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I almost laugh at the notion. “No. We couldn’t be more different. My brother learned how to navigate her personality, but I never did.”
“Is he the older sibling?”
I nod. “By a few years.”
“Ah, that explains it,” Jim says. “The older one usually gets more patience.”
“And the younger one?”
“The younger one gives his patience to everyone else because they’re the ones who need it by the time he arrives.”
Leo shoots me a wink across the table. “Younger siblings gotta stick together, Nixie.”
“Where’s your brother now?” James asks.
“He’s down in Tennessee. He recently had a baby, so he’s busy. We don’t talk much.”
“And your mom?”
“She’s still in New York. She’ll never leave, and I don’t know if it’s because she actually loves New York, or if she just hates change that much.” I stab a few pieces of macaroni with my fork. “Our relationship pretty much went out the window after I lost my dad.”
“When was that?” Leo asks.
“When I was fourteen. Cancer.”
“I was sixteen when Mom died,” Leo says. “Dead parents make high school fun, don’t they?”
I let out a humorless laugh. “You’re not kidding.”
Silence blankets the table like it usually does after someone drops the dead parent card.
“That’s why I’m fixing up the place.” I gesture with my fork in the direction of my house. “He left it to me, and I couldn’t bear to sell it.”
I can hardly bear to liveinit without him, but it’s the easier option of the two.
Jim covers my hand with his. “I’m so sorry you lost him. I’ll get you those business cards I was telling you about, and they’ll give you a good deal. They’ll help you with whatever you need.”
“I appreciate that, sir.”
“Call me Jim, will ya?”
I nod, and he squeezes my hand before he lets it go and turns his attention to James. “How did it go with all those dogs the other night?”
James shakes his head. “We got them to the shelter, but I don’t know what’s going to happen to them.”
Leo’s eyebrows pinch together. “What dogs?”
“We got an anonymous call from someone about a puppy mill down on Bay Street. The assholes were gone by the time we got there, but they left all the dogs behind.” James shakes his head. “They were filthy.”
I set down my fork. “Poor things. How many were there?”
“We counted twenty-six. A couple of them were, uh…” He scratches the back of his neck. “Already gone when we arrived.”
I gasp and clamp my hand over my mouth.
Jim frowns. “No telling how long they’ll make it at the shelter.”
My head whips to the right. “What do you mean?”
