14. Jack

14

JACK

I show up to my family’s barbecue with dessert in hand. It’s not homemade, but the banana cream pie comes from Slice of Life bakery, so no one will complain. Least of all Aunt Dina, who has a major sweet tooth. Mom did too, come to think of it.

Johnny is at the grill in the backyard, along with Uncle Chuck, while Aunt Dina and June are preparing side dishes in the kitchen. Cain is a no-show tonight, but no one faults him. He’s young and has more of a social life than all of us combined. I place the pie on the counter, then help them take food outside to the picnic table, where we’ll all gather to eat.

“Uh-oh, Johnny’s about to burn our steaks,” I tease. “Where’s the fire extinguisher?”

“Very funny,” he replies, knowing he’ll never live down the incident when his grill caught fire. “You’ve had plenty of my cooking since then.”

“And my stomach is all the worse for it.”

He playfully knocks me, so I return the favor, but before he gets payback, I hear rock music drift over from the driveway, where a car is pulling in. “You have company?”

Johnny hitches a shoulder. “June said Aaron might show.”

I inhale a sharp breath. “Why would he be here?”

“Is that any way to greet an invited guest?” June scoffs, sounding more and more like Mom. “Where are your manners?”

She’s right, of course, but I’m not trying to get to know him any more than a handful of hookups. Sure, keep telling yourself that.

I ignore that tilt-a-whirl feeling. “You invited the person who tried to buy my service station?”

“You should be flattered,” Johnny says. “He never asked to buy my bar.”

“Or Honeycomb,” Aunt Dina mocks.

“That’s different.” I make a frustrated sound. “The station is the last thing we have of Mom and Dad’s.”

It was in both their names, but Mom was at Honeycomb most of the time with her sister. She was still involved in decision-making at Jack’s, but the store seemed to suit her interests better. She loved all the honey products and creating displays for them. Aunt Dina always said she had the better eye.

Johnny scrunches his face. “You’re standing in your childhood home.”

I clench my jaw. “You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, we know,” June replies softly. “But in Aaron’s defense, he wasn’t aware of any of that.”

Had he been, would he still have asked? I’m not sure. Except, given how he reacted after the studio visit, he likely would have. Either way, it’s not a good idea to let my guard down.

Johnny pats my shoulder. “Jack’s always been the sappy one.”

I scoff. “What the hell?”

“You act all grumpy, but it’s really about holding everything inside.” He points a finger in my chest. “All the sentimental stuff you cherish.”

“Whatever,” I grumble.

He’s not wrong, but I don’t tell him that. There certainly were days I seemed to struggle harder than June, who’d also lost her husband. I could barely manage getting out of bed, and the only reason I did was to keep the station running. For them. It seemed the right thing to do.

I spot Aaron approaching cautiously, and I head over to him, wondering if he might’ve heard any of that conversation.

“If you want me to leave, just say the word,” is the first thing out of his mouth. He sounds so wary of my reaction that I feel guilty.

“Nah, it’s cool you came.” He follows me into the backyard. “Want anything to drink?”

“Uh, I actually brought a bottle of wine.” He holds up the offer. “Though I’m not sure it’s a good year or whatever.”

I glance at the label, and though it’s not one I favor, he did go out of his way to think of it. “Looks good to me.”

I introduce Aaron to Uncle Chuck, who’s the only one to not have met him. That strikes me as strange for someone only passing through town.

Aaron holds his own in various conversations with my family, which helps me relax a bit more. I’m not sure why his presence affects me so much, but it might be because I’m yet again letting him into my private sanctuary. This time with my family. But he’s quite charismatic, and I can see him cutting deals with his partner, Rocco. Even though he claims he’d prefer to be more hands-on than anything.

I open his wine and pour us a couple of glasses while I sit beside him on the deck and chat with Frank, who’s decided to show up tonight. He doesn’t always attend our functions, but we consider him family, so he’s welcome anytime.

“BMWs have that sweet hologram display on the windshield,” Frank says to Johnny as he explains taking Aaron’s car on a test drive after the work was done.

“Really? I would probably crash.”

“Nah, you get used to it after a couple of days,” Aaron replies.

“Fancy,” June says as she tops off our wines.

“Yeah, Rocco convinced me to get the feature added since I refused to buy a new car. It’s probably my only splurge.” He almost seems guilty about having a nice car.

“Bet your apartment is top-notch too,” I say, and he quirks an eyebrow as if surprised I’ve given it any thought.

“Almost too sterile, honestly. I like the craftmanship in yours.” He glances toward the kitchen area through the sliding glass doors. “This one too. The midcentury vibe.”

“Yeah, my parents loved that aesthetic.”

His eyes widen. “This was your parents’ house?”

I nod, my throat feeling clogged. “Johnny decided to live here and has pretty much kept it as is.”

“Unless you count his dirty underwear on the floor,” June teases.

“Hey, now.” Johnny wields the tongs in her direction. “You leave me and my underwear alone.”

She scrunches her face. “Not a problem there.”

Everyone laughs as Johnny motions to us that it’s time to eat. We all gather at the table and dig into the grilled chicken and steaks, along with a ton of side dishes.

“You’re right, June. Your famous potato salad is amazing.”

Uncle Chuck pretends to slide some money to him across the table for the compliment, and everyone laughs.

“My wife mentioned you were interested in property around here?” Uncle Chuck asks, and I bristle.

“Just out of curiosity.” Aaron throws me a sidelong glance, likely remembering our terse conversation about flipping houses. “I’d been thinking lately about going back to my roots.”

“Your roots?” Uncle Chuck asks.

“Getting my hands dirty. Restoration or remodels.”

“Unfortunately, there aren’t many properties for sale,” Uncle Chuck says with a frown.

“I hear you on that. We had a good ride for a few years, though, eh?”

Uncle Chuck smiles as if he knows exactly what Aaron means. As a matter of fact, there was a conversation last month that the housing bubble had burst. And now I wonder if that’s why Rocco was trying to go in for the hard sell. But if they’re struggling, they certainly never gave off that vibe. According to my uncle, there are always ebbs and flows, just like with any business. Besides the fact that we’re a very small town with little turnover in residential or commercial properties. Thankfully, Uncle Chuck has the bees to keep him plenty busy and the general store is thriving.

“I’d be happy to alert you when something comes up.”

“I’d like that. Thank you,” Aaron says as Uncle Chuck hands him his card.

I push aside the idea that he might own property near me someday. Likely, it’s a passing fancy on his part. I rub at a stitch in my chest because this feels too close for comfort. The last guy I dated was only a temporary resident, and look where that got us. He left, and I never saw him again.

“I like how close you all are.” Aaron’s breath wafts over my ear, and it makes me shiver.

I clear my throat. “Yeah, I suppose it’s pretty cool.”

I glance around the table at my family members talking, laughing, teasing each other, and I feel blessed even if three of them are missing. We could’ve all gone our separate ways and allowed our grief to push us apart, but we didn’t.

When I catch Aaron’s eyes, I see a flash of earnestness there too, making me wonder what I’ve missed. He’s said it’s only him and his mom and the relationship with his father is strained. Does he wish for more? For what we have?

I suddenly feel guilty for being so salty about his arrival tonight. If he doesn’t get opportunities to experience being around family like this very often, then, of course, he’d agree to be part of it. Small towns are supposed to be welcoming, yet I continue treating him like an outsider. It has more to do with my defenses being up because I like having him around a little too much, but that’s no excuse.

Story of my life. But I can’t fault him for happening upon Aqua Vista the way he did. Even if he returned with ulterior motives.

It’s best I just enjoy my time with him and say my goodbyes. Maybe I’ll be in his area someday, maybe he’ll be in mine again, and if neither of us is in a relationship, maybe we’ll hook up. If not, it’ll be a good memory of some of the best sex of my life.

After dinner, we dig into the pie I brought while Uncle Chuck answers Aaron’s questions about keeping bees. He seems genuinely interested, and my uncle is eating it up. He loves talking about his bees.

Aaron moans around a bite of pie, and I want to kick him under the table for making me have impure thoughts around my family.

“I tried to get some of this pie today, but they’d run out.” He points his fork at me. “You took the last one.”

I scoff playfully. “It’s obviously good I did.”

June winks. “Jack must’ve had a feeling you were coming tonight.”

Johnny asks Aaron about San Jose, and I mostly stay quiet to listen.

“It’s a mix between Los Angeles and San Francisco but on a smaller scale.”

“Isn’t it like the third largest city in California?” I throw out. “I wouldn’t call that small.”

The table grows quiet as Johnny and Frank try to hold in their smirks. It’s obvious I’ve looked it up. And recently too. So sue me.

Thankfully, the obvious seems to slip by Aaron. “True. The traffic still sucks, but we have lots of restaurants and diversity. A big LGBTQ population.”

Johnny arches an eyebrow at me as if reading my grumbly thoughts about Aaron having plenty of men to choose from.

Am I really jealous of Aaron having more opportunities to hook up? Listen to me. In another few days, he’ll be gone, and I won’t have to deal with seeing his pretty ass all around town.