Undeniably Enemies: Chapter 38

I stare at my best friend, whose fist is still suspended in the air, and I think he’s deciding if he should redirect it and punch me instead of knocking. “Wren, your brother, my sister, your niece, and your grandmother are here to see you.”

“Holy crap! I totally forgot about dinner!” Wren screeches, and out of the corner of my eye, I catch her gathering her clothes and racing off toward her bedroom. I close the door partially and adjust my body to block her from view.

Estlin snorts. “Oh my god, I so called this happening.”

Owen frowns, but his eyes are murderous. “This isn’t funny.”

Rory tilts her head in childlike innocence and says, “Hi, Uncle Jack. Why are you at my aunt Wren’s?”

“Hi, kiddo. I’m here hanging out with your aunt Wren.”

“Don’t talk to my kid. And don’t lie to her.”

I glare at my best friend. “You are in no place to speak to me like that. And I wasn’t lying.”

“Oh, hanging out? Is that what all the cool kids now call screwing around?”

“Owen,” Octavia admonishes.

“Sorry, Grandma, but it’s not an out-of-place question. Jack doesn’t do relationships, and neither does Wren.”

I lean against the doorjamb. “That’s where you’re wrong. Wren and I have been together for two weeks. And before you go getting your panties in a twist, I seem to remember a similar outing of a secret relationship.” Pointedly, I glance at my sister and then swing my gaze back to him.

Owen is still frowning. “Right. And you were furious with me. So why keep it a secret now?”

“Because I asked him to,” Wren calls out from behind me, thankfully now dressed. “And I totally forgot you were all coming over to take me out for dinner tonight, so there’s that.” Wren throws me a sheepish shrug. “Clearly I was distracted.”

Owen’s brow pinches up, his glare still smeared across his face.

Wren’s hand flies up. “That’s not what I meant! Crap! That’s not how I meant it. Stuff happened at the hospital today. That’s what I was talking about.” Her face meets her hands. “I’m so not making this better.”

I sigh, not willing to entertain this when he’s standing beside my sister, who was his nanny and is two years younger than Wren is. “We’re together, and yes, I wanted to tell you. But⁠—”

“But you didn’t,” Owen snaps. “She’s been through a lot, Jack. Did she tell you that?”

“I believe I said the same thing to you once, brother.”

He huffs the way big brothers who have trouble seeing their little sisters as grown women do. Fine. I get that. Hell, I lived it, but come on.

“Owen, I think we should go,” Octavia says lightly. “He’s in love with her and has been for some time now. They’re a lovely couple and deserve their privacy.”

I blink, taken aback by that. “How did you know I love her?”

“I heard you and Wren outside of my room in the ER. That, and I saw you together at my house recently. But more importantly, I saw you with her years ago over Thanksgiving, where you stared heartbrokenly at her.”

I choke on a laugh. “You saw and heard all that?”

“I pay attention,” she tells me plainly. “Besides, few people can dislike each other the way you two did without there being something else beneath it. It’s a thin line.”

No joke.

“You love her?” Owen asks, his tone softening. A little. “And what is this about a Thanksgiving?”

Wren comes up beside me and wraps her arms around my stomach. “We love each other. I mean, I hated him for a long time, some of it from that Thanksgiving, but that’s only because I loved him first.”

Owen shakes his head as if that doesn’t make sense, but Estlin is smiling broadly.

“I love this,” she exclaims. “I can’t tell you how happy it makes me. Octavia is right. We’ll go. But sometime this weekend, you should both come over and hang out and talk your brother-slash-best friend off the ledge he’s clearly hypocritically standing on.”

Owen throws her a side-eye. “I’m not⁠—”

“You are,” we all say.

“Owen, we hid our relationship for weeks too.”

“That’s because you were Rory’s nanny. Jack has no excuse. He should have come and spoken to me like a man. That’s what I’m upset about. He was all pissed off we hid it from him, so he shouldn’t have hid it from me.”

“He’s right,” I admit. “I shouldn’t have, and I’m sorry I didn’t come speak to you. I’m sorry this is how you found out. But I love her, Owen. I love her how you love Estlin. It was new and unexpected, and after the way we didn’t like each other for so long, we wanted to make sure it’d work before we involved the masses who like to throw a lot of feelings and opinions our way. But truth, you don’t get a say this time. You don’t get an opinion. Because I wasn’t allowed one with you and Estlin. This isn’t revenge. It’s that you and Estlin knew you needed time to be together as you were without outsiders getting involved, and that’s what Wren and I needed too.”

He sighs. Estlin is beaming. Rory looks confused. Octavia is Octavia and is smiling in her way.

“Owen, help me down the stairs,” Octavia demands.

“Grandma, you got up the stairs just fine on your own.”

“Owen, I am a ninety-one-year-old woman who recently fell down the stairs and broke her wrist. I believe that makes me a fall risk. Do you want my broken hip on your conscience?”

He throws me a disgruntled look, but since Octavia waits for no one, he rushes to her side and helps her down the stairs, even though she doesn’t seem to need much aid other than the railing.

“This isn’t done!” Owen calls out to me.

“Get over it!” I yell down at him.

“Oh my goodness, I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy before.” Estlin does a little shimmy and dance. “Right, Rory?”

Rory is still puzzled. “Why is Daddy upset, and why are you so happy?”

“Because Uncle Jack and Aunt Wren love each other.”

Rory shrugs. “Okay. That’s cool, I guess.”

If only adults got it the way kids do.

“I love you.” I give Estlin a hug. “I’ll call you tomorrow. Talk your guy off the cliff for me.”

“He’s fine. He’s just doing the big brother thing. I know someone who used to do that too.” Estlin gives Wren a hug. “I truly am so happy for you both. Be nice to my brother. He’s had it bad.” She looks at me. “Be nice to my friend or I’ll kick your butt.”

Estlin and Rory head down the stairs after Octavia and Owen, and I blow out a breath and spin on Wren. “How much worse do you think this will get when he learns I told Katy first?”

Wren grimaces. “Uh, yeah, I’ll talk to him tomorrow and paint you as Saint Jack.”

“Heading into the holiday season, I might need that distinction.” I sigh. “That didn’t go well.”

“Not really, but it’s not like he punched you out.”

My eyebrows hit my hairline. “That’s our metric for success?”

“I don’t know. I guess. But now that I’m dressed, maybe we should go out for Mexican instead of making it.”

“I think I need shots.”

She grins and draws up onto her toes to kiss my chin. “Lots of shots. We’ll party like it’s nineteen ninety-nine or whenever it was that you graduated high school.”

I roll my eyes. “I’m not that old. Only Sorel loves all things nineties.”

“Whatever. Let’s go out. I’m starving. Tomorrow we’ll tackle the Owen battle, but with Octavia, Katy, and Estlin on our side, he has no argument.”

It’s true, and that does make me feel better. A little.

I take her hand and place her coat on her shoulders. Owen will come around. He won’t have a choice. And honestly, I’m not sweating it the way I was. I wish I had been the one to tell him. I wish he and I had sat down over a beer, and I could have told him man to man.

But I didn’t get that luxury with him and Estlin, and now he didn’t have that with me and Wren. We’ll find our way through it. It’s what best friends do.

Wren locks up, and we head out into the cold November Boston evening just as my phone vibrates in my pocket. I assume it’s Owen, but it’s not.

Callan: I am not sending you this message, and I never told you anything, but the board unanimously decided to keep you as the new chief and will notify you on Monday before they make the formal announcement. Harrison came in ten minutes after you left, having no idea you had been there, and threw out multiple accusations about you that the board already knew were bullshit. The board questioned him on those and on the past and current claims that he’s inappropriate with staff, and he freaked out. He became irate and told the board he wasn’t sure if he would be able to stay there as a physician and then threatened to sue the hospital. I think he’ll be gone before the first of the year. Have a good weekend, and we’ll talk on Monday, Chief.

Well, I’ll be damned.

I guess sometimes a man can get everything he wants, and karma does change hands.

I show my phone to Wren and let her read it. Her eyes go round, and her jaw drops.

“Oh my god!” she screams in the middle of the sidewalk and jumps on me, practically climbing me like a tree. “Shots! We’re so doing shots! And call Owen. He can get over his period and meet us out. We’re celebrating.”

“Come here.” Without waiting, I kiss her. I kiss her deeper and harder and with more passion than I think I’ve ever kissed her. Because this girl. This fucking girl. She’s it. “I love you. For always. Thank you for being my everything while giving me everything.”

“Not just for the dirty fun I give you?”

I smirk at her teasing tone. “No reason why both can’t lead to a happily ever after.”