Placing my phone on speaker, I started mixing the ingredients.I’d made this recipe so many times that I could do it blindfolded with my hands tied.
Mama picked up after the third ring, sounding flustered.“Hi, honey, give me a second.I’ve got to put a roast in the oven.Here, talk to your brother.”
There was a rustling on the other end of the line, and I wondered which of my three brothers I’d be talking to.I hoped it was my baby brother, Theo.
My two older brothers, Tom and Tyler, were … fine, I guess.But they’d gone all serious as they’d gotten older, their silly competitive nature driving them to constantly one-up each other.Thomas had gotten into real estate (“growing his portfolio” by flipping houses), and so Tyler went and made partner at a law firm.Total pissing contest.Whatever.At least they seemed to enjoy what they did.Although, I felt for Thomas’ wife.Story was, even on their wedding day, he’d interrupted the photoshoot so he could take a business call.I had been lucky enough to catch the tail end of mama chewing him out (fuck reality tv, that was the most entertaining thing I’d ever witnessed).
Anyway, we got along just fine.They’d been as supportive as they knew how to be when I came out, but we were just never that close.Theo, on the other hand.Well, he’d been my first real friend.
“Hey, what are you making?”Theo asked, and I looked over to see that he’d changed it to a video call.Smiling, I leaned my phone against the splash back so he could see me better.
“Mimi’s choc chip cookies,” I said, referring to our grandmother’s treasured recipe.
He looked jealous.“With the brown butter?”
“Is that even a question?”I spooned out the mixture onto a baking sheet before stuffing it in the preheated oven.“I needed a pick-me-up.”
“Everything ok?How’s the bar?”
“Fine.Got an issue with the new owner,” I refused to call Sam my boss.“But I’m figuring it out.”
“You always do.”
“How’s the ICU?”Theo worked as an RN.
“The same.”He sounded tired.He always sounded tired.
“Are you getting enough sleep?”
He scoffed.“You sound like mom.”Which meant no, he absolutely wasn’t.
“That’s not an insult, loser.”
“Mom!Tiff just called me a fucking loser.”
“Language!”Mama called out.
I gave him the finger while he laughed.Little shit.I loved him.
“Sure you’re ok?”he asked, growing serious.“How’s Hannah?”
No one in my family had met Hannah yet, but I’d sent Theo a photo of the two of us together a few months ago when he’d been pestering me about finally getting a girlfriend.
“It’s …” As quickly as I’d prepared a lie, I realized I wanted to tell the truth.This week had really taken its toll on me.“Rough.We just had a fight, and I’m not sure where we go from here.”
“Shit, sorry, Tiff.Want to talk about it?”
“Not right now.Maybe if you get some free time soon, you could drop by the bar?I know your hours are awful.”
“I’ll make time.But, yeah, work is wild right now, so I can’t promise it’ll be soon.”
“That’s ok.It’ll just be good to see you.”
So, yeah.I loved Theo.He was the closest of my brothers to me in age (only ten months apart, go mama) and temperament.He was my baby brother.I would burn buildings down for that dork.But growing up, he’d been invited into the “boys club” while I’d been told to stay with mama and do what good girls should.
It really hadn’t taken very long for me to stop giving a single shit what people said I “should” do.
Of course, I quickly learned a secret.Time with mama and my Mimi was by far more entertaining than anything my brothers got up to.I had, up to that point, known that my mama came from a long line of strong Southern women, but damn.
