Page 108 of The Bet
“Then you’ll understand.”
She giggled.
“But it wasn’t so bad. We spent it at Tobias and Savannah’s.”
“Awww. Nice. I heard the news about Savannah being pregnant.” Cara had been the one who’d told her when it broke in the press. She had called Savannah and congratulated her.
“It’s exciting.”
“Jacob must have been happy.”
“It doesn’t take much to make that kid happy.”
She smiled. Jacob would make an awesome older brother.
“How was your Christmas?
“Relaxing. Nice to be back home for a change. Nice to have lots of home-cooked food.”
“I was thinking of maybe taking Jacob to the funfair, sometime next week. It’s been a while since we’ve—I’ve—spent a whole day with him. And I was thinking maybe we could go out again.”
“He’d like it, I’m sure.”
“I meant that you could come along too. It’s not a date or anything, but it’s been a while since we both took him out, and it would be nice.”
“Did you miss his birthday or something?”
“No. His birthday was last month. The kid’s 7 going on 17.”
Izzy laughed. “He’s a sensible little boy.”
“Tobias was over earlier.”
“At yours?”
“Yeah. He—” he paused. “He was angry.”
“Angry?” She wondered why Xavier was telling her.
“Some business deal he wasn’t too happy about.”
“Was he angry with you?” She couldn’t imagine Tobias being angry, not now that she had seen the way he’d been on the island around the time of his wedding.
“Yes, he was pretty pissed.”
It sounded as if he wasn’t sure about telling her, as if he’d wanted to, but now couldn’t. “Was it something you did?”
“Why would you think it’s something I did?”
She held her breath, surprised by his anger. “I’m just assuming, based on what you told me.”
“My brother isn’t an angel, and he isn’t always right, and I wish people wouldn’t always assume I’m the one in the wrong.”
She didn’t want to get into a bickering argument with him. “I’m sorry, I’m just trying to help.”
“I shouldn’t have said anything.”
But he had, and he’d told her, and that amounted to something.
“Sibling disagreements blow over, given enough time,” she said, trying to say something helpful.
“It got me thinking,” he said, dismissing her advice completely, “that a trip to the fairground might be nice, get Jacob out of the house and all that. Treat him to something. I’m almost an uncle, maybe I ought to do uncle-like things.”
“Uncle-like things. That’s an interesting way of putting it.” He didn’t want to talk about it. She understood.
“Would you like to join us? I need to check with Savannah first—because that kid has a busier social life than I do—but what about next weekend?”
Next weekend would be the weekend before her exams. She could manage a couple of hours. It might do her good. “I’d like that.”
