When he came back, only Jerome remained on his end of the table, relaxing against his chair with his coat hanging on the back, muscles bulging under his white tux shirt. Finn hesitated to sit down, knowing he’d be forced to carry on a conversation, but Jerome spoke to him, leaving him no choice.
“Great job up there. I’m really glad I came. To be honest, I don’t know much about all this stuff, and I had no idea Limitless even existed. Of course, I know all about PE. Who doesn’t know Phantom Enterprises?”
“Thanks,” Finn replied, slipping his cell phone out, hoping to discourage the chatter. Just because he’d approved of Jerome as a mate for Laurie didn’t mean he had to like the guy.
“I guess I’m going to have to do this the hard way, Mr. Anderson.” Jerome breathed in, his chest straining against the buttons on his shirt. “Laurie is smart, dedicated, honest, and hard-working. She’s obviously poured herself into this project. She deserves a bit of reward, wouldn’t you agree?”
Finn snapped his head toward Jerome. “I don’t like your tone, Mr. Shields. I’ve done my best to show my appreciation to Laurie for all she’s done, but her compensation is a private matter.”
“I just want to know why you feel compelled to fire her.” Jerome slammed his hand on the table.
Finn’s jaw dropped. “I didn’t fire her.”
“Okay, maybe you didn’t exactly fire her. But you told her she needs to look for another job.” Jerome’s finger wagged in Finn’s face. “Whatever you want to call it, I assume this is some sort of retaliation because she invited me to the event, without your permission. But she called me at the last minute. My chair would’ve been empty if I hadn’t come.”
“Wait, I never—”
“I can tell you don’t like me for some reason, but that shouldn’t affect my sister’s job. I came prepared to make a substantial donation to your cause, even before I heard about it. So let’s be straight up… Is this some kind of racial issue? Or do you hate the Bucks?”
Finn’s ears stopped working in the middle of his speech. “Your sister? You’re Laurie’s brother?”
Jerome squeezed his eyes shut and mumbled a quiet expletive. “That’s not public information. Please don’t repeat it.” He lowered his voice even further. “We’re technically only half-siblings, but she’s my sister, as far as I’m concerned. But our relationship doesn’t matter. My point is she shouldn’t be punished for inviting me tonight.”
Finn pinched the bridge of his nose. “I didn’t ask her to quit, Jerome. And I like you just fine.” He chuckled. “At least, I do now.” He chuckled some more, his laughter slowly building until he was out of control and coughing.
Jerome was staring with frightened eyes. “Are you okay? You sound terrible.”
“Sorry about that. I’m not a smoker, even though it sounds like it,” Finn said, coughing a bit more. “I promise I didn’t ask her to leave Limitless. I wouldn’t do that. I like Laurie… a lot. She’s a great employee.”
“Then why did she tell me she had to find a new job?”
“I don’t know.” He shook his head. “It could be because I gave her my blessing for the two of you to date.”
“You thought Laurie and I…” Jerome burst into laughter, slapping his hand on his knee. “You’re kidding me!”
“I’ll admit, at first, I thought you might’ve been her abusive ex.”
“What? When did she have an abusive boyfriend?” Jerome’s hands balled into fists. “I better not ever find out who it was, because I might kill the guy. No woman deserves that kind of treatment, but especially not Laurie. Nobody’s treating my sister like that. I chased off most of the guys who tried to date her in college.”
“She didn’t mind you doing that?”
He smiled on one side. “It’s possible she didn’t know, but it was for her own protection. Not just any guy is good enough for my Laurie.”
Finn saw the perfect opportunity to defend his position with Laurie. Her own brother would explain why Finn and Laurie shouldn’t be together.
“Just out of curiosity, how would you describe the man who is good enough for her, assuming he even exists?”
Finn prepared to memorize the list and quote it back to Laurie. Or maybe he could persuade Jerome to tell her himself.
Jerome steepled his fingers together, as if contemplating the meaning of life. “It’s pretty simple, really. It doesn’t matter if the guy has money. He sure doesn’t need to be an athlete. That’s almost a strike against him, in my opinion. He just has to love her and treasure her for how special she really is.”
“That’s it? Surely you have higher standards than that, if you chased all those guys off.”
“Well, the word love means he has to put her first and be willing to die for her. That’s all that matters.”
Finn’s chair suddenly felt hard, and he squirmed to get more comfortable. “But let’s say you had something… say untreatable cancer… something that meant you had a high risk of dying young, wouldn’t it be selfish to get married?”
Jerome stared right through him. “If you don’t have much time on this earth, you shouldn’t waste a minute of it.” Then, to Finn’s shock, Jerome’s eyes filled with tears. “You didn’t know, did you? Tell me you didn’t know. I can’t believe you’d be so cruel, if you knew.”
Finn rifled through his mind, trying to remember some detail he must’ve missed. “I have no idea what I’m supposed to know or not know.”
Jerome’s nostrils flared. “That my girlfriend has leukemia.” His gaze turned to ice, his anger so intense that Finn backed away. “We’re getting married as soon as we can, and don’t you dare say either one of us is being selfish. Don’t you dare!”
Finn held up his hands. “I’m sorry. I wasn’t talking about you.”
“Good.” He shook his head, mouth clamped shut, like he was holding back his fury. “Because I had to beg her to even date me. And she didn’t want to marry me, even though we were in love.” His hand pushed across the top of his shaved head. “She said I should marry someone else. Can you believe that? Like I wouldn’t rather have one day with Charisse than a million days with someone else.” He punched his finger at Finn’s chest. “That’s what I’m talking about! That’s what it means to really love someone… when you know what they’re worth.”
Unsure what to say, Finn waited in silence while Jerome pulled himself together. At last, his anger seemed to subside, and he took a long drink of water.
“For what it’s worth,” Finn said, “I’m really sorry about Charisse. About the cancer. That’s really tough luck.” If there was anything Finn understood it was bad luck—he was a living example.
“No, we’re blessed, and we know it. More blessed than you can imagine. She needs a bone marrow donor, and we’re going to find one.” Jerome wiped his face with the back of his hands. “But I’m lucky to have her, no matter how long that is. I’m the luckiest man alive, and don’t you forget it,” he said fiercely.
Finn tried to swallow, but his throat was like hot concrete.
“I won’t.”
