“Hey, Sadie,” he says, ducking his head. It’s a sign of his shyness that, in the past, I might have dismissed as weird. But now I know better. It’s almost like he needs a moment to work up to it, and then his eyes slowly drift to mine.
Jacob is one of those guys who unfairly has eyelashes for days, and I don’t know how he avoids them brushing against his glasses when he blinks. He hasn’t shaved today, and my gaze drops to his jaw. The memory of his bristled cheek marking my skin as his mouth moved across my neck sends a shiver through me. How is it possible that I can have such a visceral reaction to an experience that doesn’t exist for him?
Jacob looks at me sideways, probably because I’m staring at him with a blush working its way across my cheeks. I blink and force a smile that aspires for casual but probably lands somewhere closer to clownish. The server comes to the rescue before I can pull out my nervous babble, thank God. She drops the menus on the table and asks if we’re interested in seeing the wine list.
“Yes, we’re absolutely interested in wine.” It’s my only hope of getting through this dinner.
Once we’ve ordered our wilted salads and soggy pasta—if the kitchen staff at Xavier’s could see me at Russo’s, I’d never live it down—my mom starts fussing over Jacob.
“Oh, honey.” She presses a hand to his arm. “We saw Black Moon on the day it came out. And as soon as I heard the opening music, I would have recognized it as yours anywhere.”
Black Moon is a sci-fi film that came out recently. I’ve seen the posters on bus stops around the city. I guess Jacob composed the music.
My dad laughs. “When the credits rolled at the end, Fran told everyone in the theater that the music composer is our second son.”
Jacob’s an only child, and both his parents are human rights lawyers who are always traveling to far-off ends of the earth. Growing up, he spent as much time at our house as he did at his own.
My mom pats him on the hand. “You were writing music at our house when you were eight years old.”
Jacob gives my parents a shy smile. “It all started on that old Mac in your basement.”
“We’re so proud of you. The piano in the scene where the astronaut finally meets his father…” She presses a hand to her heart, eyes tearing up.
I rearrange my silverware on my napkin, throat tightening. I’m not surprised that my mom and dad have kept up with Jacob’s career. They’ve been bragging about his accomplishments since we were kids. After all, he competed with Owen for the top spot in their high school class, attended the most prestigious music school in the country, and now he works as a composer. Who wouldn’t be proud of all that? But maybe this is why I kept my distance from him when we were younger. Because it only highlighted how little interest my parents take in me. Their actual offspring.
But I’m not a kid anymore. My parents’ interest in Jacob over me certainly isn’t Jacob’s fault, and holding on to this grudge is immature and petty. Especially because Jacob is my friend now. So, when my mom pauses to flag down the server for a glass of iced tea, I lean across the table. “Congratulations on Black Moon, Jacob.”
“Thanks.”
“You didn’t tell me you had another Joshua James film coming out.”
He rubs his hand across the stubble on his chin. “I guess I’ve had my mind on my next project.”
“I’m always sharing my work with you,” I tease him. Jacob’s become a regular at Higher Grounds these past few months. Mrs. Kaminski pulled another chair up to the counter for him, and she hisses at anyone else who tries to sit there. “Maybe we should go see it this weekend.”
“We?” His eyebrows shoot up. “Like, you and me?”
“Yeah, you and me.” For a moment, I think back to that day we ran into Paige in the hallway of their apartment building. They seemed to be pretty friendly then. Had that been a date? And have they had any more since? Maybe Jacob feels awkward because he thinks I just asked him out. Except he’s my brother’s best friend, of course Jacob doesn’t think I asked him out. I give his foot a light kick under the table, just like I would to Owen. “Let’s go see your film. Then when we get dinner afterwards, I promise I won’t announce that you’re my second brother to the whole restaurant.”
“Yeah.” His gaze slides to mine. “I’m… definitely not your brother.” There’s an intensity in his voice that has my breath catching in my throat.
“So,” Owen interrupts from the end of the table. “I have some news.”
We all look up, and I brace myself because I remember Owen’s news from my Very Bad Year. While I’m happy for him, I’m also aware that my parents’ outsized reactions are going to rapidly kill my goodwill.
“You’re looking at the new CTO of AstRoBot,” Owen announces.
My mom gasps. “Oh, Owen, that’s wonderful!”
“Well done, son!” My dad claps Owen on the back.
Jacob grins at him. “Nice work.”
“This calls for champagne!” My mom waves her arms to flag down the server like she’s lost at sea. “My son just got a huge promotion,” my mom hollers at the server, and at everyone else within a mile of our table. “We’ll need some bubbly over here.”
“Congratulations, Owen,” I murmur. I love my brother, and it’s not that I begrudge him this attention. It’s that just once, I’d love for my parents to fawn over me this way. Watching them treat Owen’s promotion like it’s the Nobel Prize, when they didn’t even come to my culinary school graduation, is a kick in the gut.
Once the champagne is poured, my brother launches into an explanation of the challenges of applying computer vision to moving objects. My dad wouldn’t understand a word unless it was recited in ancient Greek, but he’s on the edge of his seat. After a while, though, my mom’s eyes start to glaze over, so she turns to me and Jacob.
“Fran,” Jacob says. “Did Sadie tell you she’s the new pastry chef at a café in Williamsburg? There’s a line out the door in the mornings, and you have to show up before noon or everything will be gone.”
“No, she didn’t tell me.”
Jacob grins at me. “Her pastries are amazing. Café business must have doubled since Sadie took over.”
I flash him a grateful smile.
My mom looks back and forth between me and Jacob. “What happened to Xavier’s?”
I shrug. “I’m still at Xavier’s. This is a side gig, on my days off.”
“What’s this about Sadie having a second job?” my dad cuts in, finally giving up on whatever computer-y things Owen was talking about.
Jacob repeats what he told my mom.
“Huh,” my dad says, exchanging a glance with my mom that I can’t quite interpret. “And you’re making a solid income there?”
I shrug. “I do okay.” Zoe can’t afford to pay much, but I enjoy hanging out at Higher Grounds and trying new recipes. And it’s all going into my Someday Bakery fund, so I don’t really mind. “Why?”
“I’m wondering if you could consider leaving Xavier’s.”