What the Lightning Sees: Part Two by Louise Bay Read Free Book Online Page A

before us. Should I call her? Just to check she was okay? I dialed.
    “Jake, what is it?” I hadn’t expected her to pick up. It was the first time she had since the weekend after Paris.
    “I just wanted to make sure you were okay, and to offer you a ride home.” Jesus, I sounded like a douche.
    “Thanks. Of course I’m fine, I don’t need a lift.” Her voice was softer with me than it had been when we’d first arrived at the restaurant. Was that the alcohol? Was she drunk? Was Gerald still there?
    “Are you sure? It would be no trouble.” I wanted her to tell me she was at home already, or in a cab on her own.
    “I’m sure—and you don’t want to be rude to your date,” she said.
    “I just dropped Nicola at home,” I said. “So, you’re not in a ditch?”
    “I’m not in a ditch,” she replied, giving me nothing.
    “Are you at home?” I asked.
    “Where else would I be?” She hung up the phone.
    I grinned as I slung my cell onto the dash. Had she deliberately used my proper name? Something in my gut fluttered. I’d missed our jousting.
     

     
    “How was it?” Beth asked as I joined her on the sofa. “I wasn’t sure if you would be back.”
    “Yeah, good. Nicola’s great but my head is spinning at the moment. I need to work some stuff out,” I said. “How was your date with Saturday night TV? Have you ever thought you should go out, like with a real-life person?” I asked her. “I mean, things have been good for a while now. Do you want me to set you up?” Beth had been sober for over two years and she seemed happy, but I was worried that she had shut down after what had happened with her ex-boyfriend.
    Beth scowled at me. “No, you weird brother slash pimp.”
    I tapped her foot with my knee. “I’m not expecting you to have sex with my friends for money.” I rolled my eyes at her. “I just know some good guys who periodically tell me you’re hot. I punch them in their face when they say it, obviously, but, you should think about maybe going on a date or something.”
    She took a breath. “I’m not ready,” she said softly, concentrating on the television.
    “What does your sponsor say? She must have mentioned it. It’s been nearly three years.”
    “Can you drop it? I said I’m not in that place yet. And anyway, you’re hardly a glowing recommendation for dating. Have you ever made it past three months?”
    “I’m a guy. What can I say?” I said, trying to brush over her point.
    “You can say that you’re a commitment phobe with bad taste in women.” Beth was always needling me about not being able to get past the three-month mark. Wasn’t I just living most guys’ fantasies?
    “So what’s the problem—my taste in women, or my inability to commit?”
    “Both.”
    I threw a cushion at her.
    “I like Haven,” she said. “I know I’ve only met her briefly, but she seemed different from those other girls you date. And I like how tied up she’s got you.”
    I wasn’t sure how to respond. Haven was different, that was for sure. “I’m not sure she’s got me tied up.”
    Beth raised her eyebrows. “And before you tell me she doesn’t like you and that she’s moved on or whatever excuse you’re formulating, she does like you. I could tell at the gallery and it doesn’t matter what shit’s happened. If she’s the right girl for you, then fight for her. Stop making excuses.”
    “It’s not that simple.”
    “Well, you see, I think it is. You can make it that simple. You’re good at that, Jake. You’re good at getting things you want.”
    “Things yes, but not people. If I was, we’d still be a family.” A wave of regret swept over me when I thought about what we didn’t have back in Chicago. At one time, we’d been the archetypal American family.
    “How did you work that out? You can’t control people. You weren’t responsible for Mom getting shot any more than I was, and you’re not in control of the fact Dad finds it all too difficult to