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“Okay,” he tells her, still radiating that nervous energy. “Thank you.”
When he walks inside, Ruthie’s the first one to notice him. Her expression darkens, and she says, “Look who’s graced us with his presence. And I see you went for a casual look, too!”
I glance at Shane, wondering if I’ll need to referee today, but he doesn’t bite back, his expression almost gray. I look back and see Ruthie’s obvious confusion. This isn’t the game they usually play.
Burke’s taken notice of Shane too now. He watches him for a moment before giving a slow nod.
Deacon the P.I. shoots Shane a dirty look and shakes his Dirty Pilgrim at him. “You’re not supposed to be here,” he accuses. “I know what Myles told me, and I’m guessing he said the same to everyone else at that confounded firm. If I wanted to do any more work for them, I wasn’t allowed to even be in the same room as the kid.”
Surprised laughter gusts out of Shane. “Well, I quit and stole the old man’s booze on the way out of his kingdom, so I think I’m good.”
Relief wraps itself around me. I’d thought so, but it’s good to have the confirmation. To know that he’s free too, even though he’s probably feeling like a top that can’t stop spinning.
“Allegedly stole,” I say, because that’s supposed to be Shane’s line. Then I pat him on the back. “Why don’t we go out on the balcony for a second. You can tell Burke and me what happened. If that’s okay with everyone else…”
“Yes,” Mira says, “by all means, separate the women and children from the men.” She’s smiling, though, and when Deacon points out that he wasn’t invited onto the balcony either, she tells him it’s for the best because she and Ruthie need to coach him before Shauna’s grandmother shows up.
Before we head outside, she takes the Scotch from Shane and shoves a drink into his hand. “You look like you need it.”
“Thank you,” he says.
We head outside into the cool air, and we all sit there quietly for a good minute before Shane turns to Burke and says, “I let you down. The old man had your father over for Thanksgiving dinner. I…I should have left the firm the minute I found out they were thinking of working with your parents, but I’ve given up so much for this job. I knew if I quit I’d never…Anyway, I did what I had to do. But I did it too late. I’m really fucking sorry.”
“What happened when you left?” Burke says, studying Shane. He must see what I do—it didn’t go down smoothly.
“I told him I was done, and he said that if I walked out and embarrassed him in front of his guests, I’d never work in the law again in this town. I said we’d see if his dick was as big as he thought it was, then I grabbed the Scotch I’d brought and left.”
“So, it was technically your Scotch you took,” I say for no real reason than that it’s what goes through my mind.
“It makes it sound cooler to say I took it from him.” Shane’s half-smiling as he says it, and even though he’s obviously distressed, I can tell that he’s feeling some relief of his own.
“So I’m not the only one who lost a hundred and ninety pounds today,” I say. He already knew about my plan to leave Safe-T Net, so that’ll be no surprise.
He snorts, then looks surprised by it. Glancing down into the drink Mira made, which he took but hasn’t tried, he says, “Yeah, more like double that. They’re both assholes. I just…”
“Hope his dick isn’t as big as he thinks?” Burke asks with a smile.
“I didn’t want to be the one who said it,” Shane says.
“Thank you,” Burke tells him, then leans over and gives him a one-armed hug. “But you need to know you still would have been my friend whatever you chose.”
The door cracks open, and Mira says, “I don’t want to interrupt this, but I feel that everyone in the apartment should be aware that Josie and Poe have just arrived. And Josie’s offered to do readings for everyone, isn’t that nice?”
I get what she’s not saying—get back into this apartment as soon as it’s feasible.
I nod to the guys. “Let’s go.” And we all get up and head inside. I stay back to close the door. Mira, who’s still standing by it, leans her head against my shoulder. “Thank goodness you read my bat signal,” she says in a whisper. “Did everything go okay?”
“I think it’s going to.” And I mean it. We all have plenty of stuff to slug through, but it feels like everything is unfolding as it should.
After Mira and I reconciled, I offered to continue staying with Shane, for a while, and eventually find a studio apartment. But she insisted that I belonged here, and I wasn’t about to argue.
This apartment means so many things to me, not all good or bad. It’s been my prison and my solace, and it brought into my life the greatest gift possible.
I look in the living room, and Izzy, who’s been glued to the weird slime show, turns and grins at Shane. “Uncle Shane, when’d you get here?”
“It’s about time you noticed,” he says, managing a smile as she runs to him and hugs his legs.
I see Ruthie smiling, because even if she can’t bring herself to see the good in Shane, she loves her daughter more than anything.
