Jackpot! Page 18

  “But my parents…”

  “I can talk to them, but only if you’ll let me. You have to want this. Then, we can do our best to convince them. Just think about it, okay?”

  “Thanks, Mr. J., I will,” she said with a smile.

  I hailed a cab, paid the driver, and told him where to take my student. Right before the taxi pulled away, Angela’s window came down and she said to me, “Hey, Mr. J.?”

  “Yeah?”

  “How come YOU don’t have any kids yet?”

  The irony was killing me. All I could do was give her a big grin. “Think about it, okay, Angela?”

  “Sure,” she smiled.

  I waved and watched the cab drive down the street, and then I went back into You Sexy Thing, You and asked my girlfriend if I could take her to dinner.

  “I want to tell you something,” she said to me, gently taking my face in her hands, “You’re a good teacher.”

  “I hope so.”

  “I have a lot of respect for what you just did, no matter how it turns out.”

  “You know what?” I said with a big grin, “You’re hot.”

  Courtney giggled.

  I looked right into her eyes and said, “I can’t play it cool anymore. You got me, Courtney.”

  “How do you know I want you?” she joked.

  “Maybe you don’t,” I said, “But either way, you got me.” I nodded my head slowly and said it again, this time, to myself. “You got me.”

  “Don’t worry, Danny,” she said, “I want you.”

  “Good,” I said again, “Because you got me.”

  Chapter 30

  Drew popped his head into my office. With his cute little grin he asked, “Want to go out for dinner with me tonight?”

  I looked up from the rejection e-mail I was reading and said playfully, “Drew, let me give you a friendly tip. You don’t have to wine and dine me all the time. You’ll still get me into bed.”

  “I want to wine and dine you, and I want to get you into bed.”

  “Well then, sure, I’d love to go out tonight.

  He winked at me. “I’ll call you later, hun,” he said, and with a wave and a smile, he was gone.

  Hun? What was that all about? I wondered. I sat there at my desk trying to absorb hun, but then realized the old Jamie was coming out and that I needed to pipe down and let the new Jamie enjoy her sweet boyfriend. Hun was good. Hun meant comfort. Hun was a term of endearment.

  The new Jamie began thinking that tonight might be a good time to tell Drew the truth and end the Frankie nightmare. If I really loved him, I needed to tell him exactly what was going on. So, that became my goal for the evening.

  A few hours later, as we walked down the street headed to dinner, I was a wreck.

  “What’s wrong?” Drew asked.

  Did I want to tell him before dinner? Maybe that was the way to go. Get it out of the way and then we could enjoy our evening. Why wait?

  “Last night…” I began, “Was…”

  “Amazing,” he finished.

  “Yes, it was.”

  “So, is that what’s wrong?” he asked.

  “No, it’s just…”

  “Hey, I can’t believe I forgot to tell you this.”

  “What?”

  “My dad called today…”

  “That’s nice.”

  “You’re not going to believe this one.”

  “What?”

  “Monica’s pregnant.”

  I froze. Had I just heard correctly? I wanted to shout, “Is everyone in the world but me having babies?” Instead, I just said, “Wow.”

  “I know, I can’t believe it either,” he said. We continued down the block. “I mean, it’s unbelievable,” Drew went on, “I’m going to have a new brother or sister, whose mom is my ex-girlfriend!”

  “So, were they trying?” I asked. I was dying to add, “Because God knows, it’s not easy.”

  “I really don’t know. Why?”

  “I was just wondering.”

  We walked a bit more in silence. “Can I ask you something?” he asked me.

  “Sure.”

  “What kind of relationship do you think I’ll have with the baby?”

  “Well, what kind of relationship do you want?”

  He thought about it for a minute, “I guess I want to be a really good big brother.”

  “I think that’s great.”

  “I mean, as weird as the whole thing is, family’s family right? Someday I’m going to have kids, and I definitely want my dad in their lives.”

  “So you think you might want kids someday?” I asked.

  “Sure, don’t you?”

  “Um…” Suddenly I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to come clean. “Drew, I have to talk to you about something.”

  “Sure, what is it?”

  I couldn’t find the words.

  “What?”

  “I can’t find the words.”

  “Jamie, just tell me.”

  “I think you’ll make a great big brother and a great father.”

  “Thanks, but that’s not what you were going to say.”

  “I know,” I said with a nervous giggle.

  “Please tell me.”

  I took a deep breath, and just as the first word of my confession was coming out of my mouth, I saw Danny walking toward us. He was holding hands with a girl, who I was sure was Courtney, and oddly enough, she looked vaguely familiar.

  “Here comes Danny,” I exclaimed.

  “Your brother?”

  Danny saw us and waved. I waved back and within seconds, they were standing in front of us.

  “Hi!” said my brother.

  “Hi,” I grinned.

  “Drew, right?” asked Danny.

  “Yeah,” he replied, shaking my brother’s hand.

  Then Danny introduced us to Courtney.

  “Weren’t you in my store last week?” she asked me.

  “Yes! On Armitage,” I exclaimed. It was all coming back.

  “You bought a night gown, right?” she asked.

  “Yeah.”

  Drew piped in. “That came from your store? My girlfriend looked amazing in it,” he said with a grin.

  “Can we not talk about my lingerie with my brother standing here?”

  “Good idea,” joked Danny.

  “Where are you guys headed?” Drew asked them.

  “We don’t really know,” said Danny, “We’re just restaurant browsing. “How about you?”

  “I’m thinking Japonnais,” Drew said, “Hey, do you guys want to eat with us?”

  “Sure!” said Danny at the same time as Courtney said, “We’d love to.”

  I smiled and said, “Great!”

  As the four of us walked down the block making small talk, Drew whispered, “Will you tell me what you were going to tell me later?”

  “Sure,” I replied. Thank God for my brother.

  Chapter 31

  As I sat on a bar stool next to my brother’s girlfriend, listening to how she got into the lingerie business, I watched Danny with Drew. They seemed to be getting along great, which didn’t surprise me because Danny really was a sweet guy, and as for Drew, he could strike up and hold a conversation with any person who had a pulse.

  As for Courtney, I was really enjoying her. She wasn’t anything like all the girls I’d seen my brother with over the years, each one skinnier, blonder, and more airheadish than the one before. Courtney was different; her dark, wavy hair and sparkling eyes making her a natural beauty in my opinion.

  There was more to Courtney than just physical beauty, though. She was really smart, and I had respect for her career. But even more importantly, she seemed genuine. I liked the way she looked at Danny every time his name came up in conversation, and I loved the fact that she loved his teaching career. It was cute how she gushed about it. She seemed to see all the good things in my brother, and that made me feel good.

  An hour and two martinis each later, we fina
lly got a table. Courtney followed the hostess who was seating us, followed by me, Danny, and then Drew. It was extremely loud in the place, so when Danny tapped my shoulder on the way to the table and said, “Drew is a great guy,” I wasn’t worried Drew would hear. I nodded and kept walking.

  Once seated, we began to truly enjoy the ambiance of Japonnais. This place was the place to be, according to Check, Please, which had featured the restaurant on the show a couple weeks earlier. The music was blaring, so we found ourselves almost yelling our conversation. None of us seemed to care, though.

  I was truly enjoying the people I was with. It was fun to see Danny and Drew interact. Mr. Full-of-Himself meets Mr. Laid-back. I also liked watching my brother and his date. I’d never seen him so into a girl. He seemed so happy, and that made me really happy. Of course, what was going to happen when she found out about Danny’s arrest and Frankie’s bribe? It was hard to say, just like it was hard to say how Drew would react. I decided not to think about it.

  As the appetizers came and went, the four of us sampled different kinds of sake. Hot, cold, milky, sweet, bitter… You name it, we drank it. And as we drank, we talked and laughed a lot. It was hard to believe this was our first time out together as a foursome. Things felt so comfortable, so natural.

  After my brother’s third little cup of sake, he pulled out a picture of my dad and himself dressed as a lion for Halloween. In the photo, Danny couldn’t have been more than two. “I found this in a box,” he said.

  “You look so much like Dad,” I said. I’d seen dozens of pictures of my father, many of which I looked at frequently, and I’d never really noticed how much Danny resembled him. Maybe I’d always been apprehensive about making the connection because it was just too sad. Now, though, I saw the resemblance as a really good thing, especially when I thought about how my mother probably felt about it. It probably gave her comfort and happiness to see her husband in her son.

  “Do you really think so?” Danny asked proudly, “I can’t tell.”

  “Ask Ma.”

  “I will,” he said with smile, and I could tell he was thinking about her, which made me happy since there had always been tension between Ma and Danny. I never really understood why, and the two had always gotten along okay, but Danny always seemed to be a little bit angry with her. Now, however, when I saw the way he was smiling at the thought of her, I sensed something was different.

  If someone would have told me Danny was seeing a therapist, and had just had a major breakthrough I would have believed it. But I knew better. Not in a million years would my stubborn brother seek professional help for his issues. I realized right then, Danny’s therapist was sitting next to me. And now I liked her even more, because whether she meant to or not she was helping my brother. He was changing for the better, and my gut feeling was that Courtney had a lot to do with it.

  The photo led to some hilarious conversations about Frankie. We began telling Courtney and Drew all about our nutty mother. Of course, we omitted any mention of her hideous contract for babies. But there were so many cute little things about Frankie Jacobson that made for great entertainment, like how she cooked the best steaks, but how her lasagna was so bad, we always had to pretend not to feel well so we didn’t have to eat it. We also talked about her ridiculous gifts.

  “Last year, she bought us Snuggies for Hanukkah,” I said.

  “She’s also a big fan of the Chia Pet,” Danny joked.

  “If you come to my apartment,” I said with a giggle, “I can give you guys a lifetime supply of Suzanne Somers’ sweetened cookies.”

  Danny added, “If you come over to my place, you’ll receive one of the six blow-up beds Ma bought for me over the years, just in case anyone ever spends the night.”

  We laughed and laughed, especially when Danny did his imitation of Ma. When he was done, I joked, “You really have become a great actor!”

  “Your poor mom!” said Courtney.

  “No,” defended Danny, “We’re not making fun of her. All of this, I do with love.”

  I sat there thinking the same thing. I did love my mother dearly. Was I angry with her at this moment? Yes. But besides becoming a psycho, hiring a lawyer, and bribing us to reproduce for money, was she a bad mother? Definitely not.

  “How is your mom handling all her new money?” Drew asked Danny, “I mean, has winning the lottery affected her life much?”

  “Um…” he struggled. He looked at me and said, “Yeah, you could say that.” Then he chugged the rest of his sake.

  “What am I missing?” asked Drew.

  “I think we should order our main courses,” I said, “What looks good?”

  Thankfully, Drew let it go. Danny and I were safe for now. But our guilty secret was looming in the air and we both knew the truth had to come out at some point. Not tonight, though.

  After dinner, Drew insisted we get the dessert that was featured on Check Please, fried bananas with vanilla ice-cream. We also ordered the flourless chocolate cake. I don’t remember how it came up, but as we all dug our forks into the desserts, Drew and I started talking about Larry, our drunken news director. Together, we told the story about how one morning, a massive snowstorm had made it impossible for me to get to the station on time to do the lottery. Larry, who had probably had a few screwdrivers that morning volunteered himself to fill in. He was stumbling across the floor and slurring his words into the mic. Drew did a funny and very accurate imitation of him.

  “Larry even dropped a ball!” I said.

  “Yeah, it was the third number for the pick four,” added Drew.

  I could tell we were thoroughly entertaining my brother and his girlfriend. Both of them were laughing heartily. What a great night this was! I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had so much fun. The four of us were great together, and let’s be honest, both couples were great with each other. I loved seeing Danny happy, and I could tell he enjoyed seeing me in a good relationship, too.

  When the check came, Drew and Danny fought over it, and Courtney gave me this cute little giggle. In the end, Danny agreed to let Drew pay under the condition that Drew had to play in Danny’s Tuesday night poker game the following week.

  Walking out of the restaurant, Courtney led the way, followed by Danny, me, and then Drew. This time, I tapped Danny on the shoulder and said loudly, “She’s a great girl.” Again, because of the noise level, I wasn’t worried that Courtney would hear.

  Danny responded with a wide grin, “Funny, huh? Both of us fell in love at the same time.”

  I gave my brother a big smile, “Is it that obvious?”

  “Yeah,” he replied with a chuckle, “But good luck introducing him to Ma!”

  Chapter 32

  I can only speak for myself, but I was feeling no pain when I walked out of the restaurant. I suspected that the other three people who drank just as much if not more, felt the same way.

  “Hey, there’s a new club just a couple blocks down. Anyone interested?” asked Danny.

  I’m pretty sure we all said yes at the exact same time.

  As we walked down the block, the four of us were engaged in a conversation about the US Air flight attendant guy who drank a beer and slid down the slide, when all of a sudden, we noticed a stroller coming toward us.

  “Wow, what a cutie!” I heard Danny say.

  The parents stopped in front of us and I looked down and saw a little girl who looked no more than a year old. I found myself somewhat in awe of the beauty of the child, a very different reaction than I’d ever had in the past. Something had changed within me. Usually, I’d roll my eyes when I saw a baby and try to avoid any contact at all costs. But tonight, I found myself drawn to her, interested, infatuated almost.

  Drew looked at me and said, “She kind of makes you want one of your own, doesn’t she?”

  This was unbelievable! The irony was making my head spin more than the drinks. Here I was, trying to get pregnant by a guy who didn’t think I wanted kids. Standing next t
o me was a woman who couldn’t have kids, dating a guy who she had no idea had just given up millions for her.

  “She’s really beautiful,” I whispered, feeling tears well up in my eyes.

  Courtney put her arm around me and said in a comforting tone, “Someday…”

  The parents told us all to have a nice evening and strolled on. When I looked at Drew, he was smiling. “Maybe you’re more ready for kids than I thought,” he said.

  “I don’t know,” I replied.

  He whispered in my ear, “You’d be a great mother. You know that, right?”

  I couldn’t have felt worse at this moment. I had to tell him the truth. I had to.

  We continued down the block, and the second we walked into the club, Danny shouted, “Hey, listen to the song!” He and Courtney burst out laughing. I heard Sean Kingston’s Fire Burning blaring.

  “What’s so funny?” Drew asked.

  “You’ve got to show them!” Danny said to Courtney.

  “No way!” she shouted.

  “Please?”

  “Fine,” she agreed with a giggle.

  “Come on,” Danny said, taking her hand and leading her onto the dance floor. He turned around and said to us, “Watch her!”

  Drew took my hand and pulled me onto the dark, crowded dance floor. While we danced, we watched Courtney do a PERFECT imitation of Sean Kingston in the Fire Burning video. It was truly hilarious! She was great! Plus, it was so cute how she was laughing at herself while she did it.

  As for myself, I was so enjoying my dance partner. He was sexy, sexy, sexy! Drew wasn’t that great of a dancer by any means, but he sure looked good. His perfectly sculpted body helped matters immensely.

  All of us stayed on the dance floor for a long time, and before I knew it the waiters were serving last call. I couldn’t believe it was almost two in the morning.