Stepbrother Fallen (15 page)

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Authors: Aya Fukunishi

BOOK: Stepbrother Fallen
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I push back my chair and start helping with
the clean up. "Can we just drop it Pen? I just want to have a nice
dinner with my parents then get back home, OK? Let's not spoil
it."

 

Penny looks like she'd like to slap me, but
she manages to resist the urge. "Fine, I won't push it. I think
you're fucking crazy, but I won't push it."

 

"Good," I say, ignoring the suddenly icy
atmosphere. "That's settled then. Let's finish up here, grab a
shower and get to the restaurant. Deal?"

 

"Deal."

 

Damn, she still looks like she wants to
slap me.

 

 

 

 

 

Dad spots us first as Penny and I arrive at
the restaurant in Little Italy, and I cringe with the expectation
of what I know he's gonna do.

 

"Well there's my best investment ever!" he
cries to us across the restaurant. A couple of diners glance around
at the noise. "My daughter, the New York Times bestseller! Get over
here, honey!"

 

Ever since I hit the list three weeks ago
he's been telling everyone who'll listen that I'm an NYT
bestseller. It's kind of embarrassing, especially since I only made
it onto the extended list, not the main list that actually gets
printed in The Times. Y'know, it's not like anyone really cares,
but I do feel like a bit of a phony when dad yells it out across a
room.

 

"Hi, dad," I flash him a forced grin and
hurry across the room so he'll sit the hell down. "Hi, mom."

 

"Hi, honey," mom says, waiting for me to
lean down for a kiss. "Hi, Penny. I hope you've been keeping our
little celebrity nice and safe."

 

"Yes, Mrs. Moriarty, she's been fine. There
were a couple of shifty hot dog vendors who looked like they might
try something, but we crossed the street to avoid them."

 

Mom tuts at Penny. "Oh, stop your teasing.
You know I worry about our little Madison, all alone in the big
city. You never know what might happen."

 

"
Mo-om
!" I complain. "You know I lived alone on the steppe for
two years, right? You know, riding horses, surviving minus 40
winters, hunted by wolves? I think I can manage to walk down Fifth
Avenue without a bodyguard." I swear she gets worse every
year.

 

"Humor your long suffering mother, Madison.
You know I can't help but worry."

 

"Yeah," I reply, deadpan. "I'm very
familiar with your worrying. Now let's order, OK?"

 

We sit in silence for a few minutes as my
mind and stomach are overwhelmed by the menu. In the week I've been
in town I've had at least one pizza a day. It's shameful, but you
just can't get pizza this good back on the west coast, and I
couldn't get it at all in Mongolia. Eventually I make my choice and
we all place our orders.

 

"So how was the signing?" asks dad, sipping
his beer. "Did they give you the star treatment?"

 

I can't help but laugh. I forbade mom and dad from
attending my book signings – it would be too embarrassing to have
them hovering over my shoulder as I worked – and dad has
totally
the wrong idea
about what goes on in a book store. He seems to think I'm up on a
floodlit stage surrounded by screaming fans.

 

"There's no star treatment, dad, but I did
get unlimited coffee and access to the staff bathroom."

 

Dad chuckles and shakes his head. "So you
didn't get dropped off in limo and served champagne? Penny, you
have to set her up with a better agent."

 

Penny nods. "I hear JK Rowling gets male
strippers sent to her hotel room when she's on book tours." She
loves to tease dad. "I'll have a word down at the office, OK?"

 

Dad grins. "Only the very best for my
little girl," the volume of his voice climbs a little higher, "the
New York Times bestseller."

 

I sink a little lower in the seat. "I think
they heard you in the kitchen, dad. You can stop yelling now."

 

"Actually," Penny pipes up, "we did get one
special visitor to the store." I try to kick her leg under the
table, but miss. "Rafe dropped by."

 

As soon as she sees my mom's face freeze
Penny knows she shouldn't have mentioned him.

 

"Rafe Stone?" mom asks, coldly.

 

Penny looks like she's searching for a
handy hole in the ground. "Umm, yeah. He, err, he just dropped by
for a couple of minutes. No big deal." Penny grabs a glass of water
and takes a big gulp to avoid looking at my mom.

 

Mom turns to me with ice cold fury in her
eyes. "I thought we made it crystal clear you weren't to have any
contact with that boy, Madison. I don't want him anywhere near my
family."

 

I can't quite believe she just said that.
I'm 25 years old, and I'm more than old enough to decide who I
speak to. I feel like laying into her but I really don't want to
get into a big thing in public. "Mom, can we just drop it
please?"

 

"Drop it?
Drop it?
That little criminal almost ruined our lives! I don't even
want him in the same state as you, never mind the same damned book
store!"

 

"Mom, settle down," I plead, wondering how
much she's had to drink. "It was seven years ago. Besides, he
served his time. You don't think he might be due a little
forgiveness?"

 

Dad puts his hand on mom's arm. "Aubrey,
let's not make a big scene, OK?"

 

"I don't want you seeing that boy again, Madison. He's a
loser. He's always been a loser, and he'll always
be
a
loser."

 

"Mom! How can you --"

 

"I'll say my piece," she interrupts. "That
boy forced us out of our home. We offered him nothing but kindness,
and he threw it back in our faces. No daughter of mine will ever
associate with scum like that. They should lock him up and throw
away the –"

 

"Aubrey!" Dad barks suddenly. "For Christ's
sake, knock it off!"

 

Everyone at the table freezes, and I hear
the scrape of chairs as diners at the surrounding tables turn to
check out the show. I don't remember the last time I heard dad
raise his voice in anger at anything but ESPN.

 

"You're talking about my son," dad growls. "He may not be
perfect, but he's still my son. He made a mistake as a kid, and he
paid for it. Who the hell hasn't fucked up once or twice? Now it's
seven years later and you're still not ready to forgive and forget?
That enough, Aubrey. It's... it's just
enough.
"

 

For a moment mom looks like she's going to
burst into tears, but after a few moments of staring at dad in
shock she kicks back her chair and bolts for the door, bumping into
a waiter on the way.

 

Penny and I sat frozen through all of this.
I've never once heard dad complain about the way mom speaks about
Rafe. I'm guessing that was the culmination of years of
frustration.

 

"Sorry about that, Maddy,” dad sighs. “Your
mom had a few drinks at lunch. I don't think she meant more than
half of what she said." He pulls out his wallet and fishes out some
bills. "So Rafe's in town, huh?"

 

I nod. "Uh huh. He's living here now."

 

"Good for him. Did he look like he's doing
OK?"

 

I shrug. "I guess so. He's got an apartment
and a nice suit. I guess he can't be doing that badly. Ummm, he
kinda invited me to go meet him at a bar. His band is
playing."

 

Dad gives me a questioning look, and
suddenly blurts out the last thing I'd ever expect his to say. "You
still love him, don't you?" My shocked expression must be giving me
away. "Oh, don't look so surprised, Maddy. Your think a dad can't
tell when his daughter's head over heels? I knew how you felt about
that boy the moment Don slapped the cuffs on him. If you'd had the
chance you would have followed him to jail."

 

I can't believe he's being so... I don't
know, so relaxed about it. "It doesn't bother you that I have
feelings for your son?"

 

Dad sighs. "I'm not gonna lie, it isn't
ideal, Madison. I'd really prefer it if you'd had the good sense to
fall for one of the seven billion people on the planet who aren't
related to me, but I don't think a father can reasonably expect to
have any say in who his daughter falls in love with. I just want
you to be happy, and that's all I'll say on the matter."

 

He drops the bills in front of me, pushes
back his chair and knocks back the rest of his beer. I'm guessing
mom wasn't the only one who had a few drinks at lunch. "Look, I
better go find your mom before she finds herself in Jersey. I'll
get her back to the hotel. Penny, it was great to see you."

 

Penny gives dad an awkward smile. "You too,
Mr. Moriarty. Umm, I'm sorry about mentioning Rafe. If I'd known it
would have caused a problem..."

 

"Don't worry about it, hon, it's not your
fault. I've been wanting to tell her off for about five years now.
I'm just sorry you guys had to see it." He sighs and looks towards
the door. "OK, wish me luck."

 

"I hope you find her soon, dad. I'll see
you back at the hotel."

 

With that, dad slumps his shoulders and
heads for the door.

 

Penny and I sit silently for a minute,
neither of us wanting to speak first.

 

"Huh," I say, eventually. "That was...
unexpected."

 

Penny toys with her pizza. "What, the part
where your mom turned into the Hulk, or the part where your dad
kinda gave you his blessing to fuck your stepbrother?"

 

"Both."

 

"Yeah. So... you wanna head over to the
gig?"

 

I stare at the crumpled business card for a
moment, wondering if I really want to open up that can of worms
again. Sure, dad doesn't seem like he'd be too weirded out if I
pursued Rafe, but mom made it pretty clear that she'd die before
she gave us her blessing.

 

Oh, fuck it.

 

"Yeah, let's go."

 

 

 

 

 

I can feel the butterflies fluttering in my
stomach as the cab winds through the city, weaving left and right
through the narrow, muddled streets of Downtown before turning
north on Bowery, crawling through the heavy evening traffic and
then peeling right onto 6th Street. I look down to double check the
address scrawled on Rafe's business card: 525 6th Street.

 

I can't help but feel excited as I see the
numbers on the doors of the buildings count up. At 200 I can feel
my heart pound in my chest, and Penny takes my hand.

 

"Hey, girl, you look pretty hyper. Chill
out, OK?"

 

I give her a wan smile. "I know, I know.
I'm just a little... I don't know. I haven't seen this guy in seven
years. I don't know anything about his life. What if he was just
being polite with his invite? I mean, what if he's married?" My
eyes widen. "Fuck, Pen, what if he's married?!"

 

"Settle down, Gobi girl, he's not married.
Haven't you ever checked him out on Facebook?"

 

I give Penny a look and pull out the clunky
phone I picked up at a market in Ulaanbaatar. "Pen, I use a ten
year old Nokia 3210 and I wrote my book on my dad's old Selectric
typewriter. You know I don't use Facebook."

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