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My heart tripled in weight, and I pushed the memory away like it might crush me. Today was about celebrating Jake turning twenty-five. Not remembering his dad when he was twenty-five. I walked inside to pour myself a drink, and when I came out, Jake’s car had just turned onto the street. His group of friends cheered when they saw him, and collectively huddled together to block the Ferrari from his view as his car slid past and parked on the street.
I stayed on the porch with my beer, shaking my head at the sad, burping Honda my nephew was unfolding himself from. Odds were good that Marjorie had bought it for him based on the safety ratings.
I watched him approach the crowd, his head cocked, a wide easy grin on his face. He knew something was up. His friends loved him, but they didn’t usually wait outside for him. They chorused his name, and he heard it in their voices too.
“What’s going on guys?” he asked, reaching the group.
“I got you something, Jake,” one of them said.
“No,Igot you something.”
“We all chipped in.”
Slowly the amoeba of twenty-somethings shifted aside, and Jake’s jaw dropped. He looked askance at Marjorie. She shook her head and nodded her chin to the porch where I was standing. Jake bounded up the steps and grabbed me in a hug. I hugged him back with one arm, careful not to spill my drink on him.
“She’s never gonna let me keep it,” Jake said when he pulled back. His eyes were shining anyway though. Happiness, tears, all emotions lived right on the surface for Marks’ men. His dad had been the same way. “But I’ll never forget the five minutes of my life that I owned a Ferrari.”
“I think she might.” I looked over at my sister. She was looking at the Ferrari the same way she’d looked at Jake when he was a baby. Overwhelmed adoration. She caught my eye, and a grin spread across her face. Jake had his dad’s expressions. Easy, open, sincere. Marjorie and I were different. Her grin held shades of malevolence and mischief. She’d come to a decision about that car, and I might not like it.
I raised my beer to her in a mock toast and grinned back.
I’d just buy him another for his thirtieth if this one disappeared.
* * *
It was another two hours or so before I got to talk to Jake alone again. His mom and his friends had missed him, and they stuck to him like paparazzi on a scandal. I was thinking about heading out when he found me on the porch, flicking through work emails on my phone.
“What’s the verdict?” I asked, nodding toward the shining black beauty in the driveway. “Is she staying or going?”
“She hasn’t said,” Jake said. His eyes settled wistfully on the sleek outlines of the car. “I’m taking that as a positive sign.”
“Seems like one.” I sent Jake a sideways look. He had that familiar combination of love and frustration warring across his face. I was seeing it more and more as he was getting older. He knew why his mom was as overprotective as she was, but it was getting harder for him to deal with. Maybe I shouldn’t have bought the damn car, but maybe they needed it.
“Listen, I can’t believe I’m asking you for a favor after you got me a Ferrari, but I am.” Jake squared his shoulders and turned to look at me.
I didn’t grin at the overly serious look on his face, even though I wanted to. Jake was a man now, and it wasn’t his fault that he had the exact same earnest expression he’d had since he was ten. I nodded my head gravely instead and slid my phone back into my pocket. “I’m listening.”
He took a deep breath. “I don’t know if you remember my friend, Selena Sinclair. She majored in finance, and she’s been working in New York since we graduated.”
“Your ex-girlfriend,” I said, remembering the gorgeous girl with golden brown hair and eyes who Jake had been besotted with. I’d met her a few times when I visited Jake at college.
“Yeah, but now we’re just friends. Anyway, she’s from LA, and she needs to move back. It’s a family thing.”
I nodded, trying to figure out what the hell any of this had to do with me.
“An interview,” Jake corrected quickly. “She can get the job on her own, but she needs a foot in the door.”
If she wanted to work at Marks Wealth Management she did. We had our pick of the talent, and almost no one got hired without knowing someone. I felt my mouth pull down in a frown. I’d give this girl an interview, but I wouldn’t hire her unless she was the best candidate.
“You know I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t important,” Jake said, seeing the shift in my expression.
“An interview is no guarantee,” I warned him. “I don’t want her to think she has a job waiting for her here.”
“Absolutely, Uncle Dom. Just an interview. But I wouldn’t even ask for that if I didn’t think she could get the job. She’s great at what she does. Her other job promoted her three times in two years.”
I eyed my nephew. He had the same shine in his eyes that he had when he first saw the Ferrari. “Okay,” I said reluctantly. “I’ll get her the interview.”
But after that, she was on her own.
