Page 12 of Bona Fide

“Bowling?”

“Yeah.” He bobs his head. “Bowling...or laser tag.”

“Jed, first of all, you’re twenty-eight, don’t you want to do something more fun, like Vegas or something?”

He bobs his head in agreement. “I could do Vegas.”

“You could gamble and hit a show, go see Celine Dion in concert.”

He chortles, displaying his prominent cheekbones. “No Celine Dion.”

“Are the Backstreet Boys still there because I remember you jamming out one time when—”

“That was one time.” He holds up his index finger. “To make you laugh, Rea.”

I perk a brow. “It was traumatic.”

“You cracked a smile.”

“That’s so you didn’t feel bad.”

“Mhm, you’re a closet fan, but I’ll keep your secrets. I always did.” There it goes again. Our past pulverizing into my brain like a time warp.

There was never a time that Jed wasn’t there. In fact, he was annoyingly always around. It took a long time for me to get used to the fact that he wanted to be, that he was never going to leave me, that I could always count on him.

When Marty left for the military, I was fourteen. I never thought that his leaving would have such a significant effect on me.

But it did.

I got into more trouble, I rebelled against the system because I needed an out, a way to survive because Marty’s paychecks were shit to none. The health insurance was only for essential doctor follow-ups, but nothing she needed for her cancer treatments.

Then Jed strode in on his white horse, and I wanted to knock him right off of it.

I didn’t need him, didn’t want him trying to save the day when I was doing and handling things, I thought, just fine.

If you call stealing from the drugstore and dealing on the streets fine, I was more than great.

“That’s a lot of work, Jed,” I offer. “In not a lot of time.”

He leans forward in his chair. “I know, trust me, she wants the Winter Wonderland type of wedding, and I want to give that to her.”

“Is she worth it?” I watch his face soften as he crashes back into his seat.

He could never fool me.

And I’ll be damned if I watch him walk off into the sunset with a woman who isn’t going to make him happy for the rest of his life. Anything less than what he deserves and the bar is set pretty high.

“She’s worth it,” he answers. I nod, still not accepting his answer, but it’s not my place to argue with him about it even if I want to.

I lost those privileges a long time ago. Literally shoved them away, lit them and his world on fire.

“I’ll have to have a meeting with your fiancée to get all the details,” I consent. “And if I think it’s something I can do, I’ll make it happen.”

“Really?” His brown eyes widen with excitement. Don’t know why, she sounds like a real hoot and a half.

“Yeah.”

Jed stands from his chair with a shit-eating smile on his face. “That’s amazing. When?”

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