Page 3 of Just for Tonight

Yes. I cringe. Candace isn’t my favourite person in the world, but on this occasion, my stepmother is more annoying than usual. I can’t understand her at all. Every question results in tears and wails. She’s probably gnashing her teeth and tearing out her hair, too. No half-measures on drama with Candace.

I’m about to lose patience when my half-sister Madison claims the phone and proves herself useful for once in her life.

“Dad’s had a heart attack,” she says, sounding calm until her breath hitches and I realize how upset she is. “They’ve taken him to Havelock General and Ethan went, too.”

It’s not a surprise. My father is getting up there, and Patrick Cavendish is the kind of angry, domineering person inclined statistically to have sudden massive heart attacks. My first thought is that it couldn’t have happened to a more deserving candidate, but I’m not going to say that out loud.

Yet.

“Thanks for letting me know.” I’m not sure why this merited such an early morning call. My father would never ask to speak to me on his deathbed. He was, after all, the one who taught me to be completely self-reliant and expect nothing from anybody, even him.

Especially him.

I’m going to sign off, but Madison continues. “We’ve called Mike and he’s on his way over.”

I assume she means to the house where my father lives with his second family. My brother, Mike, also lives in Empire, but not in that house.

“Good.” Mike is great in a crisis. Solid. Reliable. Dependable. He can deal with this.

He might not even strangle Candace with his bare hands. Mike has superhuman levels of tolerance and patience, while I’m already tempted to reach through the phone and just make her stop. I can hear her in the background, like a siren warning of a hurricane making landfall.

“Jake!” Madison sounds stern, which means I’ve given her the wrong answer. “You should know that it doesn’t look good.”

I push a hand through my hair and decide I’ll bite. “Why should I know that?”

“Because Dad might die while you’re driving down here.” She’s angry, although I don’t know why. She and her brother, both Candace’s kids, have been gobbling back the goodies from my father’s trough ever since they were born. Nothing has ever been too good for those two, and even if they were cut off right this minute, they still have to be in clover.

Ethan, who has never had a job in his life, drives a brand-new Mustang. Madison’s high-end purse collection is of sufficient value to buy a house, even in Toronto, but it wouldn’t all fit in her red Audi. All the austerity that was said to be good for me and my blood siblings vanished when my mom died, although curiously enough, Mom was the generous and kind one. It was my father who changed his tune.

Am I bitter? Maybe a little. Maybe enough that I’m not in a hurry to make everything peachy for Candace, Madison and Ethan, particularly at my own inconvenience.

My bad.

“Well, keep me posted,” I say, ready to end the call.

Madison’s voice rises to tones close to her mother’s. “Aren’t you coming down here?”

“That is not my plan.”

“Why not?”

Why should I? The question is as obvious to me as the answer but I don’t say it out loud.

Not yet.

Instead, I glance around my darkened apartment, my gaze lingering on the lights spread at my feet. Beyond that ribbon of lights is the darkness of Lake Ontario. It’s the wee hours of the morning, but I’ll bet there’s already a line of red taillights glowing along the 401 in either direction. My place faces south, so I can’t see the highway-that-never-sleeps from here.

My view is of the lake, all dark and mysterious, with a few lights from ships reflected in its inky surface. I love looking at the lake. I can pick out the Toronto Islands, even at this hour, darker shapes against the dark water. I think of sailing ships, of boating clubs, of days with the wind in my hair, the sun on my face and water splashing against the prow. The sails would snap overhead, even groan a bit, and the sailboat would tip on a turn…

“Jake?” Madison demands, her voice rising sharply. “Are you even there?”

“Of course.” Where would I have gone? Time to go mobile and ditch this land line. That way, I can be picky about who gets the number.

“Don’t be an asshole, Jake, not now. When will you be here? Mom needs to know.”

Candace’s wailing rises in another crescendo.

To be honest, the sound effects alone are enough to encourage me to drive in the other direction. Montreal, maybe, even though I don’t know anyone there.