“Actually, our lawyers agreed to a time and place. We’re meeting tomorrow.”
“Good.” We were finally going to get this shitshow rolling. “It’s bullshit that she’s in your penthouse.”
“Well, she won’t be for long,” Coen said. “Pretty soon, she’ll be trespassing.”
“And then she’ll be gone for good…” I couldn’t wait until the dust settled and this was just a bad memory. “Mother told me she’s trying to get a hold of you.”
He turned his gaze to his food. “Yeah…I’ll call her back eventually.”
“What are you afraid of?” I asked. “You already knew she didn’t like Simone. It’s not like she’s going to say anything new.”
He picked at his food but didn’t take a bite. “I know I disappointed her. I just don’t want to see that disappointment reflected back at me. Even if she doesn’t say it, I’ll feel it. You know?”
I did know, but that wasn’t an excuse. “The hard part is just beginning, Coen. You’re going to have to stop being a coward and grow a spine. A real man owns up to his mistakes and admits he’s wrong. He doesn’t dodge his mother’s phone calls because he’s a pussy.”
Cherry gave me a cold look. “Slate…”
“No, he’s right,” Coen said. “He’s always been right.”
I didn’t mean to kick him while he was down, but his constant fear of conflict was getting on my last nerve. He ran from his problems rather than facing them head on. And sometimes he ignored his problems until he convinced himself they didn’t exist in the first place. That was exactly how he got into this trouble. “You need to call her today or tomorrow. Or I’ll call her and throw the phone at you.”
He washed down his dinner with a glass of water. “I’ll take care of it.”
I didn’t press him on it.
Cherry finished her dinner before either one of us did. She never ate that fast, but this time, she swallowed her food like she’d been starving. She carried her empty plate to the sink in the kitchen then returned to the table. “I’m pretty tired, so I’m going to bed early. Good night.” She gripped both of my shoulders and gave them a quick massage before she leaned down and kissed me on the cheek.
I knew she wasn’t tired. She was just pulling this stunt so Coen and I could be alone together. But I let her get away with her plan because I wouldn’t call her out in front of my brother. “Goodnight, Cherry.”
She left the dining room and disappeared down the hallway.
“That’s an interesting nickname,” Coen noted.
“It’s a lot better than Satanic Whore.” I’d never heard Coen call Simone that, but it seemed like the only reasonable nickname for her.
He didn’t take the jab offensively. “I like her a lot, Slate.”
He hardly knew her. “She’s easy to like.”
“I’m serious. Simone hated her, so I can only assume that means Monroe is actually a good person.”
It was the first time I’d chuckled that day. “Good point.”
“Monroe told me she’s living with you. It’s temporary, but that’s still pretty serious.”
“It’s not. She was just having issues with her living situation. It’s not as serious as it sounds.”
Coen kept eating and didn’t try to correct me. “You like this girl?”
“Obviously.”
“But how much do you like her?”
I didn’t appreciate all the scrutinizing questions. Just a week ago, we’d been enemies who agreed to never spend time together again once Mother was gone. Now that his wife left him, we were suddenly two peas in a pod. “Don’t talk to me like we’re friends, Coen. I took you in because you’re my brother. That’s all.”
He held my gaze as he absorbed that cruel truth. After a few seconds, his eyes filled with the pain I’d purposely thrown his way. He looked down at his food as if he were going to take another bite, but then he set down his fork like his appetite had been chased away. “I wasn’t trying to pry, man. I just…I’m glad you have someone. It’s nice having a woman you really care about. My relationship with Simone ended up being a big, fat mistake, but prior to that, I was very happy. I assumed that’s how you felt… That’s all.”
His words seemed sincere, so I felt guilty for rising to anger so quickly. He had no idea about the true nature of my relationship with Cherry, and since Simone was about to tell the entire world, I thought it made sense to come clean. “My relationship with Monroe isn’t what it appears to be.”
He lifted his gaze and looked at me again. “It seems like you’re a couple that’s happy together. But that’s incorrect?”
“Yes.”
“How is that incorrect?” Our dinner was abandoned, and the only thing we had to share was our conversation.
“Because…I paid for her.”
Coen wore the same blank look on his face until that revelation really sank in. Once it seeped into his skin and then to his bones, his eyes narrowed slightly. “She’s a prostitute?”