I Call Him Brady (2 page)

Jack barely dared to glance in their direction. “
Oh yeah? How do you plan to do that? Keep calling me Brady?” he whispered, sounding as though he was half joking, half hoping it was a viable option.

I shrugged. “
If it works...but I was also thinking we could be a couple of Euro tourists here from Germany for the next go around.” I lifted the hand still clutching my daughter’s and pointed onward as I began to move again. It seemed almost automatic that Jack fell into step beside us.

“
Hm, not sure that's going to work,” he said shaking his head. “My German's not quite believable.”

I had to bite back a grin remembering the movie in which he had played an international assassin. His German had been borderline pathetic, and I had laughed hysterically every time I had heard him utter another butchered line. Now hardly seemed like the time to bring that up though.

I leaned in toward him, feeling confident. “No worries, mine is pretty good. As long as you can nod and add a few 'Uh-huh's' in there every so often we can totally pull it off.”

“You’re telling me you speak German?” His disbelief was only slightly hidden by the fact that he was now clearly intrigued. “Why?”

“I’m German,” I replied very matter of fact. “It’s kinda my thing.” I looked up and spotted another wave of people coming our way. “Meanwhile, let’s start by blending in with all the families on vacation.” I bent down to whisper to my daughter. “Jessa, baby, do you think you could hold Brady's hand?”

Her little nose crinkled as she knitted her dark brown brows in confusion. “
But Mama, his name isn't Brady...it's Jack Cole!” she whispered back loudly.

And there it was.  I quickly lowered myself down to be face to face with her, in hopes that Jack wouldn’t see me turn beet red, or worse, express an interest in hearing why my five year old had recognized him. His work, while extensive, had yet to include a family friendly project.

“I know his name is Jack,” I explained quietly, “But we're playing pretend, okay? So, his new name is Brady. What name do you want?”

Jessa thought it over for a moment. Then her eyes lit up as she announced, “O
oh, I want to be Rapunzel!”

I had to bite my lip to keep from laughing. “
Huh...how about Jasmin instead?” It was a solid compromise.

“
Okay! What about you Mama?”

“
I think I'm going to stick with Mama.” I gently tucked a long strand of dark blonde hair back behind her ear and kissed her cheek before I stood up again.

“
Is that what I'm calling you, too?” Jack was smirking.

I’d seen that look on his face a hundred times, but on screen was nothing compared to seeing it in person. It set off a storm of butterflies in the pit of my stomach and the jackhammer had returned to my chest. Then I watched as Jessa reached up and clasped his hand and I nearly lost it.

I swallowed hard, trying to force down the flutter now rising into my chest. “No, you can call me Embers.”

Desperate for a distraction, I searched our surroundings for the arrival monitors. When I spotted them just a few feet away, I made a beeline for them, dragging the other two along as I went.

My mind was still whirling from the on slot of inappropriate feelings that had hit me after being on the receiving end of Jack Brady’s trademark smirk. No amount of daydreaming could have ever prepared me for that.

I had to scan the large screen in front of me three times before I was actually able to absorb any of the information.

“Okay,” I glanced up at the clock above the monitors. “Aunt May's flight is on time, but we were early so it shouldn't be any problem to get you to the ticket counter of your choice and make it back to the gate in time to meet her.” Halfway through my statement I had redirected it at Jack who seemed surprisingly less enthused by the news than I had expected.

He was waving his hand, already dismissing the idea. “
Oh, I don't want to screw up your plans.”

Not understanding, I insisted, “
Not at all. It's just my sister. And she doesn't expect me to be on time anyway. So, where are we headed?”

I had already started walking again when I felt myself jerked to a stop by Jack who was still standing in place.

“You know, I just spent the last six hours on a plane, I'm in no hurry to get back on one. Let's just go and meet your sister and I can figure things out after.” As he said it, he took several steps into the opposite direction headed toward the arrival gates, gently tugging Jessa and me along as he did so.

“
But wouldn't you rather just hurry up and get out of here?” I hissed as I scurried to catch up with him. “I mean, the longer you hang around, the more likely someone will recognize you sooner or later.”

“
Nah, I think I'm in good hands with you.” He turned back to wink at me. “Besides, I kinda want to see you break out the German tourist routine.”

I shook my head, laughing. Partially because the thought of breaking into German improv sounded downright hilarious, and partially because this entire thing was so entirely bizarre it was either laugh or black out…and blacking out seemed like an ineffective move just then.

So, the three of us made our way to the arrivals, doing our best to blend in with the multitude of other travelers being shuffled along the large corridors of the airport.

When we reached the gate, Jessa wasted no time in pulling us over to the wall of windows from where she was able to watch the airplanes as they came and went.

It wasn't long before two women standing close by began to take notice of Jack. Huddled together closely, I overheard them whispering excitedly to one another. I peered over at Jack. Even with his face somewhat hidden in the shadow of his fedora and his trademark tats covered, he was entirely too recognizable.

Swaying any diehard female fans would require total dedication to my cause.

“Das Wetter hier ist echt toll, oder?” I nodded at the window as I spoke. “Wenn das jeden Tag so ist, wird das ein echt toller Urlaub, meinst Du nicht?”

This time I directed my attention back to
Jack and waited for his response. Without skipping a beat, he fell right into character, a minor part all things considered, and replied with a confident sounding ‘Uh-huh’ as though he had understood perfectly.

“
Ja, denke ich auch!”

Out of the
corner of my eye, I watched as the two women walked away looking sorely disappointed.

Jack leaned in and whispered, “Nice.” Adding an appreciative nod at the end.

“Thank you, thank you.” I bowed playfully. When I stood upright again, I saw Jessa’s hand fly up into the air. She waved it around with excitement.

“T
here she is!”

Buried in the sea of people marching toward us, a small pink Mohawk could be spotted bobbing up and down as the flood of passengers came streaming
in through the arrivals gate.

I felt Jessa slip out of my grip as she launched herself a few feet forward and began jumping up and down shouting with elation.

“Aunt May! Over here!” Her little hands were still flapping back and forth above her head when May caught a glimpse of them and began to veer away from the crowd and in our direction. I watched as my sister’s eyes traveled from Jessa to me and then over to Jack where they did a clear double take before jumping back to lock eyes with me in search of an explanation.

Try as I might, even as a twin, I had yet to master the skills of telepathy. So, I simply reverted to my standard crooked grin and shoulder shrug, reserved for situations such as these.

“Hello...” May’s tone was tentative at best as she knelt down to catch Jessa who sprinted forward.

“
Hi!” Jessa’s sweet enthusiasm was still bubbling out of her as she loudly whispered in her aunt’s ear. “We're playing pretend. My name isn't Jessa, it's Jasmin. And Jack Cole is Brady. Who do you want to be?”

“Um,
I don't know. How about you pick?” May pulled back to look at her niece with an unwavering confusion still lingering on her face.

Unaware of the unusual circumstances of her current situation, Jessa beamed back at her.

“Okay, you can be Mother Gothel.”

May snorted. “
Gee, thanks.”

I leaned down in an attempt to help move the conversation along.

“Or, she can be Ariel.”

Jessa seemed perfectly fine with that.

“Okay.”

Meanwhile, I noticed Jack hadn’t said anything since May showed up. I turned back to make the official introduction when I saw him curiously studying the two of us. I’d seen that look plenty of times before. May and I were identical. Well, our faces were anyway. Something people tended to only become aware of after they saw everything else. Like May’s pink hawk and various tats or my long jet black and purple locks and the fact that I wore a wardrobe that looked like a mixture of painting attire and beach wear.

Suffice it to say, there were plenty of things about us that people found distracting before they had the chance to look close enough and realize we were each other’s mirror image.

“Twins,” I mumbled stupidly. I always felt the need to confirm what was pretty self-explanatory.

“Yeah, I got that,” Jack grinned. “Ariel, nice to meet you.” He held his hand out toward my sister and she took it, moving like the tin man from Oz after he had begun to rust.

“
Yeah, you too...Brady?!” She was staring directly at me.

“
I'll explain later.” I completely ignored the impatient look in May’s eyes demanding I start talking now. “Where to next?”

“
Baggage claim?” Jack offered.

May was too busy still boring into me with her stare to realize she had been spoken to. When she finally became aware of it, she smiled awkwardly.

“I only have my carry on.” As if the words alone hadn’t been explanation enough, she lifted her bright fuchsia duffle bag decked out in all things Beatles, for everyone to see.

Brady took it from her and started walking. “
Cool. Let's get out of here then.”

Wait. What?

“Don't you want to try and get another flight?” I called after him, still frozen in place beside the wall of windows.

“
You know, I can just take care of that later. It'll probably be easier by phone anyway.” He had barely even slowed down. Apparently, the California stop applied to more than just driving. “Besides, I'm starving. How about I take you ladies out for lunch? As a thank you for saving my butt earlier.”

May
nodded, “I could eat.”

Then Jessa took things up a notch by jumping up and down and squealing, “
Yes! Yes! I want to go to lunch!” Seriously, the kid was acting like she’d just been offered a free trip to Disney World.

“
Looks like we're going to lunch then.” I finally followed the rest of my party, but at a considerably slower pace. This whole thing had just gone from surreal to alternate dimension and I needed a little distance to regain some sort of perspective. Only there was no distance great enough to help me fully comprehend how Jack Cole had jumped from my TV screen and into my life.

W
hat the fuck am I doing?
Stupid question. I knew damn well what I was doing. I was strolling through spring break central with a hot pink bag in my hand which was not only decked out in Beatles paraphernalia, but also likely to garner me even more attention than one of those topless chicks from Girls Gone Wild. What I didn’t know was why the fuck I was doing it.

Sure, Embers was hot as hell. Even in those baggy green cargo pants covered in about a hundred different colored paint splotches which she wore rolled up to her calves, accompanied with an old and raggedy wife beater she had tied up in a knot on her lower back, there was no hiding the fact that she had a slammin’ body. Add to that her long jet black hair twined with thick strands of violet which flowed wildly over shoulders and around her face, framing those mesmerizing gray eyes and raspberry colored lips she seemed to have permanently drawn up in a half smile, and Embers was a full on knockout.

But that wasn’t what was keeping me from boarding another flight back to the west coast. There was something about this girl that had me giving her my full attention, wondering what she would do or say next. Whatever it was, I had a feeling it would be bad news for me.

We were coming up on the busiest part of the airport, not counting the arrival and departure gates, the check in counters. Not that we were headed there, but the whole damn building’s outer walls were lined with them which meant you couldn’t get in or out of the place without walking past them.

I could see Jack tense up as we got closer. For a moment I thought he was actually going to try and make his head disappear between his shoulder blades like a turtle, then he changed course, grabbed my hand and yanked me to him. He was leaning in so close to my face, his fedora was actually touching the top of my head.

“Sorry. You don’t mind if I try to hide in your face, do you?” he whispered with a chuckle.

It was hard to keep walking. In part because my head was turned, but mostly because my knees had turned to mush and were threatening to give out at any moment.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see May walking just a few feet ahead with Jessa. She was watching me intently, daring me to make an ass of myself. I knew she loved me, but she’d never miss a chance to pee herself laughing at my expense. Well, I wasn’t about to give her the satisfaction today.

I forced myself to get a grip.

“Might be easier if you just cover your head with my hair. I mean, it would be odd for sure, but with the mass of black and purple strands I have back there, no one would ever know it was you,” I murmured back, keeping up the
lovey-dovey couple façade we were apparently going with. Not that I minded. Well, I did a bit. I couldn’t deny that the whole thing was screwing with my head in a big way.

By the time we finally reached the escalators, I didn’t think I could take it any longer. The tip of his nose was nearly touching mine, his lips were barely two inches from me and the breakaway couldn’t come soon enough.

Only as we began our descent down the mobile stairs and were finally out of reach of prying eyes, he lingered. He opened his mouth to say something, then stopped.

“What?” I asked, suddenly panicking about whether I had coffee breath or a piece of blueberry stuck in my teeth, both remnants of the rushed breakfast I had had on the car ride over. When he hesitated to answer, I folded both of my lips in and bit down on them hard, sealing my mouth shut from the inside.

Clearly realizing he’d made me uncomfortable, Jack shook his head grinning and came up close to my ear.

“It’s just - I’m going to sound like a total douchebag for saying this - but you have really beautiful eyes.”

“Seriously?” I couldn’t explain it, but just like that, the spell was broken. I was no longer standing there with Jack ‘Hotness Galore’ Cole, just another cocky jackass with a cheesy line.

“Are you sure you don’t want to say anything about how nice I smell or how great my smile is?” I said dryly, feeling the waves of my usual sarcastic nature wash back over me after having been temporarily on hiatus via the star struck tide.

At last Jack pulled away just as we reached the ground floor. He laughed.

“Damn. No more compliments for you.”

“Thank you.” I snickered as I walked ahead toward the parking garage.

A few minutes later we were all safely loaded up in my 1998 Jeep Wrangler, with Jack sitting up front with me after my sister had so graciously insisted on riding in the back. As usual, the top and back were off and I was rockin’ my ride convertible style, which in my opinion was the only way to go during beach season.

The moment we pulled out of the parking garage, Jack broke out his sunglasses and proceeded to enjoy the drive incognito.

I was still busy maneuvering my way through the heavy airport traffic while trying to get back toward the main drag when Jack broke the silence.

“You know, you’re welcome to call your husband and invite him to join us.”

I only turned my head briefly to give him an expression I was sure would convey that it wouldn’t be necessary. Then he went on.

“Are you sure? I mean, I don’t want to cause any problems between you and your man.”

I had reached a stop light.

“Is this your idea of small talk? Because if it is, I’d really rather we just talk about the weather.”

He nodded dramatically, gesturing his temporary defeat.

“So, how’s the weather been?”

Much to my own annoyance, I actually giggled. Not like a grown up giggle, but an ‘I’m twelve and the boy I like just made a joke’ giggle.

“It’s been pretty much your regular sunshine state type of weather.”

Jack looked down at his feet and slid them over the rubber mats beneath.

“I couldn’t help but notice you have a bit of a sand situation here. You spend a lot of time at the beach?”

“You could say that.”

“We live there!” Jessa piped up from behind.

Jack turned back to face her. “You do?”

“Yeah. It’s awesome. This summer I’m going to learn to surf.” Jessa’s eyes were big and full of wonder just thinking about it. I felt bad having to shoot her down yet again.

“I said, we’ll see. First I need to find someone who can teach you.”

“I could teach you,” Jack jumped in, jarring me to the point I nearly rear-ended the car in front of me.

“What? You’re leaving!”

He shrugged. “Maybe not. I like it here. I already cleared my schedule, I might as well take advantage of it.”

“You can stay in our vacation rental,” May blurted out suddenly.

“What?!” What on earth was she talking about? We didn’t
have
a vacation rental.

Everyone else completely ignored my outburst. Instead they were making more plans with growing enthusiasm.

By the time we reached the restaurant, Jack had rented our mysterious beach bungalow for two weeks, Jessa was signed up for surfing lessons and I didn’t have a freaking clue what was going on anymore.

Jack had insisted on experiencing our sleepy little beach town as a local which made choosing a place for lunch a no brainer. May and I had a thing about food. We liked
what we liked…and we only liked fresh. So, we hit our usual seafood spot.

We walked in, gave a nod to the hostess and wandered straight out to our regular table on the patio overlooking the water. By the time we sat down Jaslyn, the hostess, had caught up to us, menus in hand.

“So, four today. That’s different.” It was obvious she was fishing for more information regarding our surprise lunch guest who bore a striking resemblance to the guy who was voted Sexiest Man Alive twice in the last decade.

“This is Brady.” I was really starting to wonder where my talent for lying had come from. I didn’t flinch or smile that time at all. Total straight face and unwavering tone. It was scary. “Why? You think he was Jack Cole or something?”

She smiled sheepishly, clearly embarrassed. “Oh my God, he looks just like him.”

I laughed, and the others joined in quickly.

“Yeah, he gets that all the time, don’t you Brady?”

I elbowed him playfully in the side and he took his cue.

“It’s true. Happens a lot. Really, don’t feel weird about it. Had like three people think I was that Jack dude at the airport right before we got here.”

I could literally see the bells ringing in Jaslyn’s brain through her big glossy eye balls.

“Airport? So you’re visiting?”

This was the only downside to frequenting a place so much people started to feel like family. Nobody ever hesitated to jump head first into our business. Worried that Jack, professional actor that he was, would get carried away doing improv, I tried to jump in. May beat me to it.

“Yeah, he just got in from Butte, Nebraska after answering a nationwide ad for a companion Embers posted on Craig’s list.” Damn. She was good. She showed nothing but total conviction as she took a sip from the ice tea our server had automatically dropped by the table a second earlier. “Kinda makes you want to post an ad, don’t it?!”

Poor Jaslyn was turning as red as I was. “For sure.”

Thankfully, just then, she was being flagged down by the manager to tend to another party that had walked in.

“I can’t fucking believe you!” I lifted my half wrapped straw to my lips and blew, pelting her square in the face with the paper.

“What? I thought we were playing pretend.”

I was always impressed with how remarkably innocent she could look with her flashy
mohawk and chest tattoo. Neither of those really screamed sweet and pure, and yet people always thought she was the
good
twin. Idiots.

Meanwhile, Jack was enjoying our display immensely. Jessa on the other hand had gotten bored with our shenanigans as usual and had reverted to talking to Mermella the mermaid, who far exceeded us in terms of maturity and sane behavior.

Lucky for me, I had been blessed with a truly remarkable child, who at the tender age of five had already achieved an eerie air of serenity regarding life, as well as the wisdom to know what type of conversations applied to her and which didn’t. Same went for certain four letter words. Fart was okay. Fuck was not.

This was particularly fascinating to me as her mother, since
I, at the ripe old age of twenty-seven, was leaps and bounds behind her in all departments.

The table talk came to a temporary lull as Mo, our server, came by to take our order.  Mo was a fifty-five year
old career waiter who generally felt a pretty healthy amount of disdain for every person he came into contact with. An odd trait for someone who had dedicated his life to the hospitality industry and the irony of that wasn’t lost on anyone, least of all Mo. Regardless, Mo’s lack of desire to interact meant he not only had never heard of Jack Cole, but he also didn’t give a rat’s ass if he ever did.

After ordering, Jack was eager to get the conversation rolling again. I think he found us fascinating in some way. You know, the way people find monkeys fascinating when they go to the zoo and pretend to witness them in their ‘natural’ habitat.

“So, since we already know that I flew in from Butte, Nebraska today, why don’t you tell us where you were, May?” He was chewing on his straw while he spoke, and don’t ask me why, but there was something insanely sexy about the way he talked while only moving one side of his mouth. What can I say? I have issues.