“My condolences, bro. I know we can’t all be winners.”
“Get outta here, man.” My brother kicks at Nat’s behind and he springs out of the way.
“Are they… always like this?” Renea asks, giving the men a surprised look.
“Believe it or not, they’ve mellowed as they aged.”
Renea looks shell-shocked.
Eventually, we all drift to the table to eat and chat.
When breakfast is over, Nat checks his watch and his eyes bulge. “I’m going to be late for practice.”
He starts gathering all the dirty plates.
“Don’t worry about it. We’ll clean up here,” my brother says.
“Thanks, bro.” Nat extends his fist to Chris who bumps it easily and then he rounds the table to place a kiss on my forehead.
The very audible ‘muah’ elicits a loud ‘boo’ from my brother.
Renea looks away and, when Nat is gone, she rises regally to her feet. “I have some calls to make. I’ll be in the guest room.”
“Riles, you want to help me wash?” Chris asks, pointing to our dishes.
“Oh, I see how it is. You offered to help, but you planned on giving me all the work.”
Chris sticks out his tongue. “You’re on to me.”
“I’ll rinse. You’ve got scrubbing duty.”
My brother laughs and I join him at the sink.
“Did you take the morning off?” Chris asks me.
I check my watch. “I asked Jimmy to open up for me. Speaking of, let me send him a message.”
To my surprise, Jimmy answers immediately.
Jimmy: Shop is open and Blade is here too. We got everything under control, Boss.
I smile. Sure, the mechanics still have a problem with arriving late to work, taking long smoke breaks and going over the one-hour allotted time for lunch. But they do have their moments of dependability.
Chris hands me a sudsy plate. “So… you and Nat, huh?”
“He’s great.”
“Yeah, he seems happy.” Chris hands me another plate. “Are you?”
“Incredibly.” I can’t help the smile that crosses my face. “I really like Nat.”
“It’s been a while, right?”
My body kicks into flight or fight mode. How do I answer that question?
“I remember that journal we found back then was yours,” Chris says.
The plate almost slips out of my hand and crashes into the sink.
