Page 76 of Love, Always and Forever
If anything, he looked even more grim. Darn it, couldn’t one thing in this never-ending nightmare of a day go right? As he walked away, she called the dogs back inside the house. With one last lingering look at the man outside, she closed the door.
—
Mikhail glanced back at Amy’s house and shook his head. Damn the woman, anyway. She had him spinning in circles and no idea of how to find a straight path out of the confusion.
Jack leaned against the side of the pickup with his massive hands still curled up in fists. “You going to come back over here and finish this discussion?”
It was tempting to ignore his brother and hope the big idiot would simply disappear. They both knew that wasn’t going to happen. Jack was nothing if not stubborn. It was a trait that all three brothers had in spades.
Surrendering to the inevitable, he walked past Jack toward his own house. “How about we take this inside? We wouldn’t want to entertain the neighbors, would we?”
Jack glanced toward Amy’s house and grunted. “Damn, she sounded just like Mom, didn’t she? Seriously, do women teach each other how to talk like that or is it some X-chromosome thing?”
Mikhail unlocked the door and stood back to let Jack go in first. “How the hell would I know something like that?”
He flipped on the hall light and headed straight for the kitchen to pull a couple of beers out of the fridge. After handing one to Jack, he led their two-man parade into the family room and flopped on the couch while Jack parked his ass in the recliner.
Mikhail pointed toward his brother’s beer. “Drink that and then go home.”
Jack was already shaking his head. “No can do. Not until I find out what the hell is going on with you. Starting with what the nice lady next door did that’s got you tied up in knots.”
Yeah, right. Like Mikhail was going to confess all right now. “So not happening.”
His brother set his beer down on the end table with exaggerated care, a signal his temper was revving hot again. “Damn it, Mikhail, I can’t fix things when I don’t know what is broken.”
Mikhail took a swig of his beer. “Since when did you start writing an advice column?”
That did it. Jack’s big fist came down hard on the arm of the chair. He leaned forward as if he were about to roll up to his feet. Maybe that fight Amy had interrupted had only been postponed. But then Jack took a long slow breath and eased back from the brink.
“Here’s the bottom line—Mom’s worried, I’m worried, and so is Tino.”
And Mikhail hated he was putting them through all of this, but there wasn’t much he could do except lie and hope that it helped ease their minds. “I’m fine.”
Jack’s eyebrows rode down low over his eyes and his jaw took on an aggressive tilt. “That’s bullshit. You haven’t been fine since before you left the Corps, and don’t try telling me I don’t understand what I’m talking about. Been there, done that, and you damn well know it.”
Son of a bitch, he thought he’d been hiding his problem adjusting to life outside of the military better than that, especially lately. Another drink of his beer did nothing to wash away the bitter taste in his mouth. “So, I got it wrong. You’re more of a mother hen.”
Jack flipped him off and then immediately held up five fingers and started ticking them off one by one. “You have trouble sleeping. Your temper is always seconds away from exploding. Worse yet, sometimes the smallest thing sends your head right back into combat mode, which means you’re dangerous to be around. And don’t think any of us have forgotten that all-out meltdown at Mom’s house. I’ll admit you’ve been doing better since you and Amy hooked up, but you’re a long way from being fine.”
He dropped his hand back down on the arm of the chair. “And speaking of her, you promised to tell me what was going on that you needed the truck today.”
Yeah, Mikhail had been hoping Jack had forgotten about that. There was no way Jack was going to let him skate on that, but he could pick and choose what he told him. “Amy had an unexpected and pretty ugly run-in with two of her idiot brothers, who showed up without notice. They wouldn’t leave, so she did. I went after her in the truck in case she was too tired to ride back safely.”
There. That should be enough to satisfy him.
Jack sat in silence for maybe a minute before speaking again. “Okay, I might buy the story about her brothers, because it explains why Amy looks so wrung out. It still doesn’t explain why you look like you’ve lost your best friend, and I’m not talking about Sarge. So, what gives? And don’t try stonewalling me. We both know I’m not going anywhere until you spill your guts.”
“I don’t want to talk about it. Not to you, anyway.”
“If not me, then who? Do you want me to call and ask Mom to come over instead?”
“Oh, hell no.”
That was the last thing he needed right now. He kicked his head back against the couch and closed his eyes at the nightmarish specter of his entire family staging an intervention. Jack had him backed into a corner and knew it. Fine, he’d talk, but not about everything.
“I have been doing better. And you’re right that Amy is a big part of the reason behind the improvement in my mood and control. We deliberately kept things simple and easy at first. I wasn’t lying when I said we were just friends. That was true in the beginning. Then, when I wasn’t expecting it, we ended up being a whole lot more than that.”
He had to force his next words out through gritted teeth. “But something happened today that changed everything, and I’m not sure what the fallout will be.”
