Page 48 of Smooth Moves
“Yeah, that’s probably it.” Yet Reid kept watching him. “Work is going well. Everything good with the guys? With Jordan?” Reid smiled. “I heard she went to Miriam’s last Saturday. Man, what I wouldn’t have given to see that.”
Cash laughed with him. “She won’t tell us what happened, but we can all imagine. Heidi’s going back for another session of classes though. When she’s done her training.”
“Heidi cracks me up.” Reid accepted the pitcher and glasses from the waitress and poured them both a beer. “I’ll bet you she wins her marathon.”
“I won’t take that bet because the woman has the constitution of a marathoner and pro-wrestler all in one. I went to the gym with her a few weeks ago, and I think she nearly outlifted me.” He wondered if Jordan liked to work out, if they had that in common too.
Too? What else did they—
“Hey, Bro. What’s going on? It’s me.”
Shit.“I’m distracted because I’m tired.”
“No, it’s something else.”
In an effort to not talk about Jordan, because he had no idea what he thought he was doing with her, Cash brought up the topic sure to make Reid uncomfortable. Unfortunate, but hey, maybe it was time they had this conversation. “I’m not a talker. I’m a doer. And I’m the only one cleaning out Angela’s stuff.”
Reid’s face froze. “It’s your house.”
“Oh, bullshit. The woman didn’t acknowledge me for twenty-seven damn years. Then she loses her mind, dies, and leavesmethe house? Whatever. You know it’s yours too.”
“Maybe.” Reid drank, his entire body stiff.
“She loved you forever. I know it hurts, but fuck, get over it.” Cash hated all the talky-talky crap. “I bet Naomi has told you to deal.”
Reid frowned. “We haven’t talked about it.”
“Liar. I know that woman, and anything that bothers you bothers her.”
“That’s true.” Reid toyed with his napkin. “But I don’t like talking about Mom.”
“That. See? You call her Mom. I think of her as that crap mother Angela. You know, the one more interested in fantasy than her own kids.”
Reid choked. “Cash.”
“What? She hated me. Charles hated me. You think I want her shit? I don’t. But someone has to box it up and get rid of it. The house is livable, man. If not, we could sell it and make some serious cash.” He paused. “I know you put up most of the money for the business. You should get it back.”
“I am getting it back,” Reid said, earnest. “Because the business is booming. It’s really taking off, Cash. The money’s starting to pour in, for all of us.” He paused. “Listen, I want you to have the house.”
“What? Why?” He hated the panic in his voice, but he had a bad feeling he knew where this was going. The things that had made sense for the past year and a half were changing.
“Because Naomi and I have been talking about moving in together.”
The bottom dropped out, though he’d been expecting such news. “So you want me to move out?”
“No, dumbass. I’ll move in with Naomi. But that’ll mean you have to pay for our rental yourself unless you get a roommate. And we both know you hate everyone.”
He grunted his agreement.
“So you’re free to stay and pay both rents.Orwe can both move out. I’ll move in with Naomi, and you can move into Mom’s—your—new place.”
“I hadn’t made up my mind yet on whether to keep it.” Cash glared, unable to understand how Reid could just cut all ties to their mother. “The house isours, Reid. We’ve talked about this. Stop being such a pussy and help me clean it out. You know a lot of the stuff there is yours.”
Reid sighed. “I know. And you can say what you want. But she left it to you, not me. In a way, it’s a relief. Mom had problems. Now she’s gone. Dad’s gone. We’re free to live our lives, man.”
“Hate to break it to you, but we were free before.”
“Were we?” Reid asked quietly. “We both know you have issues with the way we grew up. Hell, I do too, and they were nice to me.”
