I grabbed his arm to stop him because with every impassioned word, he was causing Millie to get more and more upset.
“We can’t afford to keep it,” she finally cried. “We’ve done everything we can think of, Jack. It’s not working. The business needs—”
“I’ll help,” Jack said. “I have savings, and I’ll go back to the airline. I can probably get a Chicago-based position with them so I’m still close by. And—”
It was Kirk’s turn to pipe up. “Hell no.”
“I have an idea.” Ty’s voice was so much calmer than the rest, but I could tell from the look on his face, he was as upset as everyone else. I felt like I was intruding on a family moment.
I whispered to Jack. “Do you want me to—”
“No,” he said, sliding his arm up my grip until he was holding my hand. “Please stay with me.”
Millie gave me a watery smile to let me know I was welcome. I moved Jack to sit back in our chairs at the six-person patio table and slid his wineglass closer to him as a hint. He took a sip.
Ty cleared his throat. “This wasn’t exactly how I wanted to announce it, but… I got a job here.”
Kirk’s face lightened into a genuine smile. He moved to hug his brother. “Hell yeah. Congrats, man. That’s the best news ever. Tell us about the job.”
Ty accepted the hug and then sat back down, glancing over at Jack before looking at his brother again. “It’s working for the LaPorte County Convention & Visitors Bureau as their tourism manager. The job is actually in Michigan City, but it’s only like twenty minutes from here.” His eyes bounced over to Jack again before returning to Kirk and Millie. “I thought maybe I could stay here for a while and pay rent. That way you’ll have help with the mortgage, help with the baby, and it will give me time to decide where I want to settle.”
Everyone was quiet while the idea sunk in.
“Or not,” Ty added quickly. “If it’s too weird or you don’t want to—”
“Oh please!” Millie cried at Kirk. I jumped in my seat which made Jack chuckle. “Kirk, this is perfect.”
“Babe, I can’t charge my own brother rent.” He looked at Ty. “Sorry, bud.”
Ty leaned forward. “Paying you for a room will be much cheaper than throwing my money away on an apartment I won’t spend much time in. Face it, I’m either going to be working overtime proving myself at the new job, or I’m going to be over here lying on your couch and eating your food anyway.”
Kirk rolled his eyes, but I could see the corner of his mouth tick up. “He’s not lying,” he muttered good-naturedly. “And I could put you to work in the garden.”
“I have a black thumb, but I’m willing to kill anything you want.”
The tension seemed to resolve for now. I assumed there’d have to be more detailed conversations about the plan later, but I was curious if there was also a way to help boost their skydiving business to help them get over the financial burden of having to buy their partner out of his share unexpectedly. I made a mental note to brainstorm ideas later in case I could think of anything that would help. It was one of the closest skydiving locations to Chicago, so they had the entire metro area to advertise to. They were planning a big jump event for the three-day weekend, and I wondered if I could somehow help spread the word to boost attendance.
Ty told Kirk he was hoping to go for a dive while he was in town this weekend, and the two of them began making plans to go up before Ty had to fly back to New York.
“Will you go with them?” I asked Jack.
His eyes widened, but before he could answer, Ty answered for him with a laugh. “Jack doesn’t jump out of perfectly good planes.”
He said it like it was a phrase Jack used often. I turned to Jack in surprise. “Really? You’re scared of something involving aviation?”
Jack ran his fingers through my hair. “Bailing out doesn’t have anything to do with aviation,” he said. “Pilots are meant to stay inside the plane.”
Kirk laughed at him. “Believe me, Teo, we’ve tried. The man’s a chicken, through and through.”
I smiled at Jack. That was the best news I’d heard all day. It made me feel less weird about my own fears. “I’m with you. I think you’d have to shoot me up with hard-core street drugs just to get my fingernails out of the fuselage.”
Jack pulled my head forward and kissed me on the forehead. “I knew there was a reason I l-liked you.” It was odd to hear him trip over the word “like,” as if even admitting he liked me in front of his family and his ex was tricky. It left me feeling unexpectedly flat. I already felt like an odd fifth wheel, and now I was fighting the urge to claim a sudden stomach problem and beg to be shown to my room for the night.