“Double standard much? From everything I hear, you’re with a different girl every night.”
“Younger sister, you don’t get to have sex. Even after you’re married.”
“I’m glad to see you taking your sibling duty serious, because you owe me and I’m calling in the favor.”
“Where do I pick you up?”
“2323 Bluebird Lane.” I stop in the middle of the stairs, caught between my home and my work. It’s an easier limbo than walking back into that house on Bluebird Lane. I’m not going home, not again. I’d do a lot of things for Tasha, but I can’t sit through another family dinner. Leaning against the wall, I slowly bang my head against it. Maybe it’ll finally shake some sense loose.
“Cash…Cash…” Tasha’s voice breaks through the buzz in my head. Focus, Gardner, your sister is on the phone. No need to fuck it up twice.
“I already told Mom—”
“I am not sitting through this alone. You are coming. I’ve been through five years of her ‘family’ dinners solo. You don’t get to cut and run again. You owe me this.”
I do, and there is no way around that. While I got to escape Tasha was fed to the wolves, forced to survive in a world that none of us could comprehend.
“I’m not wearing a tie.”
“I will have one waiting for you.”
“Tash.”
“Cas. See, I can do stupid nicknames too. Six forty-five. If you’re late, you won’t like the consequences.”
“Like what?”
“I will plaster your high school year book photo all over your next bar.” That photo could undo the carefree bartender image I’d worked so hard to create. One look at that slick and shiny goodie-two-shoes photo and no one would let me sling a drink again.
“You wouldn’t.”
“Oh, I would.”
“Only because you’re my sister.”
“Save the family ties stuff for the ‘rents.” She pauses and then adds. “Thanks, Cash.”
We’re in this together. She may have been my parent’s biggest fan when the shit hit the fan, but now we’re rooting for the same team. It’s the two of us against the world of our parents, and I’m not abandoning her again.
“I said anytime, and I meant it.”
Katie and Jackson both wait at the bar looking interested. Katie’s got her head propped up on her fists, clearly ready to hang on every word, and Jackson’s drumming his fingers on the bar top.
“Can I help you two?”
“Cash has a family,” Katie says. Ryder looks at me as if judging my reaction to the news. Normally I’d walk away from all of this.
“A sister? And a mother? Will the wonders never cease?” Katie says, with too many stars in her eyes. I’m going to need to shut that one down fast. No one needs to go sniffing around my family. “Next thing you know, you’re going to be dating someone.”
“Isn’t he already dating Savannah?” Ryder asks.
“I can’t work tomorrow. I have a thing,” I say, ignoring the question.
“Is your family okay? You can take more than tomorrow off if you need it.”
“I just need tomorrow.” My voice is warning him just to stay out of it.
“All right, I’ll see what we can do. It would have been nice to have some more warning, but it’s family,” Ryder says, taking most of it in stride. I breathe a sigh of relief. If only dinner would go as smooth as talking to Ryder. Not all families are created equal.
The house is big, but it’s always been big. Expensive, massive, a building that lords over us all. I drive through the gates and pull at the tie around my neck. The last thing I want to do is let my sister pick out my clothing. Knowing Tasha, she’d pick something that came straight out of the worst ties of the 1980s. Then I’d really never hear the end of it from Mom, and Dad would probably try to disown me, or at least cut off my trust.
They’re having drinks in the den when a servant lets me in. I have to pause outside the door to take a deep breath. I can do this. How many dinners did I suck down as a kid? I just have to remind myself not to engage with my father and his past. Still, I can’t help but compare this family meal to the one I had just a few days ago with my friends. There’s a tightness in my chest when I realize that Savannah isn’t going to sit next to me and drop her feet into my lap. As much as I want to keep Savannah to myself, I wish she were here with me.
“That you, Cassius?” Dad says, coming to the doorway. Looking at him now, I’d never guess that he was in the hospital just a few weeks ago.
“Cassius darling, come on in. It’s rude to lurk in doorways,” Mom calls.
They’re all arranged like a painting. Dad in his suit stands framed in the doorway. Mom’s perched on the couch, but springs to her feet the moment I enter. Tasha looks out of place. She’s foregone a proper dress for leggings and what might be called a dress, but on my sister I call it a shirt.