Chapter 15

Jake mulled a few things over in his mind, wondering exactly where to begin, what to include. He rarely talked about his past with anyone. There was Josie, of course, who he loved and who had asked him all about it long ago. It had been weird to talk to her about it, about growing up with his mother and learning a little more about his parents with each passing year. And then there was uncle Gary, and Jake's subsequent break with him. None of it really mattered to Josie; she'd fallen so hard for Jake that he could have been raised by wolves and it wouldn't have changed her feelings for him. Not that he was some kind of freak, but he didn't have your typical life story so far.

Then of course, there was Klaude. But he was another story altogether.

He made himself comfortable, then started to describe his life to Darcy.

Jake had always loved his mother, Rosemary, perhaps more so because of his father's tragic end. She in turn was devoted to him, trying to be the best mother she could. She was crushed by the loss of her husband, though, and it was difficult to be around her son, who seemed to look and behave more and more like her lost love with each passing year. They had a special relationship, a two-person family without anyone else to share their affections with. Being wealthy made life easy in many ways, but it also kept them from mixing socially; they didn't fit in either with the wealthy, elitist circles Jake's father had inhabited reluctantly, nor did they fit in with average folks either. While Jake senior had been alive it hadn't mattered, as he and Rosemary were fiercely independent and wholly complete without need for anyone else. Without him, Rosemary was lonely.

Jake began to notice the change in her when he entered his early teens. His mother became more demanding of his time, reluctant to let him out of her sight even to go to school. Always an introspective child, Jake had felt comfortable sharing all aspects of his life with her, but as he matured he realized that he needed his own space, while she seemed to become more needy. By the time he'd entered high school, he knew that his mother wasn't well.

It was painful for him to see the mother he'd always loved, the fiercely independent and resilient woman he'd admired all his life, reduced to a shambles within a few years. She often spoke only of her husband for days straight, at times seeming to forget that he was gone. She'd sometimes wake Jake in the night, shaking him awake in a panic, frantically wondering where he was. Jake didn't know what to do. He didn't trust the attorneys they'd worked with when his father's will had been executed, and he the counselors at his school were a joke. But he also knew his mother was getting worse, not better.

An answer arrived mid-way through his senior year, when Jake was considering dropping out of school to stay home full time to take care of his mother. A family friend came to visit unannounced, Klaude, who was the only friend of his father's that Jake had ever met. Rosemary and Jake Sr. had traveled with him many times in the past; he was their confidant, and Jake considered him a trusted family friend.

Jake had met Klaude several times through the years, and liked him but didn't really know much about him. He knew that his parents had both spoken highly of him, though, so he was glad to have him come stay for a few days. It didn't take long for Klaude to figure out what was going on. He'd stay up late talking with Rosemary, and at first she seemed recharged by his presence, her energy and thirst for life replenished. Klaude, however, had feared for her. Before he left he'd taken Jake aside and given him a card with contact information, asking him to please reach him if his mother took a turn for the worse, or for any other reason, even just to chat.

"You're the best thing she's got now, Jake, and I know you'll do your best," he'd told Jake gravely. "But I'm not sure that will be enough. Her heart is broken, perhaps beyond repair."

Months later, when his mother was again acting erratically and in danger of harming herself, Jake had called Klaude, who rushed back to stay with them again. This time, however, there was no consoling Rosemary; she never fully returned to her old self.

Jake didn't go into this much detail with Darcy, though, summarizing most of the story and glossing over how much it hurt him. Even so, Darcy could tell how hard it had been for him.

"So Klaude found her the best place he could, and he helped me get through it all. It was a low time for me." Jake sounded tired.

Darcy leaned over and tenderly kissed his cheek. She didn't know what else to say.

"Soon after that, my uncle Gary showed up. I'd never even met my uncle, which should have told me something, I suppose, about what my mom thought of him. Anyway, he seemed like a nice enough guy, and he was willing to move in so I could finish school and all. Klaude didn't know anything about him, and seeing as how Gary was blood and all, he sort of backed out of the picture. He told me to get a hold of him if I ever needed anything, but I think he was ready to move on himself. He wasn't as old as my parents, only ten years or so older than me, and I don't think he was comfortable with the idea of becoming my mentor or guardian or whatever. So then Gary moved in..."

From the start, Jake could tell that Gary wasn't exactly a saint. He was nice enough to Jake, to be sure, giving him his space and never pretending to take the place of his father. As much as he could, he tried to earn Jake's trust and confidence, and for the most part he succeeded. He began handling the family finances, at least what little wasn't tied up in trusts and the estate. Jake didn't pay much attention to that stuff before, so it wasn't any different for him now, and besides, he had the emotional weight of seeing his mother put away to deal with, on top of all the normal high school ups and downs kids go through.

Jake's father had set up a small trust for Jake long before he had disappeared. Both he and Rosemary had wanted to ensure that no matter what course their lives took, their son had a certain level of security. The attorneys involved with Rosemary's institutionalization realized that large sums of money were involved, but the estate was clearly designed so that if the need arose, the bulk of it would remain intact until such time as Jake became an adult and could take possession of it. In the meanwhile, a comfortable stipend provided for his financial needs. As his guardian, Gary now had a certain amount of say over how this was now spent, but he didn't seem inclined to abuse the priviledge.

True, he did enjoy the money. Jake could tell that Gary wasn't a wealthy man to begin with, and that he liked having what amounted to a free paycheck every month. But it wasn't as if he was neglecting Jake, either. For the first year or so, Gary spent most of his time around the house, fixing things up here and there. He'd meet regularly with lawyers, but Jake didn't bother keeping track of him, assuming it was all just run-of-the-mill maintenance of the estate. And much of it was.

Sometime in Jake's junior year at school, Gary had started bringing women home. None of them returned more than a couple times, and Jake didn't particularly care for any of them, but it wasn't a bad situation. Gary was a single man, after all, Jake figured, and there was no reason he shouldn't be dating. But in watching him with the women he'd bring home, Jake recognized a predatory streak in his uncle he hadn't seen before. He could tell he was drawing these women in with the promise of a steady relationship, only to drop them cold after he'd gotten what he wanted from them.

Jake wasn't impressed. Or rather, Jake didn't understand his uncle's line of thinking. Most of the women he brought home were quite attractive, and many also seemed to be nice people. If any of them had stuck around long enough, he might have taken a liking to any of them. But after a while it became clear that Gary wasn't interested in more than getting into their pants and tossing them away when he was done.

"Why would I want to get saddled down?" he explained to Jake when he brought it up once. "These ladies are alright, but I can't be tied down. You know me, kid, it's just not in my blood." He'd usually then ask Jake if he was seeing anyone at school, followed up with a warning to look out for himself, that most women can't be trusted. Although Jake hadn't yet had much experience with the opposite sex, that attitude seemed pretty stupid to him, but he couldn't quite explain why, so he just agreed to "be careful."

And then Megan showed up.

Gary brought her home late one Thursday night, apparently having met her at a bar, and she made quite an impression on Jake. He was sitting up at the kitchen table, finishing up some homework, when Gary brought her in and introduced her to him. This alone wasn't unusual; Gary often introduced his lady friends to Jake when he brought them home. But Jake was struck by Megan.

For one thing, she was absolutely stunning to behold. Long, soft curls of dark brown hair framed a gorgeous face that was at once sensual and fresh. ["Not unlike you," Jake told Darcy, who grinned and gave his nipple a gentle tweak in return.] When she smiled and shook his hand, she seemed genuinely pleased to meet him, something that most of the others simply feigned out of politeness. And while she wasn't dressed as provocatively as some of Gary's other dates, she was certainly a shapely woman. But it wasn't just her looks, it was the way she carried herself; she seemed so comfortable with herself, she just naturally made Jake comfortable with her as well.

Gary gave Jake a wink when they left the kitchen to go to his room, a gesture which Jake found particularly rude despite his having seen it before. He didn't like the idea of seeing Megan going off with his uncle, knowing that she'd just be another notch on his headboard.

But the thing was, Megan ended up sticking around. Jake was glad to see her lasting longer than Gary's usual three-date limit, even if he didn't like the idea of her sleeping with his uncle. When Jake asked about her longevity, Gary merely smiled and told him something crude about not letting the frisky ones get away. Jake realized then just how jealous and angry he was with his uncle, and it made him feel silly. He decided to try to not worry about it and just ignore them.

That proved to be easier said than done, though. Many times Megan would come over and eat with dinner with both of them, and she was always took an interest in what Jake was up to. He could never be sure, but it seemed that Megan was also sending him vaguely sexual signals as well. But Jake was too shy and nervous to try to feel her out. Besides, she was his uncle's girlfriend, and no matter what he thought of their relationship, that just didn't seem right. Regardless, he found himself spending time with her even if Gary was off doing something else, and he enjoyed her company.

Late one night, Jake was finishing the dishes after dinner and he heard Megan and Gary in the family room getting ready to go upstairs. He heard Gary seem to argue a bit with her, nothing bad, just some raised voices, and then he heard Gary go upstairs. A moment later Megan came in and sat down at the kitchen table, watching Jake as he put the last of the plates in the dishwasher.

Jake closed the machine and started it, then turned to lean against the counter, a few feet away from where Megan sat.

"You always do the dishes around here, Jake?" she asked without prelude.

"Um, sure. I mean, not always, sometimes Gary does them." Jake wasn't sure what she was getting at.

"And he doesn't have a job, does he?"

"Well, no, not right now..."

"I know I'm being nosy, Jake," Megan relented. "I'm sorry." She tapped her fingers on the table, looking around the room as if she wasn't sure what to say next. She asked without facing Jake, "And you're mother's in the hospital?" She turned to look at him after speaking, a compassionate look in her eyes.

Jake hesitated, but looking into Megan's eyes seemed to drain the anxiety he was feeling, as well as the pain and guilt associated with his mother. "Yes," he said softly, holding eye contact with her.

She seemed to consider that for a moment. Then she stood up and held out her arms. "Come her, Jake."

He stepped forward, and she encircled him in her arms, hugging him. Jake sighed, suddenly aware of how long it had been since he'd hugged anyone, much less someone like Megan, and he hugged her back for what felt like a long time, the two of them simply holding each other. When he finally pulled back a little, Megan didn't let go of him immediately, holding onto him for another moment before pulling back to look him in the eye.

"I better go see about that uncle of yours," she said softly. She leaned forward to lightly brush her lips against Jake's, a soft, quick kiss, and then she patted his shoulders gently and smiled. She turned and left.

The kiss was brief, just a split-second, but Jake savored it all night.

"So, she was your first, right?" Darcy asked in whisper, lightly kissing Jake's neck and running her hand over his stomach.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves here," Jake laughed. "There's still more to this story than just that. But yeah, that was probably my first real kiss. I mean, I'd kissed a couple girls at school. I know I'd never been kissed by someone like Megan before, that's for sure. But there's more.

"You see, I'd assumed that she and Gary were knocking boots this whole time, you know? The way he acted... well, anyway, that's what I assumed."

"And they weren't?"

"Later that night after I'd finished my homework, I went upstairs to go watch TV in my room. The way the house was set up, Gary's room was at the other end of the hall from mine, pretty far down, so we didn't get in each other's way. This night, though, I don't know, I guess my curiosity got the better of me, and I snuck down there to eavesdrop on them. I know, pretty cheesy. But she'd made quite an impression on me, even before the kiss, and I was feeling, well, hell, I don't know what I was feeling, to tell the truth.

"Anyway, I went as quietly as I could, and Gary's door was cracked a little bit, so..."

The sound of voices came from inside the room, Megan's and Gary's. There was a little soft music playing faintly. Jake crept up to the door and looked through, expecting to see an intimate scene. Instead, Gary lay on the bed in his boxers, the remote in his hand, watching the television. Megan was dressed in a modest set of men's pajamas, sitting across the room reading a book. At the base of the bed, on the floor, a large down sleeping bag was unrolled length-wise.

"Come on, Megan," Gary was saying, not looking away from the screen. "I'm tired of sleeping on the floor. There's no reason we can't both sleep in this bed. After all this time you know you can trust me."

"Gary, I've told you," Megan said, not looking up from her book. "I'll spend the night if that's what you want, but I'm not going to sleep with you, at least not yet."

"Jesus, Meg," Gary threw the remote down on the bed. "What more do you want from me? Ain't I playin' ball with you here? Fuck, you'd think you were the one with the fortune to inherit."

Meg calmly closed her book. "Gary, I've told you I don't care about that money. From what I've seen, it's not yours to inherit, it's Jake's."

Gary crawled over to sit on the edge of the bed, leaning towards Meg.

"Look, I've told you, I've got that all figured out. Why do you think I've been nursemaidin' the kid all this time?" He reached out to take her hand, and Meg looked at him with a look that said she was unimpressed. "I've been talking to a lawyer who says that I deserve some of that money. Hell, I'm family, ain't I?"

Meg pulled her hand free. "I swear, Gary, I had no idea you were such a sleaze-ball when we started dating. I think I should go home."

She started to get up, and Gary dropped to his knees, pulling her back down and looking up at her.

"Please, honey, I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I know you don't care about the money. Come on, stay. I'll sleep on the floor, don't worry. I just want you to stay. You know I care about you, don't you? I've never felt this way about anyone."

Megan looked down at him, harshly appraising him at first, then seeming to relent.

"You've got a good side, Gary, I just know it. I'm just not sure I've found it yet."

Gary kissed her hand, relieved that she wasn't leaving.

"But I am ready to go to bed."

She stood up then and crossed the room to crawl under the covers. Gary lay down on the sleeping bag, smiling.

"You'll see, tomorrow I'm gonna take you to this great little Italian place I know for lunch, you'll just love it." He put his hands behind his head. "Night, Megan."

"Goodnight, Gary."

Jake was stunned. For a long time he didn't move after the lights went out in Gary's room, just standing there, taking it all in. When he did creep back down the hall, his mind was racing with everything he'd learned, and he struggled to make sense of it all.

Was Gary planning to betray him? It seemed so obvious now, he felt like a fool for ever believing that he hadn't seen it before. His mom had never had a good thing to say about her brother, apparently with good reason. Still, it was too much for Jake to digest all at once. Gary had helped him through a rough patch in his life, there was no denying that, which made hearing him talk like that about the money all the harder to accept.

When Jake went to bed that night his mind was crowded with all sorts of thoughts about his future and his family and who he could trust, swirling around in an incoherent mess of emotional turmoil. But through all of it one idea kept coming back to him: Megan wasn't sleeping with Gary. Somehow, despite all the other things troubling him, that fact seemed to soothe him. He remembered their embrace in the kitchen, and the feel of her soft lips on his.

"What a jerk!"

"Oh, I don't know," Jake said, absent-mindedly running his fingers through Darcy's hair. "I mean, yes, he's a jerk. I don't know, it's not that simple."

"Bah, you're being too nice." She moved her leg up, sliding her thigh across his and pressing her soft bush into his hip. She gave his nipple a gentle nibble, flicking it with her tongue.

Megan and Gary were out all of the next day, and then she didn't show up for the next week or so. Gary seemed distant and irritable, but Jake was glad to see him frustrated. He found that he had a hard time being in the same room with him, knowing what he now knew.

It wasn't the money, Jake realized eventually. He'd never really been worried about that, and in fact wasn't sure that he wanted all the responsibility that went along with it. If Gary had just asked him, Jake would have most likely given him just about whatever he wanted. No, it was the betrayal that bothered him. He'd come to trust Gary, to depend on him. He considered him family, and now he felt like he'd been made a fool. More than anything, it just plain hurt. Once again, Jake felt like he'd lost someone.

So he avoided Gary that week, not really paying any attention to his comings and goings. But he did notice that Megan wasn't sleeping over. While he wanted to see her again, he was happy to think that she was getting sick of Gary.

That Friday Gary announced that he was going out and not to wait up for him; he might not be back until Sunday. Jake was glad to see him go, and didn't ask where he was going. If Gary hadn't been so self-engrossed he might have picked up on Jake's growing disillusionment with him, but as it was he barely registered his response, leaving in a huff.

Jake briefly considered seeing what was going on at the local hang-out in town, but he didn't really feel like seeing any of his so-called friends from school. Not that he didn't like some of them, he just didn't feel much of a connection with them. He'd ended up popping some corn and plopping down in front of the television to watch HBO. He was flipping through channels when the doorbell rang.

Megan looked upset when Jake opened the door, but it didn't change the fact that she still looked as attractive as ever, maybe more. Jake's heart leapt a little when he saw her, standing before him in a modest summer dress with spaghetti straps. He quickly recognized that something was up, though, so he invited her in without delay.

She went in to sit on the sofa, and Jake took a seat next to her, turning off the TV and tossing the remote aside. He waited while Megan sat there, looking at her hands in her lap, working up to what she had to say. This gave Jake a chance to look her up and down, and he liked what he saw. The dress was a deep blue, and while it wasn't designed to be sexy, it couldn't help but be so on Megan. She crossed her smooth, tan legs, and Jake's eyes ran up the length of her, starting at her small ankles, up her calves and past her knees to her thighs, just visible under the modest dress, to her fabulous torso with it's beautiful, round breasts, then to her bare shoulders, her slender neck. She pushed back her lush hair behind one ear, turning her sexy face to look at Jake seriously.

"Jake, I want you to know that I'm breaking up with Gary."

Jake couldn't suppress a small grin, but he was too stunned to speak.

"I know you like your uncle, and that he has his good qualities," she went on. "And I know that he's your family. In many ways, he's a good guy, really. But..."

Jake waited, not smiling now.

"But you should know that he doesn't have your best interests in mind."

Jake didn't bother to look surprised, he just waited for her to go on. Megan searched his face for some sign of what he was feeling, but couldn't quite read him.

"The thing is, Jake, I want you to know that I've really come to like you, and I'd like it if you could still consider me a friend." She swallowed, apparently uncomfortable with what she wanted to say.

"I do, Megan," Jake earnestly assured her. "I'm glad I got to meet you, and I consider you a friend."

Megan seemed relieved. "Good. Oh Jake, you don't know how glad I am to hear you say that. You see, about your uncle..."

"I think I know what you're going to say," Jake interrupted.

"You do?"

"Is it about the estate?"

Megan looked down again, and nodded. "I'm ashamed I haven't said anything before now." She looked up at him again with an earnest look on her face. "I wouldn't dream of doing anything to hurt you, Jake, I want you to know that."

"I know, Megan, it's okay."

Megan smiled, reaching out to take one of Jake's hands in hers, resting them on the sofa between them.

"I think you might want to get in touch with an attorney, or talk to the ones responsible for your trust. Gary seems to believe that when you turn eighteen you'll be considered an adult in the eyes of the court, and that you will then be able to alter the terms of the estate so that he gets a big chunk. I don't know how this stuff works, but I wouldn't sign anything he gives you."

"As far as I know, the trust stays in place until I turn twenty-one, but I never really paid much attention to it. It's not like money has ever really been a concern..." Jake trailed off, trying to remember how the estate lawyer had explained it to him. What Megan was telling him sounded familiar, that even though the trust lasted until his twenty-first birthday, he had the authority to make changes long before then.

"I know Jake," Megan said. "I can tell you're not blinded by the financial good fortune you've had. I'm sure the situation with your mother has made you realize how little money has to do with one person's happiness."

Jake smiled sadly at her, thinking of his mother and her devastated, broken heart. He sat back on the sofa then, lost in thought, and when Megan curled up next to him and put her head on his shoulder it felt like the most natural thing to do. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder, his other hand now holding her hand in his lap, and exhaled. It was as if a weight had lifted somehow.