“I know of you, and I also know what you’re saying. Because I said the same things. The kid thing I was still trying to wrap my head around up until the very minute I found out Li was pregnant.”
“Hmm.”
“Yeah, hmm. For that matter, the wife thing took me time too. Although I got there faster than Li did. She was newly divorced. Has Daisy been married?”
I started to answer before I realized he was reeling me in. “No, she’s just twenty-three—” I broke off and crossed my arms. “Bet you think you’re slick.”
“At times but educated guesses don’t count. I saw that shitshow in there. She basically told your whole relationship in one Jerry Springer worthy soundbite, minus the crowd shouting Jerry! Jerry! Though in that case, they’d be shouting Daisy, because she went toe to toe with you.”
“Where the hell were you hiding to hear all our business?”
“Son, I didn’t have to hide. Daisy was loud. I came in with Li right after you guys. My sister invited me. Not that I need an invite, since Li gets invited everywhere.” He blew smoke out of his nose. “Unless it’s a Dragon Lady free zone, and then she tends to show up those places too.”
My lips twitched. “She’d have your balls to hear you calling her that.”
“You kidding me? It’s our foreplay. She knows she’s a dragon lady, and she’s fucking badass at it.” He grinned and pitched out his cigarette. “You didn’t ask why I amaze myself.”
“Am I supposed to care?”
“No, you think it makes you more tough to act like a dick. I used to too. What it made me was bitter and alone. I amaze myself because I guessed you’d sneak out here to escape. Could’ve gone either way. You could’ve drank yourself stupid—well, stupider, since you’ve driven a good ways down that road already.”
“Thanks.”
He shrugged. “We’ve all been there. So, she was best friends with your sister?”
“You did not hear that in the club.”
“No, I think Ricki told me. Someone did. You know how bands work. Everyone knows everyone’s business and tells everyone else, like a game of drunken Telephone.”
“Yeah.” I scratched the back of my neck. “Used to be she was too young for me.”
“Did she catch up?”
“No, but there’s bigger issues now. Like my sister is dead.”
“Did she kill her?”
The blunt question made me shut my eyes. “No.”
“Did you kill her?”
“No, but we fought the day she died. I made her cry. I hurt her. And she died thinking I was mad at her, that I didn’t love her.”
“Jesus, man, we all fight. You know she knew you loved her. One fight doesn’t change that.”
I dug the heels of my hands into my eyes. They were burning, and I knew I was skating far too close to the edge tonight. “I was brutal to her.”
“Like you were brutal to Daisy?”
“No.” I let my hands drop. “I didn’t say anything to her at all.”
“For some people, that’s an even worse cut.” He pried out a battered pack of cigs from his jeans pocket and tapped one into his hand. “I’m supposed to quit this shit, because it doesn’t help me trying to knock up Li. And that’s like my number one job right now.”
I blinked. Blinked again. “Huh?”
“Smoking can damage the swimmers. Need every one of them playing for the team to score.”
My head throbbed harder. “You didn’t want kids. You had a kid. Two kids?”