Page 47 of Absolute Certainty
Jay then spent the early morning looking over and polishing the sixth episode before emailing it to Sahar. He got ready and drove to his mom’s house. When he parked, he entered the house through the garage door. Stepping inside, he found his sister leaning over the kitchen island, munching on Lay’s chile limón potato chips.
Alex perked up, popping another chip into her mouth before wiping her hands on what he assumed was a wet paper towel. “Hi, stranger. I feel like I haven’t seen you in months.”
Alex was being dramatic. It’d only been two weeks, exactly on the dot. He drew closer and hugged her. “How’ve you been?”
“Good, good. The usual. You?” She nudged the bag of chips in Jay’s direction, offering him some.
He shook his head in a wordlessno, thank you. “I’m good. Same old. Where are Mom and Ellie?”
With two more chips in her mouth, Alex’s lips quirked upward, and she pointed to a crystal vase in front of her. “Mom found this in the garage yesterday, and Ellie wanted to put flowers into it, so they’re in the yard picking some.” With a content smile, she added. “It’s really nice to have her here, Jay. The house feels more alive when she’s around.”
The corners of his mouth curled into a smile. It was true—Eloise had that effect.
Immediately, the steadfast vestige of sadness inside him made its presencemore pronounced.It’s temporary. She’ll leave soon.
He knew that if Maya lived close, they would’ve made accommodations to alternate custody weekly, giving them both equal chances to spend time with Eloise. He missed the days when he and Maya both lived in LA, and later, when Maya lived in Jersey. When they'd been closer in proximity, sharing their time with Ellie had been incredible. He'd never fault Maya for moving to Philly because of a better job, but he hated that it took them farther away from him.
Sighing, he walked over to grab a clean glass from the cupboard, filled it with ice from the fridge, and headed back to the filter by the sink for water. “Yeah, it does,” he replied finally.
Fuck.It was only July, but summer had a way of slipping faster than it arrived, and while Eloise wasn’t gone yet, he already missed her.It’s temporary,his mind repeated.
If he thought about it further, it’d make him miserable.
Chugging the water in his hand, he considered deflecting with another topic, yet this one was also sure to increase his frustration. It was also now or never because he wanted to ask Alex about Sahar’s ex, and he’d have to do it while his mom wasn’t within earshot. Both for his sake and Alex’s.
She’d been looking down at her phone, checking some sort of notification, before she took another chip between her fingers.
Jay set the glass down. “Hey, so, question. The lead in your show, Marvin, or whatever? Is he still a dick? You haven’t gotten close to him, have you?”
Alex arched an eyebrow. “Martin? No, I’d befriend the giant rats at the subway station before I’d befriend that guy. He has no interest in us little people anyway. Why?”
He again wondered what a woman like Sahar had seen in a man like that.
“No particular reason. A friend of mine dated him, and I got curious,” he said. “Wanted to make sure he isn’t trying anything with you.”
“Who’s your friend?” Alex asked.
He considered withholding the truth, but there was no point to that. Alex had always been honest with him. He could do the same. “Sahar. Sahar Peck. She’s inMidnights at…”
“Pemberley?” Alex interjected. “Since when are you friends with Sahar?”
Jay gave her a puzzled glance. “You know her?”
“Not personally, no. But I knowofher, the whole cast, really. I follow them on socials, and they’re delightful. The rapport they seem to have in their Instagram lives is nothing like what we have going on atHatchard’s.”
Damn it. That made him so sad.
He knew Sahar loved her co-workers, and he could see that they were all close, but he also knew that was a rarity in most workplaces. It was the opposite at Amanda’s Coffee, too, because even while he liked the majority of the people he worked with, he wasn’t friends with any of them outside of the shop.
Still, he wanted his sister to have what Sahar had. The unmoving shine in her eyes every time she brought up one of them in conversation was a type of joy Alex also deserved to experience.
“She’s great, yeah. A bunch of them come to the coffee shop. That’s how I know them,” Jay finally said.
A slow, mischievous grin materialized on Alex’s face then. “She’s gorgeous, too. Get it, brother.”
He narrowed his eyes. “It’s not like that.”
“Maybe not, but I bet it could be. You’re a far better man than Martin is. I never understood why someone like her dated someone like him. She’s twice as talented and way,waytoo stunning. Granted, I don’t know her, but her social media presence says a lot. Her entire feed is full of photos of all her friends. She’s always hyping everyone up. Meanwhile, I’m ninety percent sure Martin doesn’t even know half of our names in the ensemble.”
