Side Squeeze (Jasper Falls 6)

They marched through the door, heads down, as Erin barked out orders. “Both of you park your butts on the couch and don’t say a word. I have to pee.”

As they waited for her to return from the bathroom, they stayed silent.

The tension Harrison had felt earlier had lessened, but his body shook uncomfortably, likely from the jolt of adrenaline. It had been more than a decade since he’d had a physical altercation, and he didn’t like the way it made him feel.

It was as if Giovanni had been purposely bating him and pushing his buttons. Accusing him of using Mariella had struck a nerve.

Then he realized this wasn’t just about him. This was Giovanni’s way of protecting those he cared about. Harrison respected that, because he cared about Erin and Mariella too.

He hated the fact that Giovanni thought they needed protection from Harrison. And he despised the fact that his brother-in-law might be right, and he’d likely hurt all of them in the end.

Erin returned and paced the living room. “What started this?”

Neither of them said a word.

“One of you better start talking.”

“He brought up Mariella.”

Harrison’s temper sparked anew, and he glared at Giovanni. “I never used her.”

“Don’t even talk about her.”

“I’ll do more than talk about her—”

“Hey!” Erin snapped. “Giovanni, sit. Harrison, shut the hell up.” She continued to pace. “I am so over the two of you not getting along. You don’t even know each other!”

“I wasn’t the one with a problem,” Harrison reminded everyone.

Giovanni scoffed. “You are the problem!”

Erin jumped to her brother’s defense. “Giovanni stop—”

“Everyone needs to stop defending him! I know you want everything to be copacetic when the baby comes, but this is causing you more stress than you need right now.”

Harrison swallowed back any rebuttal and looked at Erin’s stomach. Her health was a top priority for all of them. At least he and Giovanni had that in common.

Was she stressed? She seemed rather calm compared to how he remembered her.

“He’s my brother, Giovanni. He’s the only family I have left. I know I might be fighting a losing battle, but you have to let me fight it.”

Harrison looked at both of them, wondering when he became invisible.

Giovanni stood and cupped Erin’s face in his hands, pressing his forehead to hers. “When he starts treating you like family, I’ll respect him as such. But until then, I reserve the right to protect my wife.”

Now it was Harrison’s turn to wish he could disappear. “Look, maybe I should go.”

Erin’s glistening stare snapped to him. “Seriously? That’s what you got from all this? That you should go?” She flung her hands out at her sides, and her voice grew incredibly high pitched. “I just don’t know how to get through to you!”

Certain this had as much to do with pregnancy hormones as it did with his words, he tried to calm her down. “Erin, I was just offering you two a little privacy.”

“I don’t need privacy! I need my brother and husband to get along.” She burst into tears and rushed down the hall, once again slamming the door.

Harrison looked helplessly to his brother-in-law. “That was pregnancy hormones, right?”

“Oh yeah. But some of it was you.” Giovanni swiped the remote control off the coffee table and sat back, making himself comfortable. “She’ll be out in a little while and everything will be fine.”

It didn’t feel fine. Rather than watch TV and wait, Harrison went to the kitchen searching for something to do. He didn’t want Erin stressing over him, but he also couldn’t rearrange his life simply because he was getting a niece, could he? He knew some families were close, but he wasn’t sure how they got that way. He never imagined it took work. He just assumed they started close and all the pieces fell into place.

There was nothing for him to do in the kitchen so he returned to the living room. “Are you really just going to sit there while she’s upset?”

“I’m letting her cool off. When she’s ready to hear my apology, I’ll make it up to her. I suggest you do the same.”

Oddly, the fight seemed to have removed the hostility between them. But Harrison still didn’t want to watch television with the guy.

He returned to the kitchen, thinking about how he might word his apology. He hadn’t meant to wrestle her husband on the lawn. Nor had he meant to upset her. He really was terrible at this big brother thing.

Thinking back to when they were kids, he remembered how she would look up to him. She would often wait for him to come home, and sometimes she’d beg him to miss practice just so she had someone to talk to.

In all the years since he’d left Jasper Falls, she never asked him for money or help. She only ever asked for his time. And, somehow, he’d let her down.