There was a snicker on the other end. “I promise,” he said. “No swinging, as long as you don’t come looking for a revenge shot.”
“We’ll see,” I said.
Nick gave me the name of a restaurant, and I told him I would meet him there. Becca was coming out of the bedroom as I made the plans, and she sat on the couch looking upset. I went to sit next to her, and she pulled her knees to her chest.
“I don’t think you should go,” she said. “What if he just makes this worse?”
“He can’t make it worse,” I said. “I’d beat his ass if he tried something stupid, and he won’t do that anyway. He knows he got lucky when he sucker punched me. But he seems like he might regret that, and I want to give him the chance to apologize.”
“Nick? Apologize?” Becca said sarcastically.
“I know, but it’s worth a shot.”
I drove to the restaurant, wondering why he chose that place specifically. It was an out-of-the-way spot, mostly selling Greek food, which at least interested me. I had only been there a few times before and remembered their gyros being amazing. When I got in the door, I saw Nick at a table over the hostess’s shoulder and pointed to him.
“I’m with him,” I said.
“Sure,” she said, and went back to fiddling with her phone.
Nick was also fiddling with his phone when I arrived, and he put it down on the table when I sat. The waiter came up immediately, and I ordered a beer and the chicken gyro the way I had it before. Today was not a day for trying new things. Not for me at least.
“Alright,” I said. “I left a perfectly good couch bed, pajamas, and a hot girlfriend to come here. And if you so much as roll your eyes at that comment, I’m gone. What do you want to say?”
“I will, for today, ignore any and all references to my sister being ‘hot,’ alright? We will get that out of the way,” he said.
“Okay. She is and you guys share the same genes so you should be flattered. Continue,” I said.
“Fine. Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about how I acted and what’s going on with me. First off, I am sorry. I am sorry for hitting you, and I am sorry for acting like a dick when I found out about the baby. I didn’t know how to handle myself, and I flew into a rage, and it wasn’t okay.”
“No,” I said, “it wasn’t.” The beer arrived just in time, and I gulped down half the mug before the waiter even got a few steps away. I waved to him, and he came back. “I’m going to need another one of these in like thirty seconds.”
“Yes, sir,” he said and walked away.
“Alright, go on,” I said.
Nick sighed and pressed on, taking a sip of his own beer.
“She’s my little sister, Tyler. I’ve been protecting her all my life. I had to get used to the idea she is a grown-up and not a kid anymore once already, and then that rat bastard fucked her over at their wedding,” he said. I nodded.
“I get that,” I said evenly.
“I just didn’t want her to hurt anymore. Not like that. Not if I could stop it. I felt like I should have seen it coming in the first place, you know? Like I should have seen the warning signs and helped her. Or kicked his ass after. Or something.” He took another sip of his beer. “But then you guys hooked up, and I just felt like you were taking advantage of the fact that she was sad.”
“Let me stop you right there,” I said, interrupting.
“No, wait, hear me out,” Nick said, his palm up to stop me.
I didn’t want him to go on. I wanted to tell him how dead wrong he was. But I swallowed the words and nodded. He downed the rest of his beer, and when the waiter came with my second one, he brought one for Nick, too.
“Go on,” I said.
“I felt like you were taking advantage of her, and her situation, but I know now that isn’t what was happening, okay?” he said. “After my divorce and what happened to her, I just have a hard time trusting that people aren’t total bastards. I know you. I know you aren’t like that, but all the same, it hit me. I doubted you, and I shouldn’t have. I am sorry for that, too.”
“Thank you for saying that,” I said. “It doesn’t absolve you but thank you.”
“I know. It doesn’t make up for it. And how I reacted about the news… I’m ashamed, man. You were together for just a month, and it seemed like it was just too soon. Just too soon. It was too much to come to terms with, and then, I hit you. I found out I was going to be an uncle and my first response was to punch you in the face. That isn’t right. I own that. I am so sorry for that.”