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Terrific.
‘Great, I guess,’ Luke said. ‘I’m seeing a couple of sites in France, thinking of investing in a new project in Lille to make this trip worthwhile. Then I’m heading home in a couple of days.’ Even if home didn’t feel like home, anymore.
‘So the stories aren’t true,’ Jack said. ‘I figured they had to be BS.’
‘What stories?’
‘That you were moving to London fu
ll time to run a movie theatre with some British chick.’
‘Who told you that?’ Luke’s insides churned, and the vice around his ribs which had been there for days – ever since he’d walked away from Ruby – tightened.
‘Mom by way of Becca. For the record, kid sis didn’t believe it either.’ Jack’s gaze narrowed.
‘Is that why you got in touch?’ Luke said, annoyed all over again. What the fuck? Why couldn’t his family butt the hell out of his business? He’d come to Paris to get away from thoughts of Ruby and now he was having to talk about her with his kid brother, who had never even met her.
‘Maybe,’ Jack said, still nonchalant and unconcerned. ‘Okay, now I’m confused, because you’re blushing.’
Luke could feel his face glowing under Jack’s stare. ‘I’m not blushing.’
‘Yeah, you are, bro. Then it’s true?’
‘No, it’s not true. I got served with community service over there so I had to …’
‘Whoa.’ Jack spurted out the mouthful of beer he’d just necked. ‘You? You got served by a judge? You have got to be shitting me,’ he said, looking more animated than Luke had seen him in years. Probably ever. ‘What the hell did you do? Lecture someone to death?’
‘Is it really that hard to believe I’d break a law?’ Luke asked, indignant now as well as annoyed. Was he really that much of a stuffed shirt?
‘Hell, yeah. Luke, you’re the dude who came out in a rash when I dissed the on-set tutor. What law did you break? ’Cos this I’ve gotta hear.’
‘Trespassing in a Royal Park.’ He decided to leave out the part about disturbing the peace, because that would require him mentioning singing with Ruby. And he was not going there. Jack would probably choke. And he wasn’t sure his ribs would survive the recollection of Ruby standing on the jetty, her sweet soulful voice drifting into the night as she scattered his uncle’s ashes.
‘No shit,’ Jack said, sounding genuinely impressed with Luke for the first time in his life. ‘They have laws about that stuff in London?’
‘They have laws about that stuff everywhere Jack. Just because you chose to ignore them, doesn’t mean they aren’t there …’ He trailed off, because railing on Jack just didn’t seem worth it anymore.
‘And you broke them.’ Jack let out a laugh. ‘Awesome. So what does you breaking into a Royal Park have to do with the British chick and the movie theatre?’ Jack added, getting straight to the point.
‘I was required to do community service at the theatre. Three hundred hours. So I decided to take a break from Mom and relocate to London for six weeks to get it done. The Royale used to belong to our Uncle Matty. He left me half of it in his will. And the other half to a British chick whose name is Ruby. Ruby Graham …’ He paused. Why was it so damn hard to say her name? Would it always be this hard? ‘Anyway, the theatre needed a lot of work. It was kind of run down.’
‘Hold up. Uncle Matty? You mean Mom’s long-lost brother she doesn’t speak to? He died?’
‘Yes, he died Jack, months ago. How do you not know this?’ Exactly how clueless was his brother about family affairs? And why did Jack’s cavalier approach to life seem even less charming all of a sudden?
‘I guess Mom must have mentioned it in one of her texts,’ Jack said, still clueless.
‘Ya think?’ Luke said, his tone cutting.
‘Damn, now I feel bad for never reading her texts,’ he said, not sounding that cut up about his complete inability to pay attention. ‘But those things are like novels,’ he added, as if that was an excuse. Jack really was a self-centred asshole – why had he never noticed that before? ‘But anyway, so you own half the theatre now? And the British chick owns the other half.’
‘The British chick has a name. It’s Ruby.’
‘Is Ruby hot?’
It was Luke’s turn to choke on his beer. He slapped the glass down on the table. ‘That’s a dumb sexist question.’
‘Uh-huh? You’re blushing again. So I’m going to take that as a yes.’ Jack’s gaze narrowed and Luke’s non-blush ignited. ‘Damn, you hooked up with her, didn’t you?’
