I needed to redo the office but that would come later. For now, I needed to finish my projects and then I would work on my master plan to win over Melanie.
And not just her, no.
Now I was in the race for two hearts.
And I wanted them both to love me and much as I knew I could love them.
Two
“I don’t thinkI’ve ever seen him like this before.” I could hear mom’s not so quiet whispers to dad from the other side of the house. I knew what she was referring to though. I was always the outspoken son, while Greg tended to sit back on the side lines.
Now my twin brother was trying to turn the tables on me by telling mom I was interested in someone. The questions started the second I walked in the door but I shut them all down with silence and head shakes. I wasn’t going to give into Greg’s tactics, even though I should have been applauding them since it would have been exactly what I would have done.
“He normally tells me what’s going on in his life.” Again. Mom wasn’t wrong.
I was a pure momma’s boy and she knew it. She could get anything she wanted out of me but with Melanie, I wanted to hold her close to my heart just a little longer before I let Mom get ahold of that information. Especially when I didn’t even know what kind of information it was going to be.
For all I knew, I could tell her about Melanie and then nothing would happen. Those were the questions I was terrified most of.Why didn’t it work out? Did she not like you? Were you nice enough to her?I could hear her now and I knew I wanted all of those questions to stay locked away. So, instead I played annoyed and now it was hurting my mom.
“Leave the boy alone, Margaret,” Dad finally spoke after almost a half hour of Mom ranting while finishing putting away the dishes.
“You know, hiding things from mom isn’t always the best way to go.” Greg flung himself onto the love seat across from me in the living room. His wife, Lilly pushed his legs off, making room for herself.
“He’s got a point you know,” Lilly chimed in. She’d married Greg a few years ago after too many years of them not admitting their love for each other. Now they were in a blissful happily ever after that would make anyone gag and had an adorable son. “She’ll find out sooner or later.”
“And if it’s from either of you,” I shot them both my best death glare, “I’ll know.”
Lilly’s eyes went wide but Greg just yawned and waved his hand in the air like it wasn’t a big deal.
“Idle threats. That’s what you give.”
“You won’t be calling it idle when I have you in a head lock in the back yard.” Greg and I might have been twins but we were both built completely different. Where Greg was lanky, I was built like a wall. It wasn’t always like that growing up though but once we hit our senior year of high school, my muscles started developing more as I hit the gym and before I knew it, I could pin my brother to the ground in under five seconds.
“Stop threatening your brother!”
Mom and dad walked into the room with pie in hand. It was tradition for us to play board games while eating desert after our weekly family dinner on Wednesdays. These dinners were perfect for family bonding time and also a stress reliever when we broke out the Monopoly board.
I stuck my tongue out at Greg, acting more like a five your old in that moment rather than the thirty-three-year-old I was. Greg reciprocated and Lilly smacked his chest.
“Boys,” my dad scolded.
“Sorry,” we said in unison and as much as I would have loved to call a jinx on my brother, I wasn’t in the mood. I wasn’t really up for much that involved talking but when I looked up to see Mom staring at me, I knew the questions were about to start up again.
“Who is she?” It was the same first question she asked right before I got my first bite of dinner tonight.
“Mom, why don’t we leave him be tonight?” Greg tried to back pedal from what he started earlier but with the look our mom just shot him, it wasn’t a good idea. He held his plate of pie close to his face and started shoving it into his mouth. He gave me a side look of how sorry he was but I knew he was about to enjoy the reaming I was about to get.
“I don’t want to talk about it, Ma.”
“And why not?” She placed my piece of pie in front of me while dad started to set up the board game. “You used to love talking to me about things.”
“Margaret, drop it.”
“Don’t tell me to drop it, David!” She snapped and the whole room got quiet. We were all staring at her but her eyes were only focused on me.
Shit.
I was going to have to tell her what was going on but maybe not all of it. Maybe if I just said the name, she’d let it go.
