“Did you try some hair of the dog?” I asked.
“No, Mom and Dad don’t keep any liquor around, at least that I could see. Figured I’d just hydrate and take these,” she said, shaking the bottle and then tossing it back in her purse. “Seriously, though, it’s not that bad. I just have a headache and feel like someone ran me over with a truck.”
I laughed. “I consider that to be pretty bad, actually.”
“Maybe,” she said. “I don’t drink like that, ever, so I guess I forgot how bad that bad actually is.”
“Any plans for the day?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood up a little.
“Not particularly,” she said. “Just job hunting and staying out of the house so Mom doesn’t decide that my life being in shambles has resulted in drunken debauchery.”
“I think you were due a little drunken debauchery,” I said, and she grinned. I wanted to add so much more to that sentence but held back. In my head, though, I was coming up with a lot more ways she could blow off steam and get over her recent troubles.
I had to pull myself out of that thought, though, and fast. This was Nick’s kid sister. And she was going through one of the worst moments a person could go through. I should be supportive for my best friend and his family and not add to the problem. The betrayal Nick would feel at me hitting on his sister, especially right now, would be incredible. Whatever thoughts and desires I might have at seeing this gorgeous woman walking back into my life, I needed to tamp down and in a hurry.
“Nick offered for me to live with him,” she said suddenly. “In lieu of finding a place of my own, which I can’t do until I’m making money. I think I might end up taking him up on it.”
“You mentioned that. What’s stopping you?”
“I’m still not completely convinced it would be a good idea. Didn’t you say living with Mason had been a bad plan?”
“Well, yes, it was,” I laughed. “But that’s because Mason is a surly jackass when he gets upset, and I am also a surly jackass when I get upset, and we grew up wrestling each other over every little thing.”
“Nothing changed?” she asked, taking a bite of her salad.
“Not a whole lot did, no,” I said. “He and I were adults, but in age only. Both of us were already set in our ways, and it didn’t take long before his ways and my ways became completely incompatible.”
“Like what? I would figure that after you all lived together in one house, going from five to just two would have been easy,” she asked.
“We thought that, too, actually,” I said. “I know I always assumed it was Tom that I couldn’t live with, on account of him being so particular about everything.”
“Didn’t he go for those crazy predawn runs every day?” she asked. “I remember you and Nick tried to go on a few of them with him when we were younger, and both of you bailed on it after a few weeks because it was so early.”
“Yes, and not only was it predawn runs, it was like the sun rising energized him, and he was this methodical morning machine,” I said. “Nick and I were both much happier getting up thirty minutes before the bus came and eating cereal in front of the TV.”
“That sounds like Nick,” she said, smiling and taking a sip of her drink.
“Anyway, the place we moved into was small, and Mason is pretty particular, too, or at least he used to be. Ava hasn’t seemed to complain too much about him being difficult, so maybe he calmed down some,” I said.
“He and Ava,” she said. “How did that come about again?”
“She moved back because of her parents,” I said, recounting her story in more detail, including the bit about us hiring her before really knowing if Mason was going to be okay with it.
“Sounds like I missed a lot,” she said, finishing up her sandwich. “I was too busy wasting my time with someone stupid.”
I could sense the sadness in her voice, and bitterness too. I hated it and wanted to move the subject along to something more fun but couldn’t think of what.
“Well, you said it,” I finally said. “He was stupid. But you aren’t.”
She smiled a little and took a sip of her drink. “I could argue that.”
“But you won’t because I won’t hear it,” I said. “You gave someone a chance, and they blew it. You have no reason to feel bad about that.”
I was finished eating and looked down at my empty plate. Surreptitiously, I slid her receipt over to me and scooted out of the booth. I waved her receipt over my head.