96:Have a Beer

“Charlie seems to be enjoyin’ Tico’s company,” Lilah remarked, stepping up to the sink and unscrewing the lid from a kid’s cup. 

Jon swirled the Corona and lime in his beer bottle and slid a sideways glance at his sister-in-law. With nearly all the party guests mingling in the family room proper, and Desiree having pulled Matt away for something or other, Jon was relatively alone until she arrived. 

He’d spent the last month with his brothers and bandmates and the rest of the people here he didn’t know or feel like meeting – Tony and Lilah’s neighbors, playdate parents and the like.  That left him leaning against the dishwasher with his ankles crossed, taking advantage of the openness of the kitchen/living room layout to observe.

Jon thought it seemed as though everything must be going well with the counselor and Tico’s little reunion since she was laughing delightedly at something that had just been said.  His drummer looked no less amused, and his hand was resting familiarly on hers a moment ago.

“They knew each other back in the day.”

“Oh?” his sister-in-law inquired innocently, angling her head for a better look at his face as she washed milk out of the red plastic cup.  He had the sick feeling she was doing her psycho shit, but her only remark was, “Small world, I guess.”

“Sometimes.”

Stretching her arm down the counter, she snagged a cloth and began toweling the freshly rinsed cup, ridding it of any remaining water.  “She loves you.”

Jon eased the bottle of Corona away from his lips, licking away the lingering drops of beer while kicking one eyebrow up.  He presumed Lilah was either fishing for the happy ending to her hand-crafted romance, or her psycho evaluation had left her with the assumption that she should reassure him. 

He didn’t need reassurance. 

“She tell you that?”

“Well, no.”  The damp towel was tossed on the counter, because while Lilah’s house was clean, she was by no means a neat freak.  “She didn’t have to.”

He flicked his eyes toward the ceiling before rolling them in her direction.  “More psycho shit?”

“No,” she denied good-naturedly, sticking her tongue out at him as she went to the refrigerator to pull out apple juice.  “A woman just knows some things, and we can spot love a mile away on someone else.  The way you’re broodin’, I thought it might be helpful if you knew.”

Nobody had to tell him that the counselor loved him.  She took care of that herself, and was pretty good about issuing her own timely reminders – like before they walked in here tonight.  He’d been reminding himself of it a few minutes ago, in fact.

Jon hadn’t been blowing smoke when telling her that he wasn’t the jealous type, but watching her talk to a former lover while her face was lit up with pleasure…  It would take some getting used to.

“I know,” he succinctly told the sister-in-law who was now pouring juice for one of her kids.

“Good.  Then would I be correct in assumin’ she knows the same about you?”

“Yes,” he sighed, uncrossing his ankles and tossing his empty bottle in the recycle bin.  “She knows I love her and now so do you.  You were right about us all along.  Happy?”

Okay, so that wasn’t exactly the gratitude he’d planned to express for Lilah’s tenacity, but she was doing it again – being a busybody pain in the ass.  It tended to skew his attitude, even if she was giving him a smile as wide as the one Chiara was currently bestowing upon Tico.

“About bein’ right?  Not ‘specially.”  Having returned the juice to its rightful spot, she closed the refrigerator door and came to pat him on the cheek.  “I’m more happy about you bein’ happy.  Believe it or not, I’ve come to love you myself in a way that has nothin’ to do with your profession.  Seein’ you lonely and hurtin’ isn’t much fun for me or the rest of your family.  It’s nice findin’ out you’re not.”

Well, if that didn’t make him feel like a prick for being surly with her.  She might annoy the hell out of him sometimes, but his sister-in-law was good people. 

He grunted noncommittally and did something that he’d only done one other time, on her wedding day.  Jon hooked an arm around Lilah’s neck and pulled her into a lingering hug before dusting her forehead with a quick kiss and releasing her. 

“Thanks for caring enough to be a pain in the ass.  Now go take a look at your husband's gift from the counselor while I take her a beer.”

“I saw that tube she gave the kids to take to him,” Lilah reminded him with delight.  “And I'm unabashedly hopin' it’s a drawin’ of the kids so I don't have to be jealous of Matt's anymore.”

Jon’s eyes flicked back over to Chiara.  The drawing wasn’t just the kids; it was Tony and Lilah, too, and all of them were on Main Beach building a sandcastle.  She thought Tony would like that better since he seemed to cherish not only his family but also being with them.  That’s what she’d said, anyway, and Jon thought it incredibly insightful and thoughtful.

Those were traits he’d come to realize weren't random occurrences. They were a fundamental part of who she was and who he loved. 

“Hey, Lilah?”

Having only taken a few steps, she paused and turned to look over her shoulder with a curious crinkle of the forehead that was probably due to his use of her actual name instead of one of his offhand nicknames.  “Yeah?”

“Pick out some new shiny shit.  I’d like to get you an early Christmas present.”

“How ‘bout you get me a shiny new sister-in-law?"  Her grin was sassy as she winked one Caribbean-colored eye before sauntering off to find her husband and the child who wanted juice.  "Oh, and don’t forget to get that thing off Tony’s desk.”  

Shaking his head with a snicker, Jon bent to grab two more beers from the built-in cooler beneath the counter.  She was a pushy pain in the ass.

Disposing of the tops, Jon wound his way back to the counselor and extended her beer while saying, “How we doin’?  Everything okay?”

“I think so,” Chiara said, accepting her beer with a smile of thanks as he took a swig from his own.  “Tico mentioned that you should probably be the final authority on that, though.”

“He did?” 

Jon’s eyes slid to the man who’d been like a brother to him for many years, and Tico stood to slip a familiar arm around his waist as he’d done so many times before. 

“I like Charlie, but I think she’d agree that your peace with this is what really matters,” the older man grumbled in that deep voice of his.  “I mean, Christ.  I hope you know I’m happily married and this shit is ancient history.  Impropriety is never gonna be an issue, man.”

“Absolutely not.”  Chiara stood, too, her dark eyes earnest as she echoed Tico’s sentiment and slipped a hand inside Jon’s.  “You know that.”

“Team Monogamy,” he agreed with a smirk.

“So you cool?  Anything you wanna get off your chest before I go see the piece of art TBJ is ooh-ing and aah-ing about over there?”

The gesture was appreciated, and until Tico offered it, Jon hadn’t realized he needed one.  That in itself was enough to settle any misgivings he might have about the events of decades past.   With Chiara looking at him like no one else was in the room, he couldn’t think of another damn thing he wanted or needed.

“Today’s a new day,” he told them both quietly, eyes fixed on the counselor’s throat as she took a swallow of beer.  “The past is nothing more than the road that brought us here.  I’m cool, but thanks.”

A strong hand smacked his back resoundingly.  “Good.  Now I’m gonna go check out Charlie’s work.”

“I’ve got some pictures of her work for you to look at, too.  I’ll find you later.”  Jon took a swig of Corona and twined the counselor’s fingers with his.  “As for you…  Come with me.”

“Come with you?" she purred while trailing  him out of the family room.  “That sounds like an outstanding idea, because I had no idea what seeing you drink a beer was going to do to me.”

“What the fuck?” he laughed over his shoulder as they slid to a stop outside the last door at the end of the hall. 

“You always drink wine, and there's not a thing wrong with that.  But there's about a man and a beer that hypes my hormones…  It gives you a different, very sexy edge.”

“Well, hell.  If I’d known that, I could’ve saved myself the trouble of birthday shopping.”

The shoulders of her brown cardigan lifted negligently.  “Just means you get laid and blown tonight.  Is that a problem?”

“Hell, no,” he chortled as they stepped through the doorway of his brother’s home office. "In fact, it's startin' to feel like my birthday instead of yours."