"Okay, so like...your girlfriend's-"

"Fiance's," Trent said.

"Right. Your fiance's dad is asking you for advice on something?"

He laughed. "You think I'm that dumb?"

"That isn't what I meant! It's just-I mean, it's so rare middle aged adults come to a fucking twenty two year old for advice."

"I'm twenty three now, actually."

"Oh...shit. Your birthday. Right. Um...I should get you a present." She paused, then smirked suddenly and flicked her gaze to him as they came off the highway. "I think I can think of something."

"...is that so?"

"It is. If you really want a present from your little sister."

"Uh...yeah. Yes, I do."

She laughed. "I can't believe we're, like, flirting. Like for real."

"Yeah."

She laughed harder. "Are you still shy? After you've jammed your cock into how many girls out here?"

"It's...this is weird, okay, Jess!? That's not an unreasonable reaction to fumbling around in response to banging your own sister."

She snorted. "I mean, yeah. I guess I've just been thinking about it longer...you know, I went through a phase like two years ago where I wanted to be like amazing at sucking dick, so I did a whole bunch of research online and apparently I'm really good at it."

"...I can't believe you are telling me this. Also, you know what? Why aren't you weird about this? I'm just thinking back to all the conversations, at least all the ones that I can remember, over the past few days, and there was a lot of talk of sex stuff, and you never flinched at all. I mean, do you have experience in like a sex industry or something?"

He happened to be looking at her as he asked that, so he saw her eyes bulge and nearly bug out. "...why do you ask that?"

"Jessica. You have zero poker face. Are you a porn star?"

"No!"

"A hooker?"

"NO!"

"I mean I wouldn't judge you. I'm not going to give you shit for it if you have like an OnlyFans or something...oh my God, it's an OnlyFans isn't it?"

"NO!" she snapped.

He laughed. "You never could lie to me."

"You said you weren't going to make fun of me!"

"So you admit it then? Come on, say it. I want to hear you say it."

She heaved a massive sigh. "YES! FINE! I have a fucking OnlyFans, but no one, like, knows it's me. Like I don't show my face. And it's just me! Just solo stuff...that's why I have money."

"Wow. I'm impressed."

"You're fucking with me."

"No, I mean it. How much money?"

"I make like eight thousand monthly right now."

"Okay wow, yeah, definitely impressed. I mean I knew you were fucking hot but I didn't realize you were fucking 'eight grand a month off solo faceless porn' hot. I'm pretty interested in seeing you naked. And soon."

"Same," she murmured. "So are we actually, like, doing this?"

"...let me sort this problem out first, then we can go home and talk about it," he replied.

"I'm coming in," Jessica said immediately as he parked in the Pickaxe's lot.

"No," he replied firmly. "Stay here."

"No," Jessica said, and got out.

Trent heaved a long, weary sigh and got out as well. "Look, he doesn't know too much about my...extra-curricular activities." She snorted. "So just...don't be weird. Okay? Just, please. Don't fuck this up for me."

"Okay, fine, I'll be good," she replied, looking properly chastised. He sighed again and walked into the Pickaxe with her in tow.

Mister Santello stood behind the counter with Danny.

"Trent...who's this?" Allen asked.

"My sister," Trent replied.

"I...your sister? Seriously?" He nodded. "Oh...not your stepsister?"

"No. Not my stepsister. Why?"

"I just...um…" He looked uncertainly at Jessica. Trent looked over as well. She had a very innocent face on him. He resisted the urge to sigh and turned back. "Nevermind. Doesn't matter. Uh, you wanna step out back?"

"Sure," Trent replied.

"Taking a smoke break, Danny," Allen said as he came out from behind the counter.

"Yep," Danny replied. Trent almost laughed, the way they said it was so automatic at this point. They'd probably had that exchange five hundred times by now. He followed Allen to the backdoor, then did sigh as he saw Jessica pretty much sticking to him.

"You care if she joins us?" Trent asked.

Allen pushed the backdoor open and glanced back uncertainly. "Uh...sure, it's fine," he replied.

Trent looked at Jessica, who just smiled back at him. "Best behavior. Seriously."

She nodded and said nothing. They stepped out back. Allen was lighting up a fresh cigarette. He took a deep breath and blew out a huge cloud of smoke, then sighed. "That's better, at least," he muttered. "All right, so...talked with Chris. I'm at an impasse. Told him I need to think about it more after he pleaded his case to me. On the one hand, he's on my fucking shit list. On the other hand...couple of guys cut me some slack when I was his age, when I was being the dipshit, and I think I'd be fucked right now if they hadn't, and now I'm them. I'm pissed, but does that mean his life has to be ruined? Shit, I just don't know. What if he's bullshitting? I want to hear what you have to say, I guess."

"He isn't bullshitting. I can set that to rest, at least," Trent replied.

"You sound pretty sure of that."

"I am. We've talked a lot and either he's a fucking master class actor or he's telling the truth. I believe he's telling the truth. Your kinder instincts were the right ones in this case. He should get a second chance, I think. He seems like he's actually, genuinely trying to redeem himself." He paused, then chuckled. "You know what really convinced me of that?"

"What?" Allen asked.

"Dude is actually holding down a job at fucking Telezoft. I'd rip my fucking eyes out working at a goddamned call center, I imagine it has to be hell. But he's doing it. He's committed," Trent replied.

Allen snorted, then sighed. "Yeah...yeah. I do believe him, and I guess I know what the right choice is, I'm just...pissed. But I'll get over it."

"I'm assuming that you've considered it from the practical business side of things?" Trent asked.

"Oh yeah. Thing is, he's not a bad worker...when he's focused. He's actually pretty good with repairs and he's always good to haul stuff around. His problem was always that he'd get his head stuck up his ass and start dragging ass on his responsibilities...he said he'd give me a hundred percent. So, yeah, if he's got his attitude issues sorted, this is good for my business. I guess…" He sighed, then puffed on the cigarette for a moment.

"You're worried about Bea being mad at you for taking him back," Trent said when he didn't continue.

Allen looked at him, a little startled, then chuckled ruefully. "Yeah, I guess so if I'm being brutally honest. I'm, uh…" He glanced at Jessica.

"Why don't you give us some privacy?" Trent asked.

She looked like she was going to argue, but saw something in his eyes that made her reconsider (probably the fact that he was actually asking, not looking for more teasing), and then nodded and slipped back in through the back door.

"Thanks...she's really your sister?" he asked.

"Yeah. Does that really surprise you so much?"

"I just...I mean...I dunno. I guess, when I saw her with you, the way she was looking at you...she seemed more like a new girlfriend."

"Ah. Yeah, she's not a girlfriend, she's just...clingy. And we haven't actually seen each other in person for a couple of years now, and our first reunion I get into an actual physical fight with my brother and my dad while she has to stand there and watch twenty years of trauma come screaming out of me."

"Yeah, uh...what happened? I didn't really get much out of Bea. Actually," he chuckled, "that girl has always been kind of tight-lipped but I used to know how to get something out of her if I really needed to know. But that doesn't work anymore, at least not if it's about you. She's a fucking steel vault when it comes to you."

"Sorry," Trent replied awkwardly. "We're just really protective of each other, and we're all very, very much into, I guess, privacy? Like, not spilling each others' business to people. Even family. If Bea tells me something in private and asks that no one else hears it, then no one else will ever hear it. Not you, not Mae, not anyone."

"...I respect that," Allen said. "But, uh, yeah, things feel kinda...on thin ice with Bea and me. And I've also gotten an idea of just how badly I fucked up after my wife...after I lost her. And I don't want to fuck things up anymore than that."

"I think you two are on the right path to getting things settled, but...I also think it's important that you recognize that 'good terms' might not look like what you think they look like. I don't know if you're going to be able to go back to wherever you're trying to get back to."

"Yeah, I know...it's really hard to swallow, is the thing. And you...you just won't get it. You can't get it, because you've never had kids. You've never had a daughter. I was scared that maybe I wasn't going to do as good a job because I had a daughter instead of a son, but that turned out not to be the case. You just don't know what it's like to have a little girl, to have her love you and rely on you and tell you everything. Bea's always been kind of stubborn and a bit dark, but she used to tell me everything, and I loved hearing it. She wanted me in her life and I wanted her in mine, and now that ain't so true."

"She wants you in her life, just...less so. I mean, do you want your parents in your life all the time?" Trent asked.

Allen chuckled. "No, not really. Well, my dad's dead, passed on from a heart attack about five years ago, but my mom's up in Hunwick, retired to a nice little plot of land out there. She's like Bea. She's...distant, hard, a little cold." He frowned. "Maybe that's unkind, or wrong...I guess what I more mean is she's like what I think Bea'll end up like in fifty years. And not really because the world beat her down, but because that's just who is she. Some people like being alone, or just with a one or two other people, some people just don't talk much because they don't feel the need...eh, I'm rambling. Do you think Bea's gonna be mad at me for this?"

"I think Bea's going to be conflicted," Trent replied after thinking for a moment. "I think she's going to be like you. Part of her will be mad about it, but another, better part of her will reluctantly admit that this is a good thing...probably. I don't know. As much as it seems like I've got everything figured out with Bea, I really don't. She still throws me wildcards. Sometimes I feel like I'm on the most stable ground of my relationships with her, and then sometimes I feel like I'm on the least stable with her. It's...weird. Although admittedly I'm sure a lot of that are my own insecurities speaking."

"What in the name of God could you be insecure about!?" Allen cried with a half-serious laugh. "You have three girlfriends living with you, your own house that you completely own, and you're a successful writer!? BY TWENTY THREE! Do you have any idea how insane that is?"

Trent laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, like, I get all that. I think I'm still kind of getting used to it, like reality is taking longer to catch up to my brain? I've still got a lot of damage from...before here."

"What happened with your family? If, uh, you wanna talk about it."

"Nothing too insane. They showed up out of nowhere, demanding money, and I...lost it. And when I found it again, I called them over and just unloaded on them. Told them everything I wanted to say and tried to get a straight answer out of them for why they treated me like shit since I was born."

"...did they have an answer?" Allen asked, raising an eyebrow in genuine curiosity.

Trent laughed bitterly. "Yeah. Pretty much 'I was tough on you so you'd hardened up for the real world'. That was it."

"Oh."

Trent glanced at him. "You sound...guilty."

"Jesus, you're good at reading people, kid," he muttered. "Yeah, I guess I am. I definitely had some of that with Bea. And she's tough...but at what cost? I never abused her, but I could be a real asshole. Just...I hope you feel better about it."

"...still figuring it out," he replied. "But don't feel bad. It's...you know, what it is. If there's nothing else, I should be getting home."

"Nah, that was it. Thanks for the counsel."

"Welcome. I'll talk to Bea about it. You gonna do it?"

"Yeah. I mean, I'm gonna sleep on it, but I'll probably bring him back in probationary-like. Give him two weeks on light duty, get him to commit, then if that goes well, bump him up to what he used to be at. Hmm. Maybe with a slight pay decrease. Eh, anyway, don't let me keep you. Hope everything works out for you."

"You too, Allen."

They headed back inside. Jessica was standing by the entrance, staring at her phone. Danny seemed to be trying to sneak glances at her, and it occurred to Trent abruptly that, like Melody, Jessica very much had that out-of-town vibe, and it was only exemplified by the fact that she was probably the hottest woman in this town, in terms of conventional (and smoldering) beauty. He felt a surge of lust hit him when she looked up from her phone at him, locked eyes with him immediately, and a small, dirty little smile touched her face.

Fucking Christ she had really upped her flirtation game.

"Come on, we need to go home," he said, leading her outside.

"Do we now?" she murmured.

He sighed. "Yes, Jessica. Just...drive us home. I have some conversations I need to have."

"Yes, big brother."

He sighed.