Wes shrugged. “I feel pretty chill.” He took a bite of his corn bread and swallowed. “You know how when you break up with someone, people say you need to go date someone else to kind of exorcise the previous relationship? Cleanse the palate?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Marco said between bites.
“So, that’s why I feel chill. My palate is cleansed. I’m dating someone else now.”
Marco frowned. “Wait. Like a woman?”
Wes shook his head. “No. Well, I am dating a woman. But that’s not what I’m saying. I’m saying I have a new project that’s stolen my attention. I feel…over this place now. Like it’s officially something that’s a part of Past Wes, not Present Wes.”
Marco lowered his fork, wary. “A project?”
“Don’t get that here-we-go-again face on yet. Just hear me out.”
“I’m listening,” Marco said flatly.
Wes took a breath and dove in. He explained to Marco about the food truck and how the school played into it. He told him how Rebecca had come up with the idea and how her company had donated the money. He told his brother all of it, down to the concepts the kids were batting around. To his credit, Marco listened without interrupting until Wes was done.
“So,” Wes said finally, bracing himself for all his brother’s protests and counterpoints. “That’s why I asked you to lunch. I wanted to tell you that I’ll be in charge of something again and that you don’t have to worry about me. I’m in a good headspace about it.”
“Wow,” Marco said, leaning back in the booth and letting out a breath like he’d been holding one the whole time. “That’s… Well, I think it’s great if you think you can handle it. I mean, I know cooking is what you love. I just didn’t know how you’d be able to do it again in a restaurant setting, all that stress, all the temptation. The late nights. The party culture. But this seems like a way to do it where you get the good parts but not the bad. It’s pretty genius actually.”
Wes grinned, and the muscles in his neck and shoulders loosened at his brother’s blessing. Until that moment, Wes hadn’t realized how much he craved that, how much he needed someone in his family to say, Yeah, we think you’re capable of pulling this off. “I need a voice recorder so I can play back that you called me a genius the next time you tell me I’m a dumb-ass.”
Marco snorted. “Don’t get cocky.”
“And for the record,” Wes said. “I think I could handle it either way. I could own a restaurant and resist the temptation. But I think this is going to be a really cool thing. For everyone involved. I’m excited.”
“I’m happy for you, man,” Marco said, his smile genuine. “And you said you’re dating again, too?”
Wes spooned some coleslaw onto his plate. “Yeah, Rebecca.”
Marco’s eyes went wide. “Wait. Lawyer Rebecca?”
“Yeah, we’re not calling it dating exactly because we didn’t want the pressure of labeling it. We’re friends who are seeing a lot of each other. But I’m feeling like maybe it could be more than that,” Wes admitted, saying for the first time what he’d been thinking too often lately. “She’s…really great. We’ve been hanging out or at least talking every night for a few weeks now. She’s funny and smart, and I know you’ve met her a few times, but she’s not what you’d expect a serious lawyer to be like.”
Marco took a sip of his root beer, eyeing Wes in that way he used to when they were teens and Marco was convinced Wes had stolen something out of his room.
“What?” Wes asked.
He pointed the neck of his root beer toward Wes. “You’ve got that look in your eye.”
Wes paused, fork halfway to his mouth. “What look?”
“That look you used to get when you were talking about opening this restaurant,” he said without humor. “It’s not a good look.”
Wes scowled and set his fork down. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“All I’m saying is don’t replace an old addiction with a new one, Wes,” Marco said, voice tired. “You know you have a tendency to do that.”
The words landed like bricks between them, smashing the former easy mood into dust. Irritation flared in Wes. “Are you kidding me right now?”
“Don’t get your hackles up, little brother. I’m just calling it like I see it. You’ve finally stepped out of the dark place you were in, and now you want to try all the shiny things at once. I get the desire, but it’s dangerous. Get a new restaurant, one. Have an exciting project, two.” He counted off on his fingers. “Fall in love with a woman when it’s only supposed to be casual, three.”
Wes’s patience snapped at that. “What the fuck universe are you living in? I’m saying I like her. I didn’t say I was proposing and naming our firstborn.”
“Good,” Marco said. “Don’t. The last thing you need is a serious relationship. You’re not ready for that. It’s like that first day after one of my patients recovers from an illness or injury and feels better. They think they can go at full speed again, but their body isn’t one hundred percent yet and they make things worse. Overconfidence is dangerous. You’re still recovering.”
Wes’s teeth ground together.