. “I get it, I do. It’s all very frustrating.”
“I reached a point where I simply couldn’t have the same argument with them any longer.” He caught the cocktail waitress’s attention and lifted his glass in the air, signaling they needed another round. “I couldn’t keep going back, hoping things would get better or expecting a different outcome. It was killing me, turning me into someone I didn’t recognize. You always wanted what they wanted for you, so you never had to work hard in order to please them.”
He could see that her eyes had begun to well up, so he reached over and took her hand.
“Just promise me that you and I will start spending more time together, baby brother,” Julia said.
“I can do that, old girl,” Jake said.
Julia turned and looked back out at Levi. “Something seems off about that.”
Jake and Gregory started laughing.
“I didn’t mean it like that.” She shrugged, thanking the waitress for dropping off the drinks. “I knew he met someone a few weeks ago. He was practically glowing the day we had that first meeting with Mom and Dad.”
“Well there’s your proof, darling,” Gregory said, visibly confused.
“He’s certainly attractive, don’t get me wrong,” Julia said. “Admittedly, I don’t know all that much about Levi, though I like to think of him as a friend. I don’t know, I just don’t picture that guy as the type for Levi.”
“I know he works for Levi,” Jake said, taking a drink before turning to see Julia and Gregory staring back at him wide-eyed. “I saw the guy at his office.” They each sat up in their seat a little which made Jake feel like sinking back into his. “We met for coffee… once. We’re friends… sorta.”
“How does one become
sorta
friends?” Julia asked.
Gregory sat back again, a pained expression on his face like Jake had just gotten himself busted.
“No!” Jake insisted. “There’s nothing hinky going on between us, jeez. You know we met because of his mother.”
“I’m sorry.” Julia still looked perplexed. “You show up here without Victor. Combine that with the fact
you
are exactly the type of guy that I could see Levi falling for, that the two of you are
sorta
friends and Levi’s new beau looks like a gigolo he’s hired in a desperate attempt to make you jealous, and it’s no wonder my mind started to wander.”