“Yeah, a couple years now. It’s pretty low-key.”
Doobie chuckled and said, “I wouldn’t expect anything else. Not if you keep going back.”
“You’re hilarious,” I responded dryly.
As Doobie parked a couple houses down on the curb, he turned to me with his eyebrows raised.
“Did you just display a sense of humor?”
“Fuck off,” I said with a grin.
“Looks like I’m going to get to see yet another side of my partner tonight,” he said as he grabbed his six pack of IPA out of the back.
“Maybe tonight you can journal about it,” I shot back as I headed up the walkway, leaving my partner staring after me, his mouth opened in shock.
“Holy shit,” he said as he jogged after me. “Now you’re making jokes.”
I ignored him, instead saying, “What up, TJ?” when TJ opened the door and stepped to the side to let us in.
“This is my partner, Tyler, but we call him Doobie. Doobie, this is TJ, he’s the one who restored my Chevelle,” I said by way of introduction, then headed toward the kitchen.
“Nice to meet you,” I heard Doobie saying behind me. “Nice work on the Chevelle.”
“Thanks, man,” TJ replied. “Good to meet you, too.”
Pretty much everyone was already there, so I introduced Doobie to everyone except my brothers, who he already knew.
I’d known Doobie would have no problem fitting right in, that’s just the kind of guy he was, so I left him talking to Scott and Cal and meandered to the kitchen to talk to my brother.
“What’s up, Mountain Man,” I asked as I leaned against the counter. “How’s my favorite pub owner doing?”
“I’m doing great,” Brendan said, and I think he was smiling, although it was hard to tell through that raggedy-ass beard.
“I meant my sister-in-law, jackass, the one carrying my niece or nephew…”
“She’s doing good. Tired, and ready to be done being pregnant, but good.”
I watched as he piped some kind of loaded mashed potato concoction into a crisp potato skin.
“Are you ready for the pregnancy to be over?” I asked, knowing that my brother hadn’t always been a hundred percent sure he’d wanted children.
Brendan brought his head up and admitted, “I’m nervous. Not about being a dad, or the baby coming, but about how much everything’s going to change.”
“Have you talked to Brock about it?” I asked, thinking our brother would be the best source of this kind of information. He did have two little ones, after all.
“I did, and logically I know what he’s saying, and that our relationship will evolve in a good way … but emotionally, I can’t deny that I’m a little resistant to chan
ge.”
“It’s gonna be great,” I assured him, clapping my hand on his shoulder.
I could tell he wanted to change the subject when he asked, “So, did you ever get a hold of Ming?”
“Yeah, I did, she agreed to meet with Nat, and Natalie told me that they have an appointment day after tomorrow.”
“That’s great,” he said, then asked, “And, the other?”
“Ah, nothing to report on that end,” I replied lamely.