The Encounter

“Give me the phone, Lilly.” She hands me Luke’s hand, along with the chocolate-stained tissues, and reaches to take the phone from Lilly.

Reluctantly she hands it to her mother.

“Thank you.” She turns. “Please tell me you’re on your way home…” Her heels click as she starts to pace. “Reed, you promised. Well, thank God I have Jax. I’m exhausted.” I finish cleaning Luke’s hands.

“How’s it going, my man?” We fist-bump. At six, the twins are a blast.

“Good, Uncle Jax.” He grins, and a dimple pops out on each cheek. Grasping Tess’s phone, he unlocks it to play a game.

“Luke, are you allowed to be on your mom’s phone?”

He shrugs. “Mommy’s on the phone with Daddy, so what else am I supposed to do?” He looks at me like I should know this.

“Wait, no fair. I want a phone.” Lilly jumps off the chair.

“Okay, enough. Neither of you gets a phone. You’re six.” I take the phone from him, rolling my eyes.

I hear Tess, whisper, “I’m sick of you traveling so much… I know.” She looks over her shoulder at me and the twins. “I love you too… See you in a couple of days.” She sighs as she ends the call.

I’m assuming Reed is trying to surprise her, but she’s not happy, so if he’s trying to be romantic, that’s not happening.

“Let’s go get margaritas,” she announces. My niece and nephew cheer.

“Christ.” I laugh and hug her. “You’re fantastic.”

She pulls back to look at me. I’ve known Tess since I was eight. She’s my best friend, my partner in crime. We’ve been through a lot, and she knows me better than I probably know myself.

“What’s going on with you? It’s been weeks since we’ve seen you.”

I take a breath. It’s not like I can get away with lying. “I’m here now, I have shi—stuff going on.” I kiss her forehead.

With a snort, she pulls away. “Let’s go get dinner, kids. Uncle Jax needs to spend quality time with the family.”

Family.

A slight pang hits me in the gut. I have been avoiding them, and not because I don’t love them, but because I need to get my own life. Otherwise, what the fuck am I doing? Living vicariously through my brother?

Tess’s eyes narrow on me and I grin. Shaking her head, she grabs her purse and the twins’ hands.

“Come on. Your mom is babysitting Brendan, and I need to take advantage of it while it lasts. She and your dad are leaving for the château in Italy next week,” she says over her shoulder.

“Yeah, I heard. You’re losing your babysitter. What are you going to do?” I grab Luke’s hand, separating him from Lilly who’s telling him bad knock-knock jokes.

“Panic.” She laughs. “I’m feeling Mexican food. How about Marix?”

“You can’t be serious.” My eyes snap to hers.

“What? They have great margaritas, and the kids love the chips and nachos.” Our shoes echo on the retro concrete floor as Tess speed walks us to the door.

“Kevin, my love?” she yells. “We’re out of here.”

Kevin peeks his head around the corner with a coffee in one hand. “Brance called saying the meeting with Rafe Dalton went well.”

“Wonderful. We’re on our way to Marix.” She leans over to give him a kiss on the cheek.

“Oh, you’re not going home?” He looks at me. Clearly, he’s in on the whole Reed surprise thing. Again, he should have said something, rather than his disapproving silence and don’t-be-late-tomorrow-morning lecture.

“We need to eat,” she snaps.

I shrug at poor Kevin’s face while he holds the door open for us. Though it’s not yet 4:00 p.m., it’s turning dark outside.

“Margaritas sound fantastic,” I say, looking for Jay, our driver-slash-bodyguard. He’s been with us since Reed and I were kids.

The large black Audi pulls up and Jay hops out.

“Jayyy, we’re going out to dinner,” Lilly informs him. He smiles as he buckles her in.

“As you wish, Princess Lillycup.” She giggles as Jay shoots me a disapproving glare.

“Jay.” I nod as I slide into the very back row. He tilts his head in acknowledgment and climbs into the driver’s seat. Christ, it’s like I’m thirteen again and Jay just caught me watching porn.

“Okay, Jay. Marix, please.” Tess dumps her giant bag next to her and pulls her long dark curls up into a messy bun. Sighing, she sinks back into the buttery softness of the leather seats.

He clenches the steering wheel tight, his eyes looking straight ahead. “You sure? We’ve been going there a lot.” His voice sounds flat.

“Jay, you know how I am when I go on a kick.” She looks at him. “Wait, is this about that waitress?” He stays quiet as the twins start to laugh at something only they understand. I smile at them. That was me and Reed, best friends. Then Tess moved into our building and we went from a duo to a trio.