Chapter Seven
Lincoln
“Me and Bobby McGee” played five times between Chelsea and Warren Street in Tribeca.
Miss Adeline, Eric, and Beau sang at the top of their lungs as if every loop of the song was the first time they’d heard it in years.
Lexie drummed the steering wheel, though her singing was more muted. She seemed to be concentrating on making this ride as miserable as possible.
I braced on the ribbed floor as she took another turn on two wheels. Every time Eric, the dogs, Beau, and I slid, she had an evil grin.
Muffy dug his nails into my thighs. Even his weight on my legs wasn’t enough to keep us from moving.
This was why I should’ve driven.
I would’ve been conscious of their comfort.
She was determined to make this the car ride from hell.
But as I looked around, everyone else was happy. That only amplified my misery. It was like a spotlight beaming on my unhappiness. They could have fun even in the simplest situations.
I couldn’t remember what the word meant.
Sure, I enjoyed basketball games with my friend Daniel Elliott and beers with my brother and dinner with my sister. But it wasn’t this.
Singing my head off to an awful song like it was the best thing I’d ever done.
Beau elbowed me. “It wouldn’t kill you to loosen up.”
She resumed screeching and clapping to the music.
I wasn’t a loose kind of guy even before all the responsibility fell on me.
Even as a kid, I was serious. My mother had helped me to let go sometimes, but she’d been gone a lot of years. I had fractions of memories like the day she and Teague had danced to Cher in the front yard.
I’d been worried about my baby sister. And when they’d gotten me to join in, I still hadn’t had as good a time as they had.
To this day, I hated every single note of any Cher song. Whenever my brother’s phone rang with the tune the firefighters at his station had programmed, it was like a thousand pinpricks of pain.
Perhaps “Me and Bobby McGee” on repeat wasn’t so bad after all. But the words that were ringing in my head loudest were still Agent Walker’s. You’re under arrest for securities fraud and tax evasion.
How had those charges been levied against me? Who had instigated that? I doubted it would simply go away . . . he would be back. Then what?
Lexie maneuvered the van down the ramp to the underground parking at Daniel’s building at far too high a rate of speed, though I was the only one who seemed aware.
My words to slow down were swallowed up by the screech of tires as we came to a stop.
She turned off the ignition and blessed silence followed.
Finally, I can hear myself think. Maybe even make heads or tails of these ridiculous charges.
How had Dad known?
I rubbed my temples.
Eric grinned and held up his fist. “Awesome ride!”
I bumped it, though my movement was stilted. Beau would say I had a broomstick up my ass. But I had to if I was going to keep her and Teague happy.
Eric threw open the sliding door. Three dogs popped up and no one had their leashes. If they escaped, my brother would be devastated.
Ash gently nudged Eric as if reminding him to take her leash. Muffy barreled out, then looked back at me guiltily like he’d forgotten to wait for permission. Sadie stood at the edge of the van and stared down at the ground as if she wasn’t sure she wanted to jump that far.
Beau joined all of them in the garage and suddenly Sadie and I were the only ones left in the van. She glanced at me, almost in a daring you get out first way.
The overhead garage light illuminated the fact that my suit was coated in dog hair. I resisted the urge to brush it off, though I couldn’t stand to be unkempt.
“You wouldn’t get in and now you’re afraid to get out.” Lexie poked her head through the door.
Her taunt spurred me to action despite that I was over forty, a grown man, a successful business person, and should be beyond allowing anyone to intimidate me. I did as I pleased on my own timetable.
Except when it came to Lexie Logan apparently.
I scooted across the van floor and got to my feet. Sadie blinked at me, and I groaned but lifted her out of the van and set her on the concrete floor.
“She is so spoiled,” Miss Adeline said affectionately as she grabbed her leash.
And I was obviously a sucker for dogs, women who drove VW buses, and guys who wore outrageously colored bow ties that coordinated with their sister’s clothing.
Muffy pawed at my leg.
He’s a dog. He wants something. He’s not intentionally trying to maul your suit.
I inhaled a lungful of air through my nostrils and willed patience to infuse me. The entire car ride had been a test, one I wasn’t sure I was going to pass.
He pawed again. I caught his foot and set it back on the ground. He wagged his tail, seemingly happy with my attention.
“Take his leash,” Miss Adeline whispered.
I thought that was the signal for a treat . . . of which I had none.
Reluctantly I picked up the lead. He bolted forward, and I stumbled. Lexie and Beau snickered.
I scowled, though that wasn’t enough to quiet either of them, and followed Miss Adeline and Eric on the familiar path to the elevator.
My only friend, Daniel, and his wife owned most of the building. I’d been to their apartment a few times, but we mostly met to play basketball or tennis. As of late, I’d come here to see my brother.
After the fire at Grey Paws, Daniel had graciously offered Teague, Pepper, and Miss Adeline an apartment and the entire bottom floor for the dog rescue.
While I would have preferred they stay with me, these accommodations worked better for the dogs. I understood that and while grateful to the Elliotts for their kindness to my family, I didn’t like not being the one to take care of them. I’d failed my family once by not being able to protect my mother. I wouldn’t fail them again.
Teague, and by extension Pepper, Miss Adeline, and the dogs, were my responsibility. It didn’t matter he was only a few years younger than I was and more than capable of seeing after himself.
I couldn’t change the habit of a lifetime.
That habit included Beau too.
“You didn’t come home last night,” I said quietly when she caught up to me.
Lexie sped ahead to walk with her brother.
Beau’s face turned red, though I wasn’t sure if it was guilt at being caught or anger that I was prying in her personal life.
“Not that it’s any of your business, but it was late. You’d already gone to bed.”
Both. That was what the red shade of her cheeks meant.
“What my sister does is absolutely my business. Especially under my roof.”
She yanked on the chain around her neck. “I can find a new roof to sleep under,” she huffed. “And you sound like Dad.”
She might as well have punched me in the chest. Twice.
I hated that she lived on the other side of the world where I couldn’t watch over her. Beau back in the city, living with me, meant that I could breathe easier. I didn’t want her to find somewhere else to stay.
And the knockout blow: I sounded like our father.
There was nothing I wanted less, though if I were being honest, she was right.
Teague and Beau had thankfully taken after our mother. They had her kindness and spirit even if they’d both been too young to remember that before she died.