Hank nodded again. Lee got his mug, reloaded, rested his h*ps against the counter and gave his eyes to his brother.
“We’re supposed to go to viewings later. Thinkin’ that’s out,” Lee remarked.
“You’re movin’?” Hank asked.
“Keepin’ the place. It’s Grandma Ellen’s. Indy wants it kept in the family. We’ll rent it but we need more space.”
They absolutely did. Two bedrooms, Indy and all her crazy (not to mention clothes) and a kid?
They needed more space.
“Keep that on the quiet,” Lee warned. “She hasn’t told Tod and Stevie yet. Stevie’ll take it in stride. Tod’s gonna have a shit fit, not havin’ Indy or the contents of her closet close. Indy’s already freaking at the thought of moving away from them, not to mention not having Chowleena around frequently. So it’s likely I’ll need to get her a dog, too, to fill the void of Chowleena.” Lee drank some coffee then finished, “Though it won’t be a f**kin’ Chow dog.”
Hank again nodded, his mind expelling the idea of his brother owning a Chow, at the same time making a note not to be anywhere near when Indy broke the news to Tod that she and Lee were breaking up the family.
He took a sip of his coffee, then said, “You called me for a meet, man, but I got somethin’ to go over with you first.”
“Yeah?” Lee asked.
“Before I left, got a call from Mace.”
Hank watched Lee take a sip from his mug, his actions casual, his eyes intent. When he was done, he stated, “Got one too.”
“He went out last night with Ally,” Hank told him something he already knew.
This time, Lee nodded, but other than that, he didn’t give anything away.
“He said she didn’t do well, she did well. She made all the right moves. Confident, not cocky. Tough when she needed to be. When the situation became uncertain, she stood down without a fight and took orders. He said she has the feel. And he said Hector thinks she’s the shit.”
“Hector’s a wild man, and she’s not his sister,” Lee pointed out.
“Lee,” Hank said low, “they grew up together. She isn’t, but she is.”
Lee took a breath in through his nose. This meant he saw Hank’s point.
Hank laid it out. “I’m gonna give her space. I’m also gonna ask you to train her.”
“Hank—”
“She wants this,” Hank said quietly. “And it’d make me sleep a f**kuva lot easier knowin’ you gave her the skills she needs.”
Lee’s jaw clenched.
Hank continued. “And she’s good at it. You’ve seen the tape. Ice cold at Lincoln’s. Like she’d been doin’ that shit for years.”
“Easy for her to do that when she knows she’s got firepower at her back,” Lee countered.
“Yeah. You’re right. But Darius told both of us, since he laid it down for her months ago, she never made a move without him bein’ in the know and him bein’ at her back if she needed him. She’s not gung ho and proving a point. She’s moving forward smart and doing it making all the right moves.”
Indistinct noises of more retching floated into the room. Hank lost Lee’s attention when his brother turned his head and looked at the door.
“You wanna go to her?” he asked, then offered, “I’ll wait.”
Lee looked back at his brother. “She gets pissed, I get too much in her space.”
That was Indy. Like Ally, two peas in a pod. They needed everybody, but were damned if they’d let it show.
Hank took a sip of coffee, thinking he looked forward to making babies with Roxie. He looked forward to having a family.
He did not, however, look forward to this shit.
He gave his brother a second then declared, “I’m gonna have a conversation with Ally. You do what you need to do, but what I’ll ask you to do is think about it. You could teach her things she needs to know. You could also help her get licensed so she can make a better go of this.”
“She’s not findin’ trouble gettin’ cases,” Lee noted. “She doesn’t even have an office and she’s had two fall in her lap.”
“Could that be because she’s already established a reputation for getting the job done?” Hank suggested.
Lee said nothing.
“Just think about it, yeah?” Hank prompted.
Lee gave him a nod.
Hank took a sip of his coffee before asking, “Now, why’d you want me over here?”
“My phone’s been busy this morning. Mace. Hector. Tex. Even f**kin’ Kumar,” Lee told him.
“Yeah?” Hank said.
“And also Brody,” Lee went on.
“And?”
“Jane wrote that Rock Chick book,” Lee announced.
Hank went still before he whispered, “What?”
Lee shook his head but said, “Yeah. Jane. Middle of the night last night, Brody found a trail from the person who gets reader mail to Jane.”
“Fuck,” Hank bit out.
“Yeah,” Lee agreed.
“What now?” Hank asked.
“That’s why I asked you here,” Lee answered. “I don’t know. No tellin’ what Indy’s gonna do. She thinks of Jane like family. I don’t know if she’ll lose her mind or defend her. Bein’ Indy, though, my guess is she’d defend her. But right now, her sick all the time, she doesn’t need this shit. She’s also told me about Jane. That woman loves books, always wanted to become a writer. She’s written f**kin’ dozens of them that went nowhere. Now she’s livin’ her dream.”
“Off our lives,” Hank pointed out.
“That’s the rub,” Lee stated. “’Cause what does it hurt when what it does is give one of our own the key to her dreams?”
Hank stared at his brother. “Are you shitting me?”
“Tod and Stevie have been over here cackling about that book least a dozen times since Indy and Ally found it. Fuck, Tod’s highlighted parts that he reads out loud to us. And I gotta admit, that shit is funny. Wasn’t then. My woman in my bed, wearin’ my ring, pregnant with my baby, it is now.”
“I’m not sure I’ll get there,” Hank replied.
“You asked me just last night, I would have said the same thing. Then when Brody told me it was Jane, Indy pukin’ in the bathroom, us having viewings to get a bigger place to prepare for our family, I didn’t have it in me to get pissed. Jane’s got nothin’ in her life except that store and us.” He paused. “And now her books.”