Page 26 of The Second Chance Year

I drop my hands to my hips. “It’s a lot of responsibility, Owen. I’ve been waiting for the perfect name to come along. Something that really captures his personality.”

“Giocoso,” Jacob murmurs, wrestling with the cat again.

“What?”

Jacob looks up. “His personality. Giocoso. It’s a term in music that means ‘playful’ or ‘joyful.’”

I look back and forth between Jacob and the cat. “That’s perfect. I love it. I’ll call him Giocoso, and he can be Gio for short.” True to his new name, Giocoso races back and forth across the room and then pounces on the shoelace again. I glance down at the couch to find Jacob looking at me with sort of a half smile on his face.

“Where did you get him?” Owen asks. We never had pets as kids. Our parents didn’t want the mess or responsibility of caring for creatures besides me and Owen.

“It’s kind of a long story. There’s a café where I’ve been doing some baking. An old lady there gave him to me.”

Jacob looks up. “Mrs. Kaminski?”

“Yeah, how did you know?”

“She calls you Sadie the Cat Lady.”

I guess Jacobdidnotice Mrs. Kaminski muttering at me that one day. “Yeah, that’s uh… a long story, too.”

Owen looks back and forth between me and Jacob. “Who is this Mrs. Kaminski? And how do you two know her?” I realize this must come as a bit of a surprise to my brother, who has no idea that Jacob and I have even had a conversation when he wasn’t around, other than a bit of small talk at my parents’ house at Thanksgiving.

Jacob ignores Owen’s question, sitting up straight in his seat. “Wait,you’rethe new baker at Higher Grounds? Their scones are amazing now.”

I smile shyly. “Thank you.”

Owen shakes his head. “So, you’re baking at some café now? What happened to Xavier’s?”

“I’m still working at Xavier’s.” I turn around to look for my purse. “This is just a side gig.” I returned to Xavier’s for my shift the day after the Rob incident, and nobody seemed to have noticed that I’d taken off early the night before. Xavier hasn’t asked me to help out as a server again, and if he does, I’ll have to fake an illness and go home. Actually, I won’t have to fake it. I will actually be ill.

“Why are you doing this?” Owen asks. “For your Someday Bakery fund?”

“Every bit helps.”

“Well, if you’d let me invest a little, it would help a whole lot faster. And you wouldn’t have to work two jobs.”

I sigh because I am both moved and exasperated by this offer. In the tech world, a guy with Owen’s skills is in high demand, and with all his bonuses and promotions, he’s recently found himself with more money than he knows what to do with. Other than his expensive hoodie habit and penchant for pretentious cocktails, he’s not really a spender. It’s not the first time he’s offered to help me out, but I’d ratherbake Twinkies for the rest of my life than take money from Owen. “Thanks, buddy, but I can’t.”

It’s his turn to sigh in exasperation. “Why not?”

“Well, first of all, what would Mom and Dad think if I took my little brother’s savings to fund my cupcake hobby?”

“Who cares what they think?”

I roll my eyes. “Easy for you to say, Golden Boy.”

“Whatever. Work your two jobs, then. Where is this Higher Ground place, anyway?”

“Bedford Avenue,” Jacob says. “Past that liquor store you like.”

“So…” Owen points at Jacob. “You’re hanging out at the café where Sadie is working?”

Jacob shrugs. “They have good coffee.”

I’m not sure what the look Owen gives Jacob is about. It’s sort of an eyeroll and headshake all packed into one. Jacob just shrugs again.

We head out for breakfast at the Buttered Biscuit, Owen’s and my favorite diner. It’s such a dive that even the Brooklyn hipsters don’t ironically hang out there, but the pancakes are thin and crepe-like with crispy, butter-fried edges, and the eggs are perfectly cooked. Growing up, breakfast at Owen’s and my house consisted of sugar-free Muesli with skim milk or low-fat yogurt. So, in adulthood, we’ve both developed a thing for greasy, fried hangover breakfasts, and we try to meet at the Biscuit every month. Despite the fact that I find my little brother generally annoying and gross, I also kind of adore him, so it’s nice to have this time to catch up.

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