"Hello, Remi." He heards Jean say this from behind him, and, though the words alone are innocent enough, he can hear the strain in her voice as she feigns politeness.
Jakob turns around and stands at full height to take this man in. He's short, shorter than him that is, there's a light sheen of sweat covering his brow, and he looks like a knock off villain from one of Jean's movies. So this is Thunderdick?
He didn't usually indulge in the personal affairs of others, and Jeanie assured him he made her happy, so there was no nagging jealousy involved as he watched the short man draw her into an awkward hug that she didn't even pretend to reciprocate. This was the first time meeting Remi Milburn, and yet, he hated this man.
Seeing him here in the flesh, ready to take his son out for dinner -two hours trying to compensate for the last six month's worth of lame attempts to digitally parent- while he was passing through on a business trip, was just the end result of a week's worth of stress.
His Jeanie would never admit it, no, she was too proud, but he could tell this bothered her. When he kissed her, he could feel how her lip was slightly swollen from gnawing at it, he could feel the knots from stress in her body when they made love, and he saw the way her gaze idly wandered to the copy of Pillow Talk sitting nearby as her little brows furrowed.
Even young Otis seemed to be having an adverse effect from the upcoming arrival of this notorious man. He'd come down three times in the last two hours asking if Remi was here yet, Jean and him making a silent pack not to make a comment about how each time Otis was wearing a new outfit with slightly more gel in his hair, and each time he heard the sadness in Jeans voice as she said "He just called to let me know his plane landed a little late," or "traffic's bad but he's on his way," and "he's so looking forward to this, darling."
She'd never gotten a single call or text from Remi and they way she quickly reached to turn the volume up on the movie they were watching told him not to ask.
Yeah. He hated this guy.
"Sorry, I was late. I had a few friends who wanted to go out for a quick drink," he shrugged, running his hand over his hair in a motion he probably thought was sexy. It resulted in a stray hair sticking out of place and Jakob thought it suited him.
"Otis has been waiting for you," she responded, disapproval evident in her tone and the way she crossed her arms in front of her chest.
"Yeah," he sighed like an awful actor, "I'm so sorry. Let me go up and-." He started moving towards the stairs, but she put her hand out, stopping him in his tracks without a word.
He loved his powerful woman.
"That won't be necessary," she stated firmly. The way Thunderdick pursed his lips made it obvious he understood what that meant. This isn't your house anymore. It made Jakob even more grateful that she'd cleaned out that dresser drawer for him last week. She'd stood in front of it, nervously playing with her neck as she said, "Y-you know. Just so you can put some spare clothes in here. Whatever you might need."
"You wait here, I'll go get him," she sighed, rounding her way up the stairs as she called Otis' name.
He hadn't moved from his spot behind Jean since the man had come in, but not without her as a barrier, they were face to face. His face hadn't changed in expression at all either - he wore a mask of indifference that he could tell made Thunderdick nervous. "Hi, Remi Milburn," he beamed with a car salesman's confidence.
Jakob took the man's outstretched hand and shook it, albeit holding it much harder than necessary, "Jakob."
Remi laughed breathlessly and withdrew his hand, "Wow, quite a grip you have there." Jakob didn't make a move to respond because he was starting to get amused from how anxious the man was getting.
Remi, looked around in an attempt to seem casually indifferent, but the silence was too much for him. "So-," he drew out. "You and Jean?" he asked.
Jakob answered by staring at him and cocking up an eyebrow.
"Are you two…?" Then he made an awkward motion with his fingers and an unnatural sound effect with his mouth. Jakob just crossed his arms.
"Okay," Remi nodded, straightening his shirt and giving up on that route of questioning. "What do you do?"
"I fix things" Jakob grunted.
"Like what?" Remi prodded, his relief at getting a response palpable.
The home you left.
A woman's trust you nearly obliterated.
Her heart you broke just as severely.
And her hope to have a relationship that she could invest in without betrayal.
"Everything," he grunted again, never letting his eyes leave the man. Before Remi's irritation could fully manifest, he heard someone fumbling down the stairs in a hurry followed by a less enthused sound.
Both men turned to see Otis, in another new outfit, standing awkwardly at the bottom of the stairs. "Hey dad," he greeted quietly, somehow more awkward that Jakob was used to and he'd thought that was an impossible feat.
"Otis my boy," Remi proclaimed, walking over to give his son a brief hug. "Are you ready to go?" he asked.
"Uh, yeah," Otis said, walking forward to get replaced by a melancholy looking Jean.
They'd gotten to the door when Otis turned around and called out, "Bye mom, bye Jakob!"
By this time, Jean had walked over to him and placed her tiny hand in his, leaning against him like he was a human support beam. "Have a nice time!" she called back.
"Otis," he called out when the boy moved to turn around. When he had his attention he gently said, "You look very nice."
Otis smiled at him, his eyes brightening at the compliment as he smoothed his shirt. "Thank you," he replied genuinely.
"Lets go, don't wanna be late," Remi said, leading him out the door and leaving him and Jean alone in the living room.
She let out a long breathy sigh and nuzzled into him and he greedily wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry I left you alone with him," she apologized needlessly. "Was it awkward?"
He laughed lightly and it caused her to put her chin on his chest to look at him. "Yeah, for him," he replied.