I looked up. “I liked her. Didn’t you?”
Jacob shrugged. “There’s something odd about her. Did you see those shoes she was wearing? I mean, who wears silver ballet slippers anymore?”
“She has interesting taste. That’s not a bad thing.”
Jacob looked down at his paper again. “Maybe. Besides, I wasn’t the one she was tangled up with in the backseat of the car.”
“Did that bother you?”
“Not sure how you want me to answer that one, brother,” Jacob said as he gathered his dishes and carried them to the sink. “I wouldn’t be human if I wasn’t bothered by a porn show going on right in front of me.”
“It wasn’t a porn show. Just a little making out.”
“If that’s what you call making out, please don’t invite me to witness you moving to second base.”
“What do you call making out, then?” I asked, twisting in my seat so I could see him.
“Some friendly kisses.”
I laughed. “With that sort of mentality, I’d have to assume you were a virgin until your wedding night.”
“There’s nothing wrong with that, either.”
I just shook my head, turning back to my breakfast. “I wish you luck in the dating world, brother. Things have certainly changed in the ten years you’ve been off the market.”
“I’m not even divorced yet and you’ve already got me dating? Don’t rush me.”
“Have you seen Lynn since she kicked you out?”
“She didn’t kick me out. She simply said she needed a little space.”
“And made you leave the house that you paid for.” I glanced at him. “I hate to break it to you, brother, but that’s what is called ‘kicking someone out’.”
Jacob turned and stormed toward the garage door. “I’m going to the office. I’ll meet you there later.” And he disappeared through the door.
I waited, listening for the garage door to open, then close. Then I went to the window and watched his car make its way down the driveway and disappear onto the street.
I trusted my brother. I believed that he wouldn’t want to sabotage his own company. But I had reason to believe that someone in the company was trying to sabotage the human trials of the artificial pancreas, and I needed to rule Jacob out myself. I didn’t want Ruben Garcia or his daughter searching through his files, or tipping him off to my concerns.
I abandoned my breakfast for the bedroom Jacob had been living in since his separation began three months ago. It was a spare room at the back of the house that was originally designed to be a mother-in-law room, so it had more than just the typical layout of a guest bedroom. There was a decent-sized sitting room when you first walked through the door that held a love seat that was a castoff from the living room and the flat screen television Jacob had bought and installed himself. Off to one side was a kitchenette that Jacob kept stocked with the junk food he liked to indulge that he knew I was reluctant to buy. Not because I shouldn’t eat it—because I did, more often than I liked to admit—but because I preferred to not to have to hit the gym more than twice a week.
He also had a desk over there in what should have been a small dining room. That’s where I was headed. I knew he kept files from the office there, often files for ongoing projects. I picked through the papers scattered across the top of his desk, noting the names on envelops and the little notes he’d scribbled on small pieces of paper. There was a manila envelope there addressed to him with the office address on the label. I opened it and slipped the thick sheaf of papers out. Divorce papers.
Shit!
I didn’t know Lynn had already served them to him. I knew he was hoping they would be able to work things out. But I guess that was all an illusion he was content to continue to promote.
There was nothing else there. No project files, nothing on the pancreas. Not that I had expected there to be, but I had to admit it was something of a relief.