Page 19 of Challenged By You
“If you eat that, I’m not telling you about Trina,” I warn him.
Quickly, he drops the other half of the fried cheese moon to the plate. “That’s just wrong. It goes against every brother code we’ve ever shared.”
“Keep bothering me and I won’t tell you how I got into this mess.” I open my mouth around the paper-thin crust and cheese. Explosions of flavor ripple across my tongue as I chew the single bite. “Damn.” I put the slice down and signal a passing server. “Do you have a box? I have to leave, unfortunately.”
“What is it?” Julian is suddenly concerned.
I wait for the waiter to move out of hearing distance. “I want a box to take the rest of this home. It’s fucking fantastic. Then I want to write about it for tomorrow’s column.”
A cardboard box is quickly handed to me as the harried waiter passes by with a loaded tray in his hands. I grin at my brother. “Keep your calzone. I’ll tell you the story on the subway on the way home.”
Julian doesn’t have to be told twice as he begins attacking his food.
Within minutes, we’re fighting our way out the already long line out the door. It makes me wonder how many other places like this I’m going to discover in the next thirty days.
Julian stops suddenly and pulls up his phone. “What are you doing?” I ask.
“This conversation isn’t for the subway. I’ll Uber us to your place.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t say that yet. I might try to knock you out along the way and steal your pizza.”
I don’t respond until the car pulls up. Sliding in, I turn to my brother and clarify, “No, I mean thanks for pointing out the error in my column last week. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t have gone in to chew out Karlson. That led to a meeting at Seduction where I met Trina.” Going into everything—the screwup, everything I overheard, apologizing to Trina Paxton, her challenge, and the time in between that I’ve spent trying to understand her since—takes up most of the ride. Soon we’re pulling up outside my condo. Both of us slide out, nodding at my doorman.
Julian still hasn’t said anything as we enter my condo. “You’re awfully quiet,” I prod, before walking into my kitchen to put the pizza on the counter.
He’s quiet for a moment longer before he repeats something that was a shot in the dark the other night. “Ms. Paxton reminds you of Mom.”
I’m equally somber. “In some ways, certainly. There’s no way she wouldn’t. In others, not in the slightest. She’s much more outspoken and edgy.” Thoughtful, I drop on to my sofa while Julian takes his normal spot in the chair opposite me. “She’s almost too independent, but there’s this soft side when she’s with her children that’s very appealing. And in a kitchen she’s brilliant.”
Julian’s eyes widen at my assessment, but he doesn’t say anything.
“Before I met her face-to-face, I knew she was something special. I took one bite of her dessert and was moved by the complexities in it. Then I saw her standing up to her boss because Chelsea screwed up the editing.”
Julian winces. “Ouch.”
“She was fired that night, Jules. She has two children to support on a single salary. Far as I can tell, father’s not in the picture.”
“You’re kidding, right?” His face is filled with disbelief.
“A boy and a girl,” I confirm. “And when I went to apologize to her in person, she gave me a few verbal jabs right here.” I run my hand under my ribs. “She said I had no idea what it was like.”
“And you didn’t correct her.”
“Because she’s right. In the process of trying to move past the pain of losing Mom, I shoved so much of her aside including remembering what living in this city is like for the average person. I don’t know.” I shove to my feet and begin to pace. “Maybe I’m doing this for Mom, maybe I’m doing this because of my own guilt. But I need to see this through.”
“And in the meanwhile, she has you starting to talk in food puns again,” Julian observes. My head snaps around. “You haven’t done that in so long, I thought you forgot how, despite what your study looks like.”
“I haven’t been inspired to recently.”
“Then, I think I like her already.” Julian stands as well. “Take it day by day, Jonas. That’s all you can do.” He pulls me into a hug that no matter how many years pass, still feels like it’s missing something.
Our Mom.
“Thanks for listening, Jules.”
“You never have to ask.” After a few thumps on my shoulder, he whispers, “Jonas?”
