Part 25 (1/2)

”I do, too,” Izzy told Dan.

”Still, I'll need to find someplace to stay.” Dan was in heavy worst-case-scenario mode.

”You can stay with me,” Eden said. ”I've already paid rent on my apartment through the end of the summer. It's not like that'll be an additional expense.”

”But five five of us?” Dan asked. ”In a one-bedroom apartment?” He looked at Jenn and there was such despair in his eyes. ”Four, really, because you're leaving in a week.” of us?” Dan asked. ”In a one-bedroom apartment?” He looked at Jenn and there was such despair in his eyes. ”Four, really, because you're leaving in a week.”

”You know that I can stay longer,” she told him, and he nodded. But she knew he'd never ask her to make that sacrifice.

”We can make this work,” Izzy said.

Dan laughed. ”Said the a.s.shole who thinks everything's fine as long as he's s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g my sister. Newsflash, Zanella. She's just not that hard to get.”

”Danny,” Jenn said, purposely keeping her voice mild. ”I think maybe you're you're the a.s.shole.” the a.s.shole.”

Izzy, meanwhile, had clenched both his fists and then opened his big hands wide, in a mock Bob Fosse jazz-hands move. ”Not hitting you.”

Eden just looked miserable.

”Sorry,” Dan muttered to her.

”Maybe,” Jenn started, but Dan cut her off.

”Maybe we should just kill Greg,” he said.

”It's probably better not to joke about that,” Jenn said.

”Who's joking?”

”Really, Danny. I know you're upset, but that's just not-”

”Sorry,” he said again, and he reached for her hand. His eyes were filled with regret and shame and pure desperation. ”I am am sorry.” He pushed himself to his feet. ”May I speak to you privately, please?” sorry.” He pushed himself to his feet. ”May I speak to you privately, please?”

”Of course.” Jenn followed him away from Izzy and Eden, over to the sensor-triggered doors that slid open, exposing them to a wave of ovenlike heat.

Dan went into it and moved far enough away so the doors would slide closed again. ”I was hoping Linda would force my hand,” he told her.

Jenn shook her head. She didn't understand.

He clarified. ”I was hoping she'd say that we should, you know, get married. That that that would be our best shot at getting Ben.” would be our best shot at getting Ben.”

He was looking at her with those eyes, with that face, and Jenn knew that hitting him was not the proper response to what he'd just said. Force his... Force his... Fabulous. She nodded instead. ”But she didn't say that.” Fabulous. She nodded instead. ”But she didn't say that.”

”Marry me anyway,” he said.

”Wow,” she said. ”Way to be romantic, Gillman, and really pick the moment.”

He looked around them, as if suddenly aware that they were standing outside of a hospital in Las Vegas, Nevada. ”I was thinking about it earlier,” he admitted, ”but that wasn't the most romantic moment, either.” His smile was sheepish, and she knew exactly to which earlier moment he was referring.

”Instead you decided to wait,” Jenn said, ”to see if Linda's advice would force your hand. force your hand.”

Danny winced. ”Yeah, I heard that when it came out of my mouth, and I knew it was wrong. I'm sorry-”

”Was it?” she said. ”Wrong? It seems kind of accurate to me.”

”It scares me,” he said. ”How much I need you.”

Need, not want...

”You're going to get through this,” she told him. ”And if you start trying to think think before you speak, and if you stop yourself before you say something that's completely a.s.shole-ish? You're actually going to have a real relations.h.i.+p with your sister when everything's said and done. Maybe Izzy, too-” before you speak, and if you stop yourself before you say something that's completely a.s.shole-ish? You're actually going to have a real relations.h.i.+p with your sister when everything's said and done. Maybe Izzy, too-”

”Yeah, I doubt that.”

”Definitely Izzy, too,” she said. ”For someone so smart, you can be a real dumba.s.s. This thing with Ben is an opportunity. Embrace it.”

”I'm trying to,” he said. ”I'm trying. To. With you.”

Jenn nodded, looking out over the parking lot, because looking into his eyes was just too hard. ”If you want me to stay through to the hearing, Dan, for G.o.d's sake, just ask me to stay.”

”I thought that's what I was doing,” he said.

”I can't stay forever,” she told him, because G.o.d, she didn't want him that way. She didn't want to be convenient, or needed during times that were hard. She wanted him to love her-and to not be scared by what he felt-and her temper flared. ”I can't. But I'll stay to the hearing, if you just freaking ask ask me.” me.”

But she'd injured his pride. ”Maybe I don't want you to stay if you're not going to marry me,” he said, clearly choosing to embrace his unpleasant inner child.

Jenn just looked at him.

”Yeah, okay,” he said. ”That's a lie.” Now it was his turn to scan the parking lot, and as he did so, he sighed. And he closed his eyes briefly before he turned back to her. ”Please, Jenn, will you stay?”

She could see from his eyes that she'd hurt him, but that made two of them, didn't it? She nodded as she took out her cell phone. ”I'll call Maria and let her know that I'll be...seriously delayed.”

”Thank you,” he said. ”I'll be inside, trying not to be an a.s.shole.”

”Danny,” she said.

He stopped and turned back. ”That came out kind of a.s.shole-ish,” he acknowledged, ”but I was being serious. I'd like to have a sister again. Zanella, though, I could really do without.”

”Maybe he'll grow on you,” Jenn suggested. ”I kind of like him.”

”You like everyone,” he pointed out.

”I don't like Greg,” she said. ”He's a douchebag.”

Dan laughed at that. ”I bet you hardly ever said douchebag before you met me. I think that might be my word.”

She thought about that. ”I think you're right,” she agreed. ”My brothers were fond of d.i.c.khead and a-hole. Like taking the double-S out makes it family-friendly. A-hole. It actually sounds worse, doesn't it?”