Page 182 of Becoming Selfish

“Of course. Anyone who can tame my son, then kick his ass at football is more than capable of working for me,” he says with a laugh. “But regardless of all that, you’re exactly the kind of person I would want to hire. You have a strong work ethic.”

I give him a grateful smile. “Thank you.”

“How much is it pissing EJ off that Max likes you more than him?” Jack laughs, motioning towards the golden boy sleeping in my lap.

“He won’t admit it, but I think it’s getting under his skin, which is always fun.”

“My son doesn’t often lose, so it can be amusing when he doesn’t get his way.”

“Tell me about it,” I say, but knowing that Eli and I are just as competitive as one another. You could take our bet of abstinence this weekend as an example.

Jack takes a deep inhale as he adjusts in his seat. “Actually, I was hoping I could talk to you while EJ was out of the house. If you have a minute, of course.”

“Yeah, of course. Anything to distract me from Econ. Is everything okay?” I ask of Jack’s serious expression. In the time I’ve known Eli’s dad, he’s usually joking around or giving his sons a hard time. I’ve never seen him look this stern before.

“Logan, I would like to know what your intentions are with my son,” he plainly states.

“What?”

“I’m just giving you shit,” Jack laughs, shaking his head and relieving my worry. “No, I wanted to thank you, and I haven’t had a minute alone with you yet.”

“Thank me for what?” A giggle slips past my lips, but it’s essentially just a sigh of relief.

“Well, a lot of things,” he says. “But I wanted to thank you for having that conversation with EJ when his birth father died. He didn’t tell me about it until recently, but I just want you to know how much it means to me that he could let go of some of the anger he had towards Jamie before he passed.”

“That was all Eli.” I shake my head. “He’s the one who forgave him.”

“Yes, but you’re the one who caused him to shift his perspective on the whole situation. You have no idea how thankful I am for that.”

I give Jack a meaningful glance, not sure of what else to say about it.

“Jamie was one of my closest friends,” Jack adds, expanding on the subject of Eli’s birth father. “He and my sister were the only family I had, and when Jamie started drinking after Elizabeth died, it broke me. I wish EJ could have known the kind of man his father was before everything because Jamie really was a good guy. I’m just glad he was able to say goodbye.” He offers me a thankful half-smile.

“Me too.”

I take a moment, not knowing if I should push the subject, but I’ve been more than curious about Jack’s past, losing his entire family the way I did.

“I didn’t know that your sister was the only family you had,” I say before I can decide whether or not I should bring this up. I don’t know if Jack feels the same way I do, in that it’s hard for him to talk about everything. “Eli recently told me. I’m sorry for your loss.”

“Thank you. Yeah, she was,” Jack says with a nod. “But look at me now. I have this huge family with a smoking hot wife and two amazing sons. But it was a tough couple of years. I was your age when she died.”

“Really?”

“Mmm-hmm.”

Again, I can’t tell if Jack wants to talk about his sister, but he’s the only person I’ve met who has gone through what I have.

“How did you move on?” I shyly ask.

He searches my face for a moment, and I think he realizes why I’m asking.

“I don’t know if I ever did, to be honest. But I learned to celebrate my sister’s life instead of mourning her death. And it made the daily struggle of being without her that much easier to handle. Mary helped heal me. And the boys, of course.”

I give him poor half-smile, pulling my gaze away from him.

“Where are you with all of that?” he asks. “I don’t want to overstep, but I’ve been in your shoes before.”

I knew he could tell that I was asking because I don’t know how to move on. I haven’t done it yet. Something about Jack makes me feel at ease. Like I can be open with him. I don’t know if it’s because he raised the man I’m in love with or because he understands my grief as almost no one else can.

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