He looked at his brother. Really looked at him, for the first time in a very long time. “Fine. Send me a check every month.”
“As they say, my brother didn’t raise no fool. I’d do that if you deposited any of the checks I’ve written you up to this point. No, sir. I’m sending checks straight to the med center’s billing department. Besides, you don’t get a new AC unit in this house and Eve’s never going to want to spend the night,” Luke said.
“That’s over.”
“Let me get this straight. You had a relationship with her when it probably violated whole sections of the department’s code of conduct, but when it’s all over and you can be with her, you walk away?”
“I lied to her. She pretended to be my girlfriend so we could trap a drug dealer, who then kidnapped and nearly killed her. None of it bears any resemblance to real life,” he finished.
“Dad took us out to look at Christmas lights and a five-time DUI offender takes the curve on the Thirty-Sixth Street on-ramp too fast for the conditions and Mom and Dad die and I’m in this chair. That’s life. It’s unpredictable. Uncontrollable. You took a shower. She answered the door for the UPS guy. That’s what people do, Matt. Shitstorms happen. It’s what you do after the storm ends that matters.” Luke waited a minute. “That’s your specialty, so I thought you knew that.”
“She doesn’t need me. She’s surrounded by family and friends and all the people who love Eye Candy. Her brother’s got a mediator waiting in the wings when she’s ready to date again.”
“Let’s think about that for a second,” Luke said.
Let’s not. “She doesn’t need me to clean up after this.”
“Yeah,” his brother said, the sarcasm of youth dripping from his words. “A woman that involved in East Side community activism doesn’t need to watch her back. Lightning won’t strike twice in the same place. Probably she’ll never get kidnapped or shot at again, but she’ll be making waves until the day she dies—”
“Ninety years from now, in her bed, from extreme old age.”
“—so there’s no good reason for her to get involved with a cop. Except maybe she likes you. You can be likeable enough when you come out of that I’m-in-control-of-everything armor.” His brother heaved a disgusted sigh. “Matt, has it ever occurred to you that maybe it’s not only freaking annoying but unhealthy to frame every relationship in the context of service and duty? That was good for the Army and the department, but not for you?”
Matt kept his focus on the stacks of CDs.
“That maybe the people who love you want to take care of you as much as you want to take care of them? That maybe you hurt us a little more every day when you treat us like your responsibilities, but won’t let us help you?”
Direct hit to the sternum. Breath and pulse halted as he locked eyes with Luke. Again, Matt broke first, looked away from the perceptiveness in his younger brother’s eyes.
“You want her. You need her. And that spooks you.”
He didn’t just need her. He loved her. He didn’t have a choice in the matter. He loved her. Going back to the way he used to be wasn’t going to happen. Going forward terrified him. He balanced on the edge of a bottomless chasm, the gulf yawning at his feet, the ground crumbling behind him and no bridge in sight.
He gave a half-shrug, pretended to check on the import progress.
“What are you going to do once you’ve got all that on your computer?” Luke asked. “Which, for the record, is going to take days.”
“Transfer it to my phone. Yes, I do know how to use iTunes,” he said, when Luke opened his mouth.
“Mail call,” Luke said, and handed him an envelope.
The envelope was postmarked in Lancaster. The return address was Eye Candy’s. He slit the top of the package with his pocketknife and opened the envelope. Wrapped inside a sheet of stationery was a folded piece of paper, a CD case, and a section of newsprint.
He picked up the newsprint first. It was a column from the Metro section of the paper announcing the decision to go ahead with the redevelopment project, and Mobile Media’s commitment to the new business park. The sidebar announced the demolition of the building across the alley from Eve and welcomed the community to a demolition party to view the redevelopment plans and meet some of the business owners, politicians, and executives involved.
The picture of Eve showed a fading bruise on her cheekbone and a serious glint in her eye. Also pictured for the story were the East Side’s city councilwoman, the deputy mayor, Eve’s father, and the CEO of Mobile Media.
The city’s sexiest cocktail waitress was gone, and in her place was a squared-up, dead-serious community activist.
“Let me see,” Luke said.
He handed the clipping to his brother, and picked up the plastic case. The CD inside was neatly labeled PREP PLAYLIST.
“How did she know?” he muttered.
“Magic,” Luke said knowingly.