Page 126 of Friends with Benefits

Jacob waits for an explanation and the sooner Theo gives one the sooner he can go. He starts at the beginning and tells his father a version of the truth. He needed their joint income to keep his apartment. Evelyn needed health insurance to take the fellowship. Them? This marriage? It was always meant to be a temporary condition. Transactional.

“We should’ve just been honest,” Theo admits. “We’re not married. Not really.”

Jacob’s eyebrows rise.

Then helaughs.

A bent-over, full-belly laugh.

“Likehellyou’re not.”

The oven beeps once, twice, three times. Jacob stands, still chuckling as he’s called back to the kitchen to retrieve a quiche. Returns with a slice for Theo. He’s stunned. Coffeeand quiche? Is this trying? Is Jacob… trying? Theo cuts into the quiche with his fork.

There are bacon bits in it.

He sets the plate on the coffee table. “Dad. I don’t eat meat.”

“Still?”

Theo has been a vegetarian for fifteen years. “Still.”

“Your loss.” Jacob takes a bite. “So. How are you going to fix things with Evelyn?”

“There isn’t anything to fix.”

“Bullshit.”

Theo flinches.

With the harsh snap of Jacob’s voice, he’s twenty-two. Lori’s most recent round of treatment didn’t do anything to shrink the tumor in her lung. She wanted to stop with the treatments, just wanted the pain tostop. But Jacob wouldn’t hear it, not even when Theo begged him to listen. His mom went through one more clinical trial and a final round of radiation before they finally told Jacobenough. Lori was steady.I’m dying. Theo was firm.There isn’t anything to fix. Jacob was livid.Bullshit.Cracks in their relationship were long apparent, but if he had to pinpoint a moment that severed father and son? It was this one. Theo’s choice to accept that some things are impossible to fix.

“Theo.” Jacob’s voice softens and it’s so out of character. “You love her.”

A statement, not a question.

“It doesn’t matter.”

“Bullshit.”

“I took a job in New York.”

“There it is.”

“It’s a curriculum development role.”

“Last time, it was NYU.”

“What does that mean?”

“I need something stronger than this.” Jacob retrieves a bottle of Kahlúa from his liquor cabinet. “I’m shit at this. Feelings. Obviously.” He pours a generous splash into his mug, then chugs the rest of his tainted coffee. “But I loved your mom.Love.”

Theo’s eyes sting. “I know that.”

Love made Jacob selfish.

Possessive.

In so much pain.

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