Griffin laughed. “Nothing like that. Henry has been walking the straight and narrow. I just wanted to tell you myself. You’re getting a new addition.”

I was confused. “Are you and Henry opening up a new restaurant?” There had been some talk that they might add another restaurant to their color wheel. For the second time, Griffin laughed.

“No, Bailey. You are in for some big news,” he said. I’d had enough of that for one night. “Now, you will have to act surprised when your brother tells you. I know you hate surprises. Henry is a daddy. He has a three-year-old son, and his name is Hank. Henry has been to court and was granted full custody. You will fall in love.”

How much bourbon had I actually consumed tonight? “What the hell? What are you telling me?”

“I could see Henry telling you all this in a crowded restaurant. That would be just like him. But I think it is a good thing for him. A steadying thing. He’s so different, Bae.”

“You said ‘court.’ You said ‘custody.’ What the hell are you talking about?” I got the spare bottle of water I kept under my bedside table and took a big swig. I needed to sober up. Fast.

Griffin proceeded to tell me that back during my brother’s checkered dating history, he had an affair with a waitress from Guatemala. She didn’t stay around long. A few months ago, Henry got a call from DSS telling him that the woman had been in a fatal car wreck, leaving a son whose birth certificate listed Henry Edgeworth as the father.

“Is that it?”

“Just one more thing, I promise. Hank doesn’t speak much English.” This was too much information all at one time. For some reason, I just started laughing, and I couldn’t stop. Griffin started laughing too. “I guess I can see how this would all be a little overwhelming. In trying to put it together to tell you, I must admit I did have to laugh. Especially imagining the way your brother might tell it. You wouldn’t believe how he has cleaned his act up, and Henry had a whole lot to clean up. He is going to raise the boy by himself. You can already tell he’s smitten. I am going to be looking for my own place so he can turn my room into Hank’s. Bailey, I want your promise that you will be supportive. There is a thing called a second act. Forget what F. Scott Fitzgerald said. Your brother, my best friend, is entitled to his.”

Hearing Griffin defend my brother, in its own way, was a thing of beauty. I knew then that Griffin hadn’t gotten out of the caretaking business altogether. I had taken him at his word, because that’s what he wanted me to do. We had that much honesty between us. Henry had a son and Elliott had a wife. That was fucking dandy a week before the biggest night of my life.