Jaxson nods, looking somber. “I’m sorry, man.”
“Just gonna have to live without her. I was doin’ that before we met.” Turning back to look at the farm, I mutter to myself, “Just feels different now.”
He lets me sit in it for a minute, but won’t let me wallow. Changing the subject, Jaxson says, “I told mom you were on your way. Called her last night before you got here.”
“You guys get tired of reportin’ my whereabouts?”
His normally serious face breaks out into a slow grin. “With a family as big as ours, we always report on each other, Jett. You remember how it was before you went on the road…” He smiles at the memory. “…that one time when Jason was dating Becca in high school and she took his virginity. Shit—”
“—Jason told Justin first and then it was like three minutes before Mom hugged him and embarrassed the shit out of him by calling him a man!”
We’re both laughing so hard now that Jaxson stutters, “Jeremy fuckin’ shouldn’t have told her! But oh man, that was funny!”
“So fuckin’ funny! So good!”
“Jason’s face!”
“I know! I’ll never forget it!”
When the laughter dies down, Jaxson glances to the fireplace and stares at it for a while. “Wish Jeremy could be here for the wedding.”
“He’s in Syria again?”
“Yup. Just flew in. God better watch over him.”
Over the crackling fire a hawk’s distant cry sounds. As though it was an alarm for Jaxson, he stands and grabs up both cups, heading for the kitchen. He moves like a cowboy, real slow. Trustworthy. The layout is wide open so I can watch him over the stone island that houses four gas burners and a modern oven. In silence he pours more coffee while I turn back to the view and let the calm of the farm slip into my veins.
I wonder how my brother would do as a Cipher. The fighting would be different. He’d probably talk the fuckers we run up against, out of it, with his well-known powerful calm.
He’d never back down from a fight – I know that from experience. We’ve come up against some heat in the past. Atlanta knows the Cockers, and while most look up to us, they don’t all like us. There’s jealousy since our family’s blood runs deep in this city, goes way back. And money has never been an issue, which pisses some off.
None of our ancestors squandered what they made – there were no gamblers among us, at least not when it came to money. They invested and saved and grew into an estate that would be passed down.
We’re not the Rockefellers, but in an affordable place such as Atlanta, we’ve done well.
In some ways The Ciphers are like that, we live well but carefully. We don’t squander. We save. Hell, that’s one of Scratch’s main gifts, making money grow and last so that we have a foundation. He and Mona handle the Louisiana branch. They’re a team. Smart, together.
They’re gonna have to teach one of us what they know.
Thinkin’ on it, I’d be the perfect choice for them, with my history of caution. Overspending has never been my thing, thanks to my parents teaching me to respect the power of the dollar.
I guess that’s one thing my dad did, more than my mom.
He always said, “If you don’t need it, save the money for what you will need – or better yet, what you’ll really want.”
Great fuckin’ advice.
As Jaxson ambles back over with a couple of full and steaming cups, he cocks an eyebrow at me. “What’s with the smile?”
“I missed ya, Jax.”
With a thoughtful gleam in his eyes, says, “Missed you, too. This woman…what’s her name?”
“Sunshine,” I answer without even thinking of calling her Luna. “Though I should have called her Storm.”
He gives a low chuckle and takes a sip. “Wanna milk the cows with me? They’re gonna be hurtin’ if I wait much longer.”
“Fuck yeah, I do!” I hit our cups together. “Teach me how.”
As we head out, I cock an eyebrow at him. “Is this gonna make me think of her?”
Jaxson chuckles, “You’re sick.” After a second, he admits, “Probably.”
Luna
Oh my God, what is he going to say when he sees me? He asked me to go. Ordered me to leave, actually. He was so hurt and angry. Before then he’d been kind and as patient as possible, even under the crappy circumstances.
But I broke him down.
What’s he going to say?
“Well, well well!” Melodi calls down from the front porch of the Cipher’s plantation. “Never thought I’d see your stuck-up face again!”