Free Fancy Dancer by Fern Michaels

First in English, then in Spanish, just to make sure he got the point. The scenario he liked best was the one where they had a knock-down, drag-out fight, with Alex coming out the winner. He’d had so many preconceived notions about Jake. And he’d been wrong on all counts. How was that possible? The need to blame someone was so strong, Alex wanted to punch something until he broke his hand. Who could he blame? Certainly not his mother because, if anything, she’d been an advocate for Jake. His mother never said a bad word about anyone, not even the sperm donor. Never. Ever.
    He liked Jake St. Cloud and was pretty sure Jake liked him. And now he was going to have to wait a whole year either to have a relationship with his brother or not. Maybe relationship was the wrong word. He tried the word bonding in regard to his brother. That didn’t seem to quite fit, either. A brotherly something-or-other ? No, that didn’t work. He wondered what he would have done or felt if Jake hadn’t stood tall and manned up in court. He would have lost respect for him, that was a given. Yet he’d been prepared to give it his all and try to get him off. What the hell does that say about me ? The best spin he could put on it was that it was something one brother would do for another brother.
    Son of a bitch! I was having a pretty good life until Jake intruded on it. Now, everything is turned upside down. Why in the damn hell am I suddenly feeling guilty?
    Guilty! It made no sense. What did he have to feel guilty about? Absolutely nothing. Well, maybe over the years, when things were a little rough, he’d been a tad jealous of Jake. Just a tad, and the feeling never lasted more than a few minutes. When those feelings would surface, he’d always talk things over with his mother and his pastor, then he’d get back on track. Until the next time they wormed their way into his head.
    He had a good life, a life he wouldn’t trade for anything in the whole wide world. Unlike his half brother, who seemed to be searching for what Alex had. How could that be? Jake had everything. Money blowing out his ears and all the women he wanted, if he could believe what he had read in the gossip columns. Jake had a car that most guys would cut off their right arm for. He grinned when he remembered the condition of the Porsche when he’d had it towed away. Jake was an engineer with two degrees, smart as they come. He knew the oil business inside and out. He was in demand as a consultant to the big oil companies and could name his price for those consultations. He’d made his way in the world, marched to the beat of his own drum. How could he fault someone like that? As far as he was concerned, Jake had it all. Until yesterday. And even then, if he was to believe Jake, and he did, his half brother had just found out about Alex and his mother and, within the hour, was on their doorstep wanting to help them. He couldn’t help but wonder, if he had been in Jake’s shoes would he have done the same thing? He gave himself a mental slap to the side of his head when the answer came up probably not .
    Alex peered into his cup. Empty. He should go to the office, but that was the last place he wanted to go. He felt as though he should be doing something. What that something was he had no clue. His mother always said when you don’t know what to do, do nothing until you come up with the answer. Either you’re part of the problem, or you’re part of the solution. Alex shrugged and walked back inside and ordered another latte. He was back at his seat under the umbrella, taking his first sip, when he looked up to see Estes and Elroy Symon standing in front of him. Stunned, he stood, held out his hand, and motioned for the two to take a seat. He offered to get them coffee, but they politely declined.
    “Do you have a few minutes, Mr. Rosario?” Elroy asked, or maybe it was Estes.
    “All the time in the world. I was just sitting here trying to decide what to do about