Page 44 of Falling for My Boss

“Excuse me?” Jodi said, alarm starting in her voice.

“Seriously,” Jack said. “Before you left, Mom and Dad called me while I was on the plane. They left this big, long ridiculous message about you. Said they couldn’t believe you wouldn’t do what they needed of you. They said you refused to do the, and I quote here, barest minimum you could do for the family business.”

“Barest minimum?” Jodi asked. “Allowing myself to basically be prostituted for business is the barest minimum?”

Jack held his hands up again, shaking his head.

“I know now,” he said. “They didn’t elaborate. So, when I talked to you that day, I was crabby from jet lag, the deal I had just gone to fell through, and they were being righteous assholes about everything. They didn’t elaborate on what it was you were doing or not doing, and frankly I didn’t want to ask. I should have though. That’s my fault.”

“Oh,” Jodi said.

Jack nodded. “When I found out, I was so pissed off.”

“You were?” Jodi asked, shocked.

“Of course I was,” he said. “You are my sister and a grown-ass adult. There is no reason they should be ordering you around at all, much less trying to get you to marry someone for their own purposes. It is ridiculous on its face. I went toe-to-toe with Dad about it.”

“What was that like?” Jodi asked. “I’ve never seen someone argue with him where it didn’t just end with him being louder and the other person giving up.”

“Well, it was sort of like that,” Jack said. “He got louder, and I told him he was being stupid and archaic and that it was extremely manipulative of them to hatch that plan and execute it while I was away. Then to call me and try to get me to make you go home without telling me what they did was a million times worse.”

Things were falling into place now. It made so much more sense that her brother simply didn’t know the story. I had often wondered why he didn’t stand up for her or step in, and what would make him side with her parents’ archaic view of marriage. The fact that they executed their plan while he was away only showed how close Jack and Jodi were, and how deep their bond was. It also gave me an idea of how terrified she must have been without her brother or anyone else to help her.

“I can only imagine how he blew up,” Jodi said. “It must have been something.”

“It was,” Jack said. “He flailed and screamed and cursed and said that he had disobedient children who didn’t know the first thing about sacrifice. I told him that I had sacrificed my own goals for our family business, and now you were sacrificing your entire family to keep a stupid decision from happening.”

“You didn’t tell them, did you?” Jodi asked.

“I didn’t have to,” Jack said. “An hour or so before, Linc had a meeting with his own folks and told them he was gay and introduced them to his partner. They were shockingly chill about it. I mean, they didn’t like it, but they didn’t disown him or anything. I know he was worried about that.”

“He came out?” Jodi asked. “Wow. That’s incredible.”

“It is,” Jack said. “Took a lot of chutzpah to do that. Of course, word travels fast, so Mom and Dad knew that before I opened the door. I found out when Mom yelled at Dad that it was over anyway. I asked what was over, and she told me. I swear, I haven’t laughed so hard in all my life. At least until Dad said he was so confused. He said Linc was so manly. He had all those muscles.”

Jodi and Jack broke into heavy laughter, and I smiled. It was so good to see her laugh, but even better that she was doing it with her brother.

“Dad thinks all gay men are the stereotypes from the fifties,” she said to me. “He has no clue one of his best business partners is gay either. He just thinks he has a really close friendship with his old college roommate.”

I laughed.

“So, yeah,” Jack said. “I am just beyond thrilled right now. Not only did I find you, but you found someone in the meantime, and now you are pregnant? I’m going to be an uncle! When did you find out?”

“Today,” she said.

“No shit!” Jack said, alarming several of the early lunch customers.

“I took the test this morning,” Jodi said. “I’m still processing it myself, to be honest.”

“Wow,” Jack said. “That’s amazing. Seriously. I am freaking thrilled. I can’t wait to tell all our friends.”

“About that,” Jodi said. “You might have to tell them yourself. I’m not going back.”

Suddenly, I felt my heart get a million times lighter. Just hearing her say that, especially to her brother, meant everything to me. It meant she was serious about what we talked about before. She could easily go home and likely live in luxury or try to do something where we would split time together. But apparently, she was in this for the long haul, which was great, because so was I.

“Oh,” Jack said, seeming like he was mulling over how he felt about it. “Well, I guess that makes sense. What’s for you back home anyway? Mom and Dad? Pfft.”

“It’s less what I have for me there than it is what I have for me here,” she said, looking over to me. Jack rolled his eyes dramatically, but the smile only got wider on his face.

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