Page 60 of Valentine's Daddy To Go
Maybe it’s Nash. I know he had a big important meeting today. He and Colt are finally going through with a big merger he’s alluded to. He’s been excited about this because of the fact that he’ll able to get back to his greasy roots.
He’s probably be calling to tell me how it went.
I put the bag in my hands down. I have more than enough time to take care of all of this.
I look at my phone, but it’s not Nash calling. It’s my brother. To be honest, I’m kind of surprised Brian’s calling me. We haven’t really spoken since he restarted his job. I’ve called to speak with my nieces quite a few times, and I made it over to their house twice, but the frequency of our communication has definitely gone down.
And there’s fault on both sides for this.
“Hello?” I answer.
“Aw fuck, Nellie,” my brother begins without introduction. “I really fucked up this time. I really fucked up. Goddammit! Shit!” Brian is clearly crying. The sobs are entirely too intense to miss. His voice is in a full panic. Whatever he is crying about has got him in a tizzy.
“What happened? What’s going on?” My heart is pounding, already running through all the worst-case scenarios. There are just so many ways in which Brian can fuck up.
“I got fired again! I went to work this morning, and they told me not to come back.Ever. I don’t know what to do!” he wails. The rest of his sentence is drowned out by his crying.
“You got fired? Again?”
“And then,” Brian sobs, ignoring my question, “I went home and told Vivica, and she kicked me out after a long argument. I said some things that I regret, but I didn’t think she would kick me out. I don’t have anywhere to go, nor anywhere to live. I’m so fucking fucked.”
I’m silent for a moment. How does this keep happening? I worked so hard to keep Brian from falling into the same traps he always does, but nothing ever seems to work.
“What should I do, Nellie? You always know what to do.” I rub my forehead. It’s as if all the stress I’d been avoiding for the past two months has suddenly fallen onto me like an enormous boulder. I’ve got to think of something. If I don’t, Brian will just remain stagnant until I do.
“Meet me at my place. If you get there before me, just go inside, okay? I’m not too far away.”
“Okay,” he sniffles. “I’ll see you soon.”
I say goodbye and hang up my phone. I start pacing and freaking the fuck out. But I don’t even have enough time to process what’s going on. I need to get home. If Brian ruminates in my home for too long who knows what will happen?
Thankfully, I’m still dressed in casual clothes and ready to go. I grab my keys and my wallet. I stand by the door wondering if I’ve forgotten anything.
“No, that’s it. That’s all I need,” I mumble, shaking my head. Rushing out, I get into my car. It hasn’t been started in about two months. I grip the steering wheel, praying that my car isn’t about to fail me.
“Come on, baby. I know you can do it.” I turn the key in the ignition, and like the beautiful miracle it is, my car starts up. My baby never fails me. It vrooms when I need it to.
And I’m off.
It takes me about thirty minutes to get to my apartment. I haven’t been back since moving in with Nash. It kind of sucks that my first return is under such shitty circumstances.
My apartment was somewhere I could go to escape the chaos that was my life. The only times my peace was interrupted was when Brian would barge in uninvited.
Some things never change.
I go in and find Brian already sitting on the couch. He’s still in tears, the streams running down his face. His skin is red, and his cheeks are blotchy. Clearly, my brother is distressed.
“Nellie! I’m so sorry,” he wails while slumping further down on the couch. I put my stuff down and join my brother on the sofa. Even though I’m used to this kind of thing, the crying and the pity parties, this one feels like it’s on a whole different level.
“Don’t worry about apologizing right now. Just tell me what happened. I thought things were going well for you over at Jaybird.”
He sniffles a bit.
“So did I. I was doing what you said, keeping my head down and working hard. But then this morning, I don’t know what happened. They fired me!”
“Did they give a reason for firing you?”
“No, I …,” Brian trails off. He rubs his hand all over his face. I’ve never seen my brother so manic before. I know I’ve been focusing a lot on how stressed Brian’s problems make me, but they have to stress him out to a similar degree. He must be close to reaching the end of his rope.
