Jack was trying to sound casual, matter of fact. He had his legs out in front of him, ankles crossed. Austin wasn’t looking at him, but studying his Coke can as if the secrets to the universe were scrolled across it.
Finally, when the silence stretched out, Austin locked eyes with him. “What do ya want, man?”
“I want you to knock it off. I haven’t said anything to anyone. Jamie knows what’s going on, but she doesn’t know I think it’s you. But if you don’t quit, I’m going to have to tell her it’s you, and she’ll tell her boss. Or maybe I should do what I should have done in the first place and call the feds in.”
“You can’t prove shit.”
“Oh, give me a break, kid. You know how this works. A handful of people had access to these computers and that financial information. You’ve got a record for fraud. And you’ve probably got a few grand squirreled away somewhere. They’ll pin it on you and you know it.”
Austin popped the tab on his soft drink can and took a long drink. “So what, if all activity stops, you’re just going to let it go? I don’t believe that for a fucking minute.”
“Sure, I’ll let it go.” Jack might be insane, but he had the feeling Austin wasn’t a bad kid. He was just smart as hell and bored. “I’ll give you that internship I mentioned.”
“Whatever,” Austin scoffed.
But Jack figured they had just struck a deal.
The cell phone in his pocket rang, and when he answered it, Austin used the opportunity to slip back down the hall before Jack could stop him.
“Hello?” It was his sister’s number on caller ID.
“Oh, my God, Jonathon you have got to get here.” Caroline’s voice was dripping with exasperation.
“Where is here, dear?” Lately Caro had been morphing into a mini Bridezilla, and he hoped this wasn’t some kind of tuxedo crisis.
“The nursing home. Pops had some kind of tantrum, and the director of the home called Mom, who can’t get out of Darien because she’s in the middle of a color treatment. Foil wraps everywhere. And so I had to come down here because the nurses have refused to deal with Pops anymore, and I can see why. He’s being totally unreasonable.”
Jack could hear Pops yelling in the background, “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here! You always were too much your mother’s daughter, Caroline.”
“See what I mean?” she said.
“And I don’t need any damn nurses,” Pops yelled.
Jack rubbed his forehead. “Let me talk to him. I’m at Beechwood. It will take me an hour to get there with traffic, but I want to talk to him first.”
“Fine.”
“What?” Pops barked into the phone a minute later.
“Okay, what gives, Pops? You can tell me the real story.”
“I want out. I can’t live here, Jack. These people treat me like I’m a two-year-old and a dimwitted one at that. I have assets worth over a hundred million bucks and they won’t let me use a fork! This afternoon I had a cigar, and that nurse I hate, the one with the cauliflower legs and the voice like a band saw, she just grabbed it out of my mouth. Didn’t ask me to put it out, didn’t say it was against the rules. Just grabbed it, like I was a goddamn baby. So I grabbed her ass. See how she likes people getting grabby on her.”
Okay, that was funny. Jack fought a grin. “Guess she didn’t like it, huh?”
“Nope. Which probably explains why she’s so uptight. Doesn’t know how to appreciate a little slap and tickle.”
Even over the phone Jack could hear his sister gasp in horror.
But Jack suspected at this point, Pops was going for shock. He was tired of the nursing home and wanted to get his point across loud and clear. For a man who’d spent his whole life wheeling and dealing in the fast lane, Jack couldn’t imagine how hard of a fall this was for his grandfather. And he couldn’t just sit back and do nothing.
“Pops, you know you can’t go home yet.”
Pops just grunted.
“So why don’t you move in with me for a while? We can have a nurse drop in once every couple of days, and the therapist to do your physical therapy. The rest of the time you and I should be able to handle it.” Jack figured Pops couldn’t live on his own just yet, but he wasn’t senile, and he was well on the way to recovery. Being in a more comfortable atmosphere might actually facilitate his progress, and Jack had a fairly light work schedule. And apparently no social life now that Jamie was through with him.
Pops wasn’t saying anything, so Jack said, “What do you think?”
“So you’d do that for me?” Pops’s voice was tight.
Jack thought about the man who had showed up at all his ball games when he was a kid, the man who had taken him under his wing in the business world, and the man who had always been free with a hug to make up for Jack’s parents, who were stingy with affection.
“Yeah, I’d do that for you.”
“Don’t want to cramp your style when hard-on girl comes around.”
Jack laughed, even as his gut gave a little twist, like indigestion. “She gave me the ‘just friends’ speech, Pops. She’s not going to be coming around my apartment.”
“Well, shit. What the hell’s the matter with her?” Pops was indignant. “You’re a damn good catch.”
“Thanks. So okay, I’ll come down there and get things settled, and we can move you as soon as possible. Let me talk to Caroline again.”
“Sure. And thanks, kiddo.”
Now it was Jack who felt his throat tighten, but his grandfather passed the phone off before he could respond.
“Are you dating someone?” Caroline asked without a hello.
Jack could practically hear her nostrils flaring in anticipation of gossip.
“No.” He knew for a fact if Jamie had told Caroline about them, his sister would have been all over him. Clearly Jamie didn’t want Caroline to know they had slept together, so he wasn’t going to be the one to mention it. Especially since he’d been dumped.
“Oh. That’s too bad.” Caroline sounded gravely sympathetic, as though it were a national tragedy that he couldn’t find a date.
Time for a diversion. “Pops is moving in with me.”
It worked.
“Oh, dear, God. Mom’s going to burst a blood vessel.”
Chapter 13
“So what do you get paid to do this?” Mike, one of her reentry students, asked Jamie Friday afternoon.