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My phone vibrates in my hand and I know without looking it’s Whitney. I look down at my phone when Kevin turns his attention to the television.
Whitney: What the fuck
Me: I know.
Whitney: Get rid of him!
Me: How would you like me to do that? Do you want me to tell him?
Whitney: No! I don’t have the energy for that conversation right now. I need you right now, JP I want to be alone with you.
Me: What would you like me to do, baby? Tell me and I’ll do it. But I can’t just kick him out because you and I want to be alone to talk without that raising a hundred questions. Let’s be real, Whitney.
Whitney: Ughhh. I’m coming down in a second. I rang the alarm to Chloe, she should be here soon to run interference.
I don’t respond. I just drop to the chair with a sigh of relief. I was happy that she’d called her, it makes it look a little less odd that she’s here. If Chloe is here, then I just serve as a place for them to talk in peace. Trey doesn’t live far from here so I anticipate Chloe in the next twenty minutes or so.
When I pull my eyes away from my phone, Kevin is eyeing me over his beer and almost thirty years of friendship allows me to read his look easily.The wheels are turning.
“What?” I ask as I reach for one of his beers that I don’t even want and crack it open. I was in the mood for wine or something harder. I know Whitney would have eventually worn me down. I would have had a glass of wine with her and then another and then a whiskey neat and then my dick would have been inside her for the rest of the night.
“It’s just odd. You haven’t seen Whitney in three years and I’d know if you guys had kept in touch.”
“Would you have? I didn’t realize I needed to run all my conversations by you.”
“This isn’tconversationswith just anyone. It’s Whitney and she never mentioned talking to you either. It’s just strange. She’s comfortable enough with you to show up here after she broke up with her fiancé after not talking to you for years.” He leans forward and shakes his head. “Never mind.” He looks me up and down quickly before turning toward the window and then back to the television that he turned on but I can tell he’s not actually paying attention to what’s on the screen.
I know what exactly that never mind is about and part of me wants to press it. Reassure him that it’s not what he’s thinking. I don’t because it’s exactly what he’s thinking and I can’t lie right to his face. I think if I were anyone else in the world, he’d ask. He’d ask the words that floated through his brain when he looked at me. But I’m me andI wouldn’t.
Fuck.
I think he’s going to speak up again when Whitney walks into the room. She’s wearing sweatpants and one of her hoodies, and I’m grateful that she didn’t put on any of my clothes.
“Dad.” She nods as she sits next to him on the couch and leans her head on his shoulder.
“Daughter.” He chuckles. “You going to tell me what’s going on? Why you’re here?”
She lifts her head and her eyes dart to her left, finding mine before moving around the room as if she’s not sure where to look when I know she just wants to look at me. “I wasn’t happy.”
He frowns. “Since when?”
“This is exactly why I didn’t come home, Dad. I made a decision, give me a second to sit with it before you start asking a million questions!” I can feel her agitation flowing off of her and I wish I could pull her into my arms and hold her.
He opens his mouth to respond when my doorbell rings and then Chloe is coming through it with Trey right behind her.
“Hi, I’m here, I’m here.” Chloe rushes into the room with freshly fucked hair and clothes that look like she just threw on in a haste to help put out whatever fire is happening here. She plops down next to Whitney and puts a bottle of tequila in front of her. “We aresogetting drunk.” She looks at Kevin. “Uncle Kev, what are you doing here? A girl breaks up with her fiancé, she doesn’t need her father right now. She needs me.” She puts a hand under her chin and smiles.
“I didn’t even know she was here. I came over to hang out with him,” Kevin says, pointing at me. “I still don’t know why you came here in the first place. You could have come home.” He looks at Whitney with a face of concern but also a little bit of skepticism.
“You’ve been here five minutes and have already asked me the same question more than once,” Whitney responds.
“She wanted space and she knew I’d meet her here.” Chloe interrupts before grabbing the tequila and pulling Whitney off the couch. “We’re going to go talk,” she says, and I try not to follow her with my eyes out of the room. Trey grabs one of Kevin’s beers, turning the attention to him and away from the tension flowing off of me.
“Looks like I’ll be here a while.” He grabs the remote and puts on the ESPN channel and I’m glad that seems to catch Kevin’s attention pretty quickly.
For now.
I’ve looked at my phone no less than a hundred times in the last hour trying to wait enough time before I get up to do something that would allow me to check on Whitney.Fuck this.
