Page 68 of Old Habits

Chapter 19

Will

I plant myself between my sister and my living room, trying to look as casual as possible. Andy stands beside her with his backpack strapped on his shoulders and a wide grin on his face.

“Hi, Uncle Will!”

“Hey, buddy,” I say. “What’s going on?”

Sara gawks at me. “I asked you to watch him, remember? I have to meet with the P-A-R-T-Y committee to finish arrangements for his B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y in the S-Q-U-A-R-E today.”

I blink through the mess of letters. “That’s today?”

“Yes— a fact I could have reminded you of last night but you hung up on me. Did you even read my texts?”

“Sorry,” I say, stepping to the side. “Come on in, Andy.”

Sara releases his hand and he rushes in while she scans over my shoulder. “Did you have company?”

I glance behind me at the empty pizza boxes and beer cans. “No, just a rough night,” I say quickly.

She squints. “Yeah, I heard about your little date with Jovie. It didn’t go so well, did it? Not that I’m surprised…”

“No, it did not.”

“Well, you’re better off without her.”

I ignore it. “When are you picking him back up?”

“A few hours...” She lowers to a whisper. “The party is at noon. Be there by eleven-thirty, please.”

“Cool.” I nod.

“Who are you?”

I spin around, hearing Andy’s voice in the hallway and my chest tightens. “Hey, Andy, buddy… come on back in here…”

Sara brushes past me and I exhale as she charges through my living room to catch up with him. I close the door and follow them as Sara crosses her arms in disappointment.

“Hey, Jovie,” she says through her teeth.

“Hello, Sara.”

Jovie lets out a soft chuckle from my bedroom doorway. She’s fully-clothed, thankfully, but there’s not a damn thing to be said to convince my sister that was always the case.

“Who are you?” Andy asks her again.

“Oh, I’m just…” she gestures at me, “I’m just an old friend of your uncle’s.”

I nudge his shoulder. “You remember Jovie, right?” I ask him. “The nice lady from the toy store?”

Jovie nods. “That, too. You might not recognize me without the very flattering red smock.”

Sara glares at me. “And what is she doing here?”

I go blank but awkward moments were always Jovie’s forte.

“I dropped by on my way to work,” she says, raising her hand to hold up a CD from my shelf. “I loaned him this years ago and he never gave it back.”