Page 91 of Steady Stroke
She huffed. “My fiancé, you jerk, and you know that. Come on, I want to brag about how awesome you are. I mean, you’re going to play at Unbound again.”
His hand jerked. “You know about that?”
“Sure I do. We don’t talk much, but I still follow Fading Daze and your friends. I’m so excited for you.” She did sound genuinely thrilled for him.
He wasn’t sure what to do with that. “I have a boyfriend.”
She squealed. “Really? Tell me about him.”
“His name is Emmett. He works at a bar, he has an amazing singing voice, and for some reason, he loves me.”
“Do you love him?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Bring him to the wedding.”
“Our father will have a coronary, and I don’t want to cause drama on your big day.”
Mercedes made a shushing sound, and he could see her waving a hand in the air. “I’m inviting you both, so Dad will have to grin and bear it. And if he doesn’t, Terry’s two-hundred-pound gay uncle will have words with him.”
“I think I like Terry.”
“You will, once you have a conversation with him. Please, Lincoln? I’ll even spring for the plane tickets.”
“No plane. Not with my head.”
“Right, sorry. Bus, train, rental car, whatever. I’ll pay for it, if it gets you two here next Saturday.”
Lincoln didn’t want to commit to that without talking to Emmett first. “Can I text you back with my final answer?”
“Yes. Please come. You don’t even need to bring me a present. Just be there.”
“I’ll try, Mercy. I promise.”
“Good. Take care, okay?”
“Bye.”
He stared at his phone, mind racing, until Emmett returned with the pizza and a plastic bag. The tantalizing scents of tomato and sausage made his mouth water, but he couldn’t seem to put his phone down.
“What’s wrong?” Emmett dumped the pizza on the coffee table, and the bag on the floor, then sat next to him. “Linc?”
Lincoln explained his call with Mercedes. “Mercy and I were super close when we were kids, and then we drifted apart in high school. We kept in touch after I moved out?—”
“Were kicked out, via a flight of stairs.”
“I haven’t seen her in years, but for some reason it’s really important that I be at her wedding.”
“She wants her family there.” Emmett squeezed his hand. “It’s not that strange of an idea to some of us. Wanting our family to be there on special occasions.”
“I know. And it’s not the wedding, exactly, it’s our father. Ihaven’t seen him since that night, and I don’t want to. I don’t want to see how he’s aged, or to find out he’s happy or sick or sad. I don’t care.”
“Are you sure? If you didn’t care about any of that, then finding it out wouldn’t bother you. He’d be just another stranger at the wedding. Another face to ignore. Are you sure this isn’t about you?”
“Of course it’s about me. It’s about me not wanting to see him.”
Emmett tilted his head, nibbled his lower lip. “Are you sure it isn’t about not wanting him to see you?”
