Page 30 of Sweet Surrender
12
JUDAH
It seemed as if all I had been doing lately was visiting people to straighten things out. I was prepared to do it this one last time, and if anyone had any issues with the way I was moving, then fuck ’em.
At forty-four, I owed no one an explanation, and I wasn’t making any apologies for my choices. I was making room in my life for happiness, and I didn’t give a damn who had a problem with it. As long as my lady was on my side, that was all that mattered.
“Wassup, big bro?” Issachar greeted me, walking into my office.
I had invited him to lunch at my office since he didn’t work too far from me. It wasn’t exactly neutral territory, but we both were professionals in our different arenas, and I wasn’t worried about either of us getting out of pocket at work.
If we had met at either of our homes to have this discussion, that could be a different matter altogether. Besides, I liked Princess, and I didn’t want to drag her into this. She was a little on the superficial side, but she loved my brother, and she was exactly who he needed, someone whose life circled around him and needed him.
“Have a seat, man. I ordered sandwiches from Two Slices.” I pulled the bags out from the sub shop and placed one on the conference table in my office, in front of him, and the other in front of me, before I grabbed a couple bottled waters and some napkins.
“Did you add extra pickles and banana peppers for me?” he asked, pulling out his Philly cheesesteak.
I unwrapped my chicken bacon club. “It’s the only way you’ll eat it. What you think?”
He bit into it and slowly nodded his head as he chewed. “This is that guy.”
I snickered and shook my head. When we were kids, growing up, and I had been responsible for him, I once made his sandwiches with extra pickles and banana peppers. From that first time, he fell in love with them, and that was the only way he would eat a sandwich.
“You know I got you.”
“You talked to Reuben lately?” Issachar asked.
“Yeah, he told me that he’s finally about to tie the knot with Camilla. Said he wanted us to have a brothers’ camping trip before he did it.”
“Zebulun said he wasn’t even sure why he wanted to marry her now. He hadn’t done so in all these years. I mean, their kids are grown.”
“Who knows? Sometimes, people get to a certain stage at life, and they look back over it and realize they may have made some mistakes along the way. They want to correct them, and they do it the best way they know how. I think Reuben wishes he had set a different example for his kids.”
“But he’s fifty-five now, man.”
“Everyone has the right to right their wrongs before their eyes close, Issachar.”
“Yeah, I guess. If he’s happy, then that’s all that matters, right?”
“Exactly.”
“Simeon said Reu asked Levi to perform the nuptials.”
Shrugging, I replied, “Makes sense. He is a minister after all.”
“Yeah.”
We went silent again and continued eating for a while. When we finished eating, I broached the subject I invited him to talk about.
“The reason I called you over, Issachar, is because I wanted to be the one to tell you that I was dating Alex before you heard it from someplace else.”
“Too late. Jon did it already.”
“Damn.”
“He told me that he saw you and her downtown last Saturday night, and that she ran some crap about you and her planning a party for daddy and Riyan’s wedding anniversary. I called bullshit, because their anniversary already passed. He said he figured as much. So, you two had to be seeing each other.”
“We are.”
