I spend almost the entire morning and afternoon with a lawyer. I get him to draft up a contract. The contract that I’ll show Aldus and offer to sign. The one that will hand my old legacy over to him. Noah is my new legacy--more valuable than my father’s entire fortune. Aldus can take the company and the money, and die lonely with it. I have my family, and that’s all I need.

“This is as close as I can get it,” the lawyer says, “without consulting with your brother’s lawyers.”

“Half-brother,” I say.

He smiles and hands me the leather binder. “I’ll send you an electronic copy, as well.”

“Thanks,” I say. “Send me the bill, too.”

“I’m a lawyer,” he says. “Of course I will.”

I’m planning on going to see Elisabeth and Noah briefly before I leave. My flight is at 6 a.m., so I need to leave for the airport around 3 a.m. Before I do all that, I need to pack my shit and mentally prepare myself for a meeting with Aldus. Worst of all, I have to call him to propose the meeting in the first place.

My flight is already booked, and whether he likes it or not, this meeting will happen. Still, it will be a lot easier if I can get him to agree to it.

When I get back to my hotel, I pack all my stuff. It’s not a lot of stuff, so it doesn’t take long. Then I grab my phone and call him. I’ve run this conversation over and over in my head for the past three days. There’s nothing left to prepare for. Just do it.

“My lawyers tell me not to talk to you under any circumstance,” Aldus says. “I expected you to call after I got my ring back, but now? Why would you call now?”

Got his ring back. Stole it.

“I want to settle,” I say.

He laughs. “Settle? You think I’d give you anything--”

“No,” I say. “I don’t think you would. I’ve drafted up a contract. It hands everything over to you. It also prevents me from suing you again in the future.”

“After all these years…” he says, “you’ll just give up?”

“Yep.”

“I need to see the defeat in your eyes when you sign,” he says. “Come to--”

“I’ll be there tomorrow,” I say.

We hang up.

Alright. That wasn’t as bad as I thought. He gloated just as much as I expected. In theory, I could have just sent the contract to his lawyers and made him sign, but I know Aldus well enough to know he’d want to see the crushing defeat and surrender on my face--in person.

It’s 9 p.m. I can go over to Elisabeth’s for a few hours before--

My phone vibrates in my hand; I haven’t even put it down yet. My first instinct is that it’s Aldus, calling back with some other condition to add onto my surrender.

But then I look at the screen. It’s Jane.

Without even answering, I know it can’t be good.

“Yeah?” I answer. “You with Elisabeth?”

“He dumped me! That motherfucker! I’ll never trust a guy named Brody, or Chad, or Fuckface! They’re all fucking fuckfaces, those…”

Her voice is slurring so bad I can barely make out what she’s saying. She keeps rambling, and I wonder if she even remembers that she’s talking to me specifically, or if I’m just a random ear to complain to. She’s too drunk to call her sister, so she calls me.

“You said,” I say, cutting her off and talking over her, “that you weren’t going to drink anymore.”

“Fuck, Jack!” she shouts. “That was before my ass got dumped! Now I’m only drinking because of that, not because I couldn’t not drink, if I didn’t--didn’t--uh, not want to, you know?”

“Where are you?” I ask.

I need to go get her, I realize. Based on what Elisabeth told me, Jane will just keep drinking if someone doesn’t stop her. The fact that she can still kind of form coherent sentences means she’s not too far gone yet.

“You gonna come hang out with me?” she asks. “Just don’t tell Elisabeth, she’ll ruin all the fun.”

“I won’t bring Elisabeth,” I say. “Where are you?”

I won’t bring Elisabeth, but I’m definitely going to tell her.

“It’s called Squirrel’s Point Pub,” she mumbles. “Specials on apple cider tonight...if you’re too lame to drink hard stuff with me.”

“On the way,” I say.

* * *

I get to the pub, and I spot Jane drinking with some old dude. He frowns at me as I approach.

“I got her covered, buddy,” he says. “I’ll cover your tab, too, if you leave us alone.”

He looks me up and down, his eyes widening at my arms and chest. He’s worried I’m going to take the drunk and defenseless woman away from him, and he knows I could if I wanted to.

My eyes turn stone-cold. Furious. “She’s my sister, you shit! Now fuck off.”

He jolts out of his chair and scurries away, not even bringing his drink with him.

Jane cackles, but then frowns down at her empty glass. “Oh...he was buying my drinks. Now you’ll have to pay, Mr. $100,000. Well, you probably spent some of it, huh, Mr. ninety-nine-hundred…”

She squints at me, struggling to figure out what number is lower than one hundred thousand.

“Jane,” I say, leaning closer in toward her. “Brody was a douchebag.”

“God!” she shouts. “I know!”

“No,” I say. “I mean you shouldn’t drink over him. If he dumped you, that means you’re good, right? A guy like that dumping you should make you feel good about yourself.”

She pouts at me, then glares. “You know what he said, when he dumped me?”

“Who cares what he said--”

“He told me I was a useless drunk fuck-up,” she says. “And now look at me. He was right.”

“Let me get you out of here,” I say. “We can--”

“No!” she says. “I already started! If I drink until I black out, it’s the same as if I stopped now. I’ll feel just as shitty in the morning, and it will be just as hard to get back on track.”

“If it’s all the same,” I say, “then let’s leave now.”

“Wrong!” she says, grabbing the old dude’s whiskey and chugging it down. “It’s more fun to at least see this night through.”

“I’ll call Elisabeth if you don’t leave with me,” I say.

I don’t want to threaten her like that, but I also don’t want to have to sling her over my shoulder and drag her out of here.

She stares me down, seething with anger. “You fucker…”

“Let’s go,” I say, standing up. “Come on.”

She stares longingly toward the bar, then pouts at me. “Fine.”

She starts to stomp toward the door, but she stumbles. I grab hold of her and stabilize her, and I grab her arm and drag her toward the door, making sure she doesn’t fall flat on her face.

I call a cab, and we stand out in the cold in front of the bar waiting for it to pull up.

“I don’t even feel the cold,” she says. “Or any of the pain. I wish I could feel like this from time to time without completely diving off the wagon.”

I take off my coat and give it to her. “You don’t feel the cold,” I say, “but it’s still there, seeping the life out of you.”

“Wow,” she says. “You’re seriously no fun, Jack.”

“You’re not exactly a bucket of laughs right now either, Jane.”

“You gotta catch me when I first start drinking,” she says. “You missed fun Jane by about an hour. That’s the best part of drinking...when you first start. When you convince yourself you’re just going to have one or two.”

The cab rolls up.

“Where we going anyway? I can’t let Elisabeth see me.”

“I have a flight to catch,” I say. “You can have my hotel to yourself tonight. You gotta check out by 11 a.m.”

“Okay,” she says, yawning.

I help her into the cab, and she passes out as soon as the car starts to move.

We reach the hotel, and I have to hold her by the arm and waist just to keep her on her feet. She stumbles through the lobby into the elevator, and finally I get her into the room.

She stumbles on her own toward the nearest of the two beds, and she just crashes face first into the pillow. I’m sure as hell not touching her and undressing her or anything like that, but I do pull her shoes off and set them by the bed. I pull all the blankets and sheets off the bed she’s not using, and I lay them over top of her. She may not feel the cold, but she’ll definitely get cold.

I get all my stuff gathered up, and I set the alarm for 10 a.m. Then, just before I leave, I write a note.

Jane,

I’ll be in Seattle all day tomorrow, and then I’m coming back the next day. When I come back, I’m telling Elisabeth what happened. You have two days to tell her yourself. Let us help you.

-Jack

I stick the note to the inside of the door so that she won’t miss it.

Then I open up the mini-bar, and I gather all the little bottles of liquor into a garbage bag. I take them with me out into the hallway, and I throw them away into a garbage can by the ice machine.

I get out my phone and call Elisabeth.

“You still coming tonight?” she asks.

“Uh,” I say. “You cool if I don’t?”

“Noah wanted to see you, but he’s asleep already.”

“Does that mean you don’t want to see me?” she asks.

I sigh. “I want to see you, but I’ll be face to face with Aldus in less than 12 hours. I’m exhausted, and I need to keep my mind clear.”

“I get it,” she says. “I’ll let you sleep.”

I consider telling her that I’m just going to go straight to the airport, but I figure it doesn’t matter either way. I don’t think she knows how early my flight is.

I hope that Jane will go talk to her tomorrow. I really don’t want to have to rat Jane out, but she’s left me with little choice.

“I love you, Elisabeth,” I say.

It’s the first time I’ve said it, but it just slips right out of my mouth.

I’m met with silence. Should I not have said it? Too early?

“I…” her voice is breaking up. “I love you, too, Jack.”

I grin wide, like a maniac. Not too early. Shit, she’s--

She’s hung up.

I laugh. Well, now I’ve really got something to look forward to when I come back.