The Clover House Read Online Free Page B

say.
    “I think he looks like a young Demi Moore,” Jonah yells.
    Marcus shoves him in the chest, saying, “Callie, where’d you get this guy?” He messes up Jonah’s hair and tousles his shirtfront, his tie.
    “We got some big news on the New Bedford case today,” Jonah says.
    “Yeah?”
    “We won.” He gives me a big smack on the lips.
    “Seriously?” Marcus shouts. “You can’t upstage me!”
    “Jonah, that’s so great,” I say. I lean in and tell him, “Celebration sex tonight.”
    “Going for another beer,” Marcus says to me. “Because it’s
my
party. Want one?”
    “Ben has it.” The pint of lager is waiting for me on the counter.
    “Jonah, I’m so proud of you,” I say, and he looks sheepish for a second before his usual confidence returns. I am proud of him. I know that while he doesn’t mind the contract law that occupies most of his time, he truly loves the immigration cases he works on. With Nelson, who is raising his glass a few feet away from me, Jonah handles the prosaic cases, the ones lacking any political drama save that of someone’s craving for a home. The night I met Jonah, he was drinking here after a court date that hadn’t gone well. It was another New Bedford case, a Cape Verdean fighting deportation. Jonah sat at the bar in a sorrow that was admirable before I even knew its source. I could have found someone else that night, but I sat down besidehim, drawn to that sorrow and pulled in by the growing quiet of our conversation.
    Marcus hands me my lager.
    “Now you can go toast Nelson too.” He’s playing up the self-pity.
    There are six of us here so far tonight: Jonah and me, Marcus, Ted and some woman he’s dating, and Nelson. After about an hour, Brian shows up with Mollie. Since they got married last summer, they never seem to arrive anywhere on time with the rest of us. Jonah and I can’t decide if it’s because they’re having lots of marriage sex or not enough.
    Eventually, I weave over toward Mollie and clink my current glass of beer with hers.
    “To our new stockbroker,” I say.
    “To the Broker Dude.”
    We drink and I think about what to ask Mollie. I settle for the generic.
    “How’s married life?”
    “Good. Good.” She nods as if I just asked her about work. I make a note to tell Jonah: not enough sex.
    “Hey, that’s pretty exciting about your trip,” she says, brightening.
    “What trip?”
    “To Greece. You guys doing a pre-wedding honeymoon?”
    I laugh to avoid having to answer.
    “Hang on, Mollie,” I say to her ear. “I’ll be right back.”
    I reach past Brian for Jonah and grab his sleeve.
    “Can I talk to you for a minute?”
    He turns with a smile that drops away when he sees my face.
    “Just a sec, guys.”
    He lets me tug him out the door onto the sidewalk.
    “Mollie asked me about
our
trip to Greece.”
    “Yeah, I mentioned the idea.”
    “You did more than mention it, I think.”
    “Okay, I told her I was going with you. Seemed like a great way to meet the folks. What’s wrong with that?”
    “I didn’t even know if I was going, and I told you I didn’t want to bring you with me.”
    “
Bring you with me
. Listen to you. It’s like I’m some child you’d have to drag along. I’m going to marry you, Callie. Is it so bad to want to come with you for a trip like this?”
    “This trip is so I can take care of my dead uncle’s stuff. It’s not a honeymoon, and it’s not a vacation.”
    “I get that. I’m not marrying you for the vacations, Cal.”
    I let go of his sleeve with an abrupt swinging motion.
    “Would you stop that?” I say.
    “What the fuck, Callie?”
    “What the fuck? That’s what I thought when Mollie knew all about the trip you’d planned for us.”
    “I didn’t do a whole plan thing. I just told her I thought it would be cool. I haven’t met anyone in your family, Cal, and I thought this was a good time. If you want to be mad at someone, be mad at Mollie, not me.”
    He steps