Page 144 of Wreckage and Rain

"All right. Holloway."

"Bennet."

"Welcome to Chicago."

"Take me to a bar that has good fries. I've been eating airport food for four hours."

"I know a place."

"You aren't taking me to your wife's bar."

"You're going to my wife's bar."

"I want fries."

"They have fries."

"Burlesque fries."

"They're excellent fries, Jake. You're going to be impressed."

He goes to Vibes that night. He sits at the bar. Sam brings him a beer and a basket of fries. Jake eats half the basket, watching Sam work the room with the easy economy of a man who's good at his job. Then he carries his beer down to the corner where Sam is restocking.

"Sam."

"Jake."

"So. I hear you're family now."

Sam stops, mid-pour. "Is that the word going around."

"That's the word. Summer's people are my people, and Summer's people decided you were one of them, so it's done. Congratulations. There's no opting out. We're clingy and we travel in a pack."

"I've noticed."

"You earned it, for the record. You looked after my sister when she got to this city with nobody, and I found out secondhand,and I decided right then that you and I were going to be fine. So you get jokes from me, not a speech."

"I appreciate that."

"Everybody else already gave you the speech anyway. The long pause, the part about being careful with the women. How many's it been."

"Five."

"Five. You don't need a sixth from the fishing guy." He holds up a finger. "Real questions instead. One. Are these fries always this good, or did you hear a Holloway was coming and panic-train the kitchen. I flew in on the cheapest seat on the cheapest plane and I need to know Chicago was worth it."

"Always this good."

"Then I forgive the city its weather." A second finger. "Two. My sister tells me you've been circling Autumn like a man defusing a bomb."

Sam sets the glass down. "Summer talks too much."

"Summer talks exactly enough. Ask her husband." Jake grins. "Here's what I know about Autumn. Friends since we were twelve. Most patient woman in the state of South Carolina. She does not spend that patience on men who haven't earned it. So the fact that she's spending it on you tells me everything I need. You don't need my blessing, man. But you've got it, for whatever a fishing-obsessed almost-brother-in-law's blessing is worth."

"It's worth something."

"It's worth almost nothing and we both know it. Take it anyway." He pushes the empty basket across the bar. "And bring me another one of these. I'm here all weekend, and I fully intend to ruin your food cost."

Sam almost smiles. He gets him another basket of fries.