“Liberty, I spoke to your mom and friend before they left,” he addressed Libby, using her full name, as Luke did. Running a hand through his hair, he added, “I hope we made a good impression on you, for this guy’s sake.” He angled his head toward his younger brother.
He remembered Luke and Libby as teenagers, always together, before he had left for college then Washington. Luke, too, had left to later become an air marshal and spent fifteen years away from home. Ava was the only one of the three of them who had remained close to home, while he and Luke had pursued careers far from their father’s onerous presence.
“No need to impress me. I’ve known you all forever,” Libby replied, leaning her head on Luke’s shoulder.
Jordan smiled when Luke leaned his head against hers.
Speaking with her earlier, he had liked Libby immediately, much more than he had ever liked Luke’s former girlfriend. He hoped to be as lucky as his brother one day.
When Libby got up to speak with a lingering guest, Luke turned to him. “Tell me you didn’t say anything to Hope about, you know, the funny/sad bar scene,” he said, quoting Jordan’s own words.
“I didn’t know who she was until you figured it out when I told you about it. And, of course I didn’t say anything, but she recognized me. She must have noticed that I … Anyway, I tried to be friendly.” He felt bad, remembering his amused conversation with Luke before the ceremony.
“Like watching a train wreck,” he had referred to it. “She realized she was blabbering, but was embarrassed, so she blabbered even more. Like she hasn’t been in the game for a while. I felt sorry for her. I’d give her a few pointers if she didn’t talk so much,” he had told Luke. “I wanted to interfere and help her; at least grab the bartender’s attention so she’d be able to shut up, but your girlfriend arrived. I heard her asking Libby if she thought you can grow your virginity back.” That last sentence had made Luke realize whom he had overheard. And now that he had spoken to her, seen the embarrassed yet determined look in her eyes, and knew that Hope had been married to Eric “The Douche” Hays, it all made sense, and he felt like an asshole.
“Okay. Don’t get too friendly, though,” Luke said now, just as he had when they had spoken about it before.
“I told you already, I’m not like that. Trust me; if I wanted to get friendly with anyone, I just received a very open invite from Avery Miles. Remember her?”
“No.”
“Never mind. I didn’t remember her, either. She was in my class, and she’s here because, apparently, Mom invited random people who work at the school.”
“Oh, now I know who you mean. Yeah, Liberty told me she worked with Hope. You passed up on it?”
“Yep. You don’t believe me, do you? Told you I’ve been celibate since I got here.”
“Figured it’s temporary. Hasn’t been that long since you came back,” Luke commented as he stretched his legs.
Jordan scoffed. “Whatever it is, I’m not planning on fucking around. Haven’t done that in a long while.” Except for that stupid mistake that made him put three thousand miles between him and D.C. and still haunted him with its potential consequences.
“What happened in D.C., Jordan?” Luke suddenly asked, as if something in Jordan’s expression had given him away. “Why don’t you have plans of going back? You came here weeks before the wedding.”
It was the first time Luke had touched that point since picking him up from the San Francisco airport. He had evaded answering back then, and their bro code ensured Luke didn’t push.
Jordan breathed out. He wasn’t sure he could explain. “It wasn’t one thing. It was … things piled up like dog shit. And the stench rubbed on me and wouldn’t come off.”
“Work or …?”
“Both.” He had tried not to think about it since his return.
They were both slumped on the sofa, watching the wedding pavilion emptying and returning a few goodbye waves.
“Did you quit or …?”
“Not exactly.” He had left overnight after texting his former employer the last open details of his project. Not that Sharon minded. Getting back with her husband after several months of separation which, thanks to Jordan’s professional advice, they had succeeded in hiding from the public eye, she had been relieved to see him go.
“If you’re staying, you can move into the beach house. I’m over at Liberty’s most days,” Luke said, turning his head toward him.
Jordan looked back at him. “Thanks, man. I was going to ask. If you’re not using it as much … Mom and Dad are driving me crazy.” After living on his own since he had been eighteen, as much as he loved them, he couldn’t bear his mother’s coddling nor the not-so-subtle hints that his father dropped, concerning his job, which Jim Delaney had been using as lever, as if his political advisor son could, or would, do something to further his attorney business.
Libby was approaching them again.
“Listen, if she says something about her friend, don’t tell her I even told you about it,” Jordan said. “That way, it would seem as if I didn’t notice or just forgot about it. You know, like it made no impression on me either way.”
Luke nodded. “Yeah, that’d be best.”
But it had made an impression on him. A strange one. After years of being around people who controlled and calculated every word that came out of their mouths, it was refreshing to see someone who seemed incapable of it.
Jordan noticed the ocean breeze for the first time since he had gotten back. It was refreshing after the musty Potomac he had left behind.