Once Henri was out of view Jake took a seat on the porch swing. “How quaint, you and Henri Levitt sharing precious moments on the old porch swing.”
Maven refused to look at him. Jake grabbed her by the wrist, pulling her down beside him. She slapped his arm away. “Don’t touch me, Jake. I agreed to talk to you, not have you manhandle me. My father is right inside, and he would love to get his hands on you.”
Jake refused to take her seriously. He cut to the chase. “Did you hear Tatiana and I broke up?”
Maven stood up, putting a big gap between the two of them. She leaned against the railing, the front door in view, making her feel better. “I heard. Is that why you’re here?”
“Don’t you want to know why I broke up with her?”
Maven shook her head a disgusted look on her face. “Of course I don’t. I’ve said it many times now. I don’t care. Maybe you should get that through your head.”
Jake stood up. He studied Maven. She was still just as beautiful. Just as girly and anxious as he remembered. “I broke up with Tatiana because of you.”
Maven started for the door. She didn’t want to hear anything else. But before she could slip inside and slam the door in his smug face he grabbed her by the arm. This time she wasn’t waiting around to see what would happen next. She screamed.
“Why are you screaming?” Jake stared down at her, his breath fast, his emotions overriding his rational judgment. “I came here to say that I was sorry.”
Maven twisted free. “Get away from my house now. You’re not sorry about anything. You’re crazy and I never want to see you again.”
The door flew open, thudding loudly against the house. “What did I tell you?” Mr. Wilder said, grabbing Jake by the collar of his shirt. He jerked him away from his daughter. The worst thing Jake could do was show up at his home.
“I came to apologize to her. I swear that’s all I was doing.” He didn’t have time to say anything else. Maven’s dad gave him no time to gain his balance. He shoved him down the porch steps. Jake fell to the ground like a bag of bones.
Maven tried to stop her dad. “Please, Dad, stop. He’s not worth it.”
But he wasn’t listening. He stood at the top of their steps watching Jake pick himself up from the ground and dust himself off. “I don’t want to see you around here again. And the next time you want to threaten someone, threaten me, tough guy.”
Jake was angry. Maven could see it. He was also scraped up and picking gravel from his elbow. He lifted his head, trying to pretend he still had some dignity left. “My parents are going to sue you.”
Maven’s dad laughed, crossing his arms and shaking his head in amusement. “Oh I doubt that. But feel free to try.”
Maven watched from behind her dad as Jake once again walked away with his tail between his legs.
“Next time you come get me if he shows up here.”
Maven nodded. “I thought I could handle him.”
Her dad pulled her close, throwing an arm over her shoulder. “That’s what I’m here for. Don’t tell your mother I threw Jake Summit down the stairs, okay, kid?”
Maven sighed, smiling a little at her dad’s pleased expression. He’d wanted to let Jake have it for a long time now.
They headed inside.
USELESS ISSUES
HENRI TOSSED THE RAG into the sink at the yogurt hut. Business had died down. And he had time for a break. It wasn’t that he enjoyed serving frozen yogurt, it was just most of the time April and Sandra were too selfish to help his aunt and uncle and he felt bad. Weeks before he wouldn’t have minded, now it seemed he wanted to be in another place. That place was around Maven.
He shook his head. He wasn’t sure how this growing attraction happened, or the significance. But now he hardly spent a waking hour without Maven’s smile or giggle coming to the surface, blotting out the days and making his life harder. It wasn’t a bad thing. It just wasn’t what someone close to their demise needed to dive into—for the sake of the living.
Flynn shoved Henri in the arm. “Earth to Henri, Dad told me to tell you to leave.”
Henri looked up from the Styrofoam cups. “Ok.”
Flynn ran a hand across his chin, studying Henri’s detached behavior. “Everything okay? Don’t you have an appointment today?”
Henri shook his head. “No.”
Flynn’s eyebrows lifted in unease. He wasn’t an idiot, his mother made sure to mark them on the wall calendar that hung in their kitchen—a constant reminder to Henri when he needed to get his behind to the doctors. “Is that so?”
Henri sighed, untying his apron, he wanted to ignore Flynn altogether, but he was known for administering a mean headlock. “It’s simple blood work or something. Just give me a break for one week.”
Flynn studied Henri. He wasn’t an expert on heart conditions, but his cousin seemed fine on most days. He didn’t like to know the details about Henri. He just knew it wasn’t good.
The night his mother told them all that Henri was sick he put his fist through his closet door. He didn’t like to see his mother crying—or even his aunt.
Henri and Flynn had always been close. His family regularly visited Henri’s in Tennessee. His mother and his aunt Charlotte were twins, the bond between them had remained strong their entire life. He was sure it was the only reason Henri was allowed to take off like he did and come stay with his family.
Flynn remembered his entire life with Henri. He was older, but that never changed the bond the two of them had. Henri had a way to get inside anyone’s heart. Flynn always wanted a brother and Henri was the closest thing he would ever have to one. So it was understandable he had a lot of pent up emotions about Henri’s health.
“Fine. As long as you’re doing something worthwhile,” Flynn told Henri. “Like hanging out with blondie and I don’t mean a walk on the beach.” He shot Henri the look. Henri was dying. If he was dying he knew he would be out nailing as many women as possible. Even if Henri wasn’t the same, he figured one girl was plenty to cross a few things off the bucket list.
But judging by the look on Henri’s face he didn’t think so.
“I forgot how much of a bigot you were,” Henri said.
“Years ago you had your moments too, Henri.” Flynn poked at the rag on the counter, then dropped to his elbows, staring out the small window at the vacant picnic tables and the dark skies.
“Yeah, well.” He hopped up on the counter not worried about customers. It was going to rain. “Once you know you’re dying you don’t worry about getting laid so much anymore.”
Henri watched Flynn make a face at his words. He stayed arched over the counter staring out the window. It wasn’t something they ever discussed. Usually it was a lot of code words and hints to the issue, but never direct communication.
“I don’t think I would ever be able to forget about sex. It’s the best part about girls.” He grinned, shooting Henri a look. “And blondie, she’s pretty hot. And so damn innocent. I bet sex would be interesting.”
Henri refused to smirk at the thought of it. He didn’t want to join in on the sex talk with Flynn about Maven. She wasn’t the kind of girl that you shared those intimate details with your buddies. That didn’t stop him from thinking about her all the time. Sure, he imagined what it would be like. How great it would feel to get that close with her. All the things he imagined would happen and all the things he hoped for. He was a guy after all.
“Are you going to the Hop?” Henri asked, changing the subject so Flynn would stop drooling over the thought of sex.
Flynn quickly nodded. “Tori’s coming down for the weekend. She already has a dress picked out.” Tori was Flynn’s girlfriend. More like his buddy or pal. But the problem with that—Tori saw their relationship as exclusive and wouldn’t bat an eyelash at making Flynn miserable if he ever thought to look at another girl. Henri wasn’t a fan of Tori because he knew Flynn wasn’t ready to settle down. And he knew Tori and her entire family was under the assumption that Flynn was an honorable guy who was going to do just that. Flynn liked her because she was nice-looking. He put up with her because he enjoyed having a sex buddy that lived far away.