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TYLER
Tyler loved his new condo on the west side of the bay. He'd signed the lease only three months before. Unfortunately, there wasn’t a twelve-step program for his addiction to the view of the bay and the nearly permanent-absent neighbors.
His long legs stretched comfortably beneath the table in front of him as he leaned back in his winged dining chair. Resting his elbow on an armrest, he watched his younger brother, Jay, and their mutual buddies, Mac and Ryan, as they quibbled over the amount of their bet.
Mac finally gave in and threw three gold Sacajawea dollar coins into the center of the green felt table top. “Okay, boys, this is my last hand. Marcy's gonna kill me, if I show up late tonight. I almost wasn't able to come because of last time.” He wrinkled his nose and avoided making eye contact with anyone.
“Yeah, his wife almost grounded him.” Ryan guffawed as he tossed in his matching coins. “I tell you what, if my wife ever told me...”
Jay arched his blond eyebrows over brown eyes. “Ryan, no one will be your wife. Ever. So, you, my friend, will never have to worry about it. I don't know any woman that wants a guy who lives with his mother.”
The guys laughed, tossing out more good-natured jokes at each other as they munched on chips and dip and drank from their bottles.
They called, holding their cards tight in their hands, ready to show the faces. As they lay them down, Ty couldn't imagine a more perfect guys’ night. Every night could be guys’ night, if he wanted it to be.
Bachelorhood was the perfect life for him. Answering to no one was right up his alley. He didn't have to walk around any woman like Jay and Mac, and he didn't have to answer to his mother like Ryan.
Mac groaned. “And Ty-Guy takes the game again. Is this your night, man, or what? I bet you can make any bet tonight and not lose. Go out and get that lottery card.”
Ty was feeling lucky. He silently agreed with Mac that he probably could bet anything and win. He humbly claimed the winnings pot in the center of the table and pulled it towards his own stash. “I hate to see you guys leave, taking all your money with you. Oh, wait, no, I don’t. I’ll keep your money to make it less traumatic.” He laughed and stood with them as they gathered their things. They mumbled with smiles, claiming their food or other items they’d brought for the evening.
“I'm just going to crash here, is that all right, Ty? Sylvia is at her mom’s and I think I've had a little too much to drink tonight.” Jay stretched, then grabbed his drink and snack plate from his spot at the table and headed into the kitchen.
“You know you're always welcome, bro.” Ty walked his friends to the door as they left. He hadn't realized how late it was getting. “I need to work tomorrow. I didn’t see the hour.”
Jay helped clear the table, and moved the items into the kitchen. The weekly game night always culminated in brotherly bonding. Not every time was an overnighter, though. Ty liked the late-nights with his brother and found them to be well-worth the lack of sleep.
“Have you heard from Mom?” Jay didn't look directly at Ty, which of course suggested that Jay had heard from Mom and that he had something to share with Ty that Ty wasn’t going to like.
Ty sighed. “No. I haven't. Have you?” He sipped the melted ice in the bottom of his glass.
“Yeah, she's pretty happy.” Jay turned, hiding his face from Tyler. “She wants us to sell the house.”
Laughing out loud, Ty shook his head and rinsed off the dishes in his sink. “I'm not selling anything. I don't have time to fix it up. We won’t get half the market value for it in the state it's in. How much does Mom owe?”
Jay faced Ty and leaned against the counter, his arms crossed at his waist. “I don't have the money either. Sylvia is finishing up med school and we don't have the cash for that.” He stared at the floor and then met Ty’s gaze. “I want to propose to her... but I’m not sure. I’m nervous, you know? With the house and the other stuff Mom tossed at me during our last phone call, I got spooked.”
“Wow, marriage?” Ty watched Jay. He swore he’d never get married himself.
“Did you think I’d live with her forever? I love her. I just don’t know if I’m ready.” He stepped forward and braced his arm on the counter beside Ty, speaking softly. “I think you should take the house. You don't have any family responsibilities or anything. You can do this. Hire someone to fix it. It can’t be that hard.”
“It's a money pit. I can't sink money into that place and my company at the same time. I'll lose them both.” Tyler didn’t want the house. He didn't want to deal with the aftereffects of Mom meeting someone new and running off to Italy with the man like she was a young teenager.
Leaving all of her accounts, properties, and assets, essentially everything, to her sons, she counted on them to pull her out of any holes that might be left.
Of course, Jay and Ty would do exactly what she wanted. They always did.
“What's going on with the company? Is it in danger?” Jay turned, a towel draped over his shoulder as he grabbed more dishes to tuck into the sink for Ty to rinse.
Shrugging, Ty tried not to let his irritation show. “It's a family brand – the company prides itself on having a family persona. Taking over companies and rebuilding them is easier with the companies believing you’re out to protect the families. I’m not cohesive with that brand. It's hard to have the front face of the company as a bachelor. The counselors want me to get married – at least publicly.” He grunted in frustration. “I don't have time for that. I barely have time for the weekend flings that I do have.”
“You make it sound like such a chore.” Jay laughed but rolled his eyes, popping a stray chip in his mouth.
If Tyler wasn't seriously frustrated with his predicament, he would punch his brother in the arm and laugh off Jay’s fake jealousy.
“What's wrong with being voted San Francisco's most eligible anyway? I don't know what I would do with that.” Jay had turned his back on Tyler and Tyler sensed a tone of bitterness, not enough to be offsetting but enough to add an arsenic flavor to their conversation.
“Nothing's wrong with the title, except the number of women after me have increased and not because I’m particularly striking. There's just not a lot right with the award either.” Ty finished loading the dishwasher and pressed the start button. He motioned Jay out of the clean kitchen and into the living room.
His new leather furniture and sixty-inch screen television would have made him purr, if he were a cat.
Settling on the couch beside Ty, Jay picked up a deck of cards. He shuffled nonchalantly. “I sense a bet coming on.” He referenced the many high-stakes games Jay and Ty played throughout their life. He moved the cards between his hands in a fan and then an arc. “Two out of three, let's play twenty-one. Loser deals with the house.”
Mac had pointed out that Ty-Guy was on a winning streak that night. He probably could win just about any bet he placed. He believed it. As if a rush of warmth flooded through him, he imagined an influx of luck flowing through his blood.
“Okay, loser deals with the house and any of the other issues that come with it.” Ty jerked his chin upward in a sharp nod. He didn’t want to come off as too cocky. He hadn’t won yet.
Jay grinned. He shuffled, waited for Ty to cut the deck and then dealt two cards to both of them.
Pushing aside a stack of magazines, Ty ignored them as they fell to the floor from the coffee table, falling open.
First-hand, Tyler lost to Jay, but that was okay.
Jay won the first one. It was only one.
The loss didn’t faze him, and Ty shook it off. That's how he always played. He was ‘low man’ in the beginning and then he always came out on top.
He picked up the magazine while Jay shuffled the next hand. The advertisement the magazine had fallen open to had a lot of white space and a red heart circled with a dialogue icon. Clickandwed.com was prominently displayed on the bottom of the page. At the top the ad screamed “Marry your match today.”
Tyler guffawed. “Can you imagine? Look at this. What losers would do this?” He held open the ad toward Jay and smirked. Then a thought crossed his mind and he pulled the magazine back, staring at the ad.
“Hey, let's make it interesting. The loser has to take the house and has to get married, either you marry Sylvia or I’ll marry the first person that ClickandWed matches me to.” Ty challenged Jay with a laugh. Tyler had to up the ante while Jay thought he had a chance. One loss on Ty’s side and he was raising the stakes.
Jay raised his eyebrows, the challenge acknowledged and taunted in his gaze. “Okay, I'm prepared to marry Sylvia. Are you prepared to marry the first person that's desperate enough to go on an online dating service?”
Tyler's confidence didn't shake. He would win. He always won. Plus, he couldn't see his future having anything to do with marriage or that house of his mother's. He was too happy with how things were.
“I am. Let's do this.” Jay dealt the second hand.
“Haha!” Tyler crowed as he won with a perfect score. “What else can we do to make this even more fun? Anything else you want to add to this bet? We only have one hand left and we’re tied up. One of us is getting married.” And it’s you, little brother. Ty wiggled his eyebrows and leaned back on the couch, reveling in the smooth coolness of the leather. “Come on. One more. Let's make it really good.”
“Okay, I've got one.” Jay looked around the apartment. He pointed at the brand-new furnishings and the barely-lived on couches. “If I win, not only do you get the house and you have to get married on ClickandWed but I also get your apartment – rent free. You have to live in that place for six months, meaning I get the condo for that time, while Sylvia and I figure out where we’re going for her fellowship.”
The possibility of losing his apartment sent a twinge of doubt racing up and down Ty’s spine.
But wait, he was on the ride of his life. He would win the bet.
He didn't try to hesitate, but he was a little nervous to lose his apartment. He’d learned a long time ago not to bet something you weren’t willing to lose. He could handle being married to a stranger, if he had to. His mom’s place? Sure, he could do that. He had lost worse things.
But his condo? Could he lose it? “Not permanently, though, right? I don’t want to give this up for good. I can handle six months, if I have to.”
Jay laughed. “No, of course not. Only the six months. Like a long, super long, vacation. I cannot believe that you’re worried more about losing the condo than you are about getting married.” He shuffled a few more times, his gaze on Ty. “Okay. Let's do this.”
Closing his eyes, Ty waited for the click as the cards were laid out in front of him.
Jay’s gasp didn’t have a specific connotation and Ty snapped his eyes open.
He had a respectable hand that would be hard to beat...
But Ty’s heart sank as he took in Jay’s hand and his jaw dropped.
He lost. Tyler had lost. His shoulders slumped and he rubbed his forehead.
Jay crowed as he gathered up the cards. They made a point to razz each other when they won, especially such a large prize. “Twenty-one, my brother. Twenty-one. Looks like you are getting married and moving into a beautiful home in Oakland and I get to have your apartment.” He stood up and danced around the living room, dodging past the ceiling high windows and rubbing his rear-end on the far wall. He grunted. “Just going to mark my territory over here.”
“Don’t pee on anything.” Tyler pinched the bridge of his nose and hung his head. He groaned. “You've got to be kidding me.” Somehow he would have to talk Jay out of it. But deep down he knew he wouldn’t.
The Manning boys stuck to their bets, it's what they did. The only honor they held absolutely sacred.
And Ty knew if he backed down this time, Jay would never stick to anything he bet in the future. Plus... this was what they did. Jay and Ty for as long as he could remember, they stuck by each other, even in the most ridiculous of wagers.
No matter which way Ty looked at it, his honor demanded he fulfill the bet.
No matter how much he wanted to kick his brother out of the condo and hide in his bed.
Tyler held up the ad and looked at the heart icon. “ClickandWed? Hopefully, I'm not paired up with any women from the Midwest.” He tried not to engage in discouragement too much. Optimism was a choice, his mom always said.
Chuckling with an evil laugh, Jay wagged his finger at Ty. “Remember, it's the first one you’re matched with.”
Despair was a new emotion for Tyler as he glared at his brother. He wouldn't put it past Jay to somehow manipulate the results. He’d probably put the worst possible match up for him. It wouldn’t be the first time Jay had pulled off some kind of prank to really up the staying power of a bet.
After considering Jay’s excitement, Ty ignored the fact that he had lost what he’d considered a sure thing. He sighed. “All right, you can have the apartment when my new computer bride moves in with me. I don’t know how soon I’ll have a match.” It’d be even better, if Mom moved back before Ty had to move in. He could hope her new fling ended early, couldn’t he? Or was that just being mean-spirited?
He didn't even want to think about the horrific home his mother had left for them. He'd somehow have to make it all work as he forced himself to live with someone he didn’t know, work on his business that was sinking fast, and be away from the hard-to-get condo on the Bay.
The next six months were not going to be fun.