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Caroline had taught him differently.
The Uber stopped at the curb, and he kissed her before she slipped inside. “Call me later,” she whispered.
“It might be late,” he said.
“That’s fine.” Caroline kissed him again. “Go on. You and Kevin should catch up.”
“Okay.” He leaned in and kissed her again. “I’m guessing you’ll want to know everything he says?”
“Well, duh,” she said, biting her lip.
Josh laughed and closed the door. He stood and watched as the cab pulled away and thought about what Kevin might say when he got back upstairs. He didn’t have long to wait.
Josh felt a slap on his back and Kevin handed him his keys and a jacket. “Let’s go grab a beer.”
“I have beer upstairs,” Josh said.
“Yeah, I know, but I need to get the images of you and my sister playing house out of my head, so we’re going down the block.”
Obviously, Kevin wasn’t as okay with Josh’s being with Caroline as he thought. There was no use in fighting it.
They walked quietly down the street to a small pub tucked between two trendy bistros. That was the nature of Josh’s neighborhood, and it was what he liked best. He could have the upscale eatery if he wanted it, but on most occasions, Josh liked to keep it simple.
They sat at the bar and Kevin ordered two domestic beers and pulled a bowl of pretzels sticks between them. For a long time, neither one of them spoke. The bar was almost empty except for a couple playing darts and an old man who was sitting at the end of the bar watching the Rangers skate to a win.
“It’s my little sister, man. Why are you messing with my little sister?” Kevin’s words hit Josh right in the chest. There was nothing hostile, but the worry rolling off his friend was palpable.
“It just happened. It’s not like I planned it.”
“Yeah, but couldn’t you have avoided it? You’re screwing around with her, aren’t you?”
Josh didn’t answer and took a pull on the bottle of beer.
“Are you going to answer me?”
Josh turned and faced him. “No, I’m not. She deserves her privacy and honestly, it’s none of your fucking business.”
“She’s my sister, Josh. My innocent baby sister.”
That was the crux of the issue. Caroline was the baby. Grown woman, engineer, none of that mattered as much as being the baby of the family. “She could be even more to me,” he said honestly. “She matters to me. A lot.”
There it was.
The silence settled between them, weighing everything down, and it was the last thing Josh wanted. Kevin was one of his oldest friends and what he thought was important. But Caroline didn’t deserve to be the topic of a bar discussion.
“Why don’t you ask her about us?” Josh proposed.
“Because I’m asking you,” Kevin said. “I’m asking you what’s going on with her. With the both of you.”
Josh knew he shouldn’t say too much but he was torn. On one hand he wanted to be able to let things develop with Caroline in private. They had enough baggage without dealing with meddling family.
At the same time, he wanted Kevin to know what he knew. That Caroline was amazing and more able to decide what she wanted than they would ever be. He just wasn’t sure where to draw the line.
“She doesn’t need anyone to tell her what to do. Not you, not me. She’s got it covered.”
“She’s been so sheltered,” Kevin said. “We all worry about her. She’s barely speaking to Mom and Meg.”
“I’m going to work on smoothing things out with your mom. But you have to back off and let Caroline call the shots here. Especially with Meg. Things have been pretty good, but Meg doesn’t know about us yet.”
