“Hell, no,” he grumbled after he swallowed a mouthful of coffee. “I have nothing against our cousins, but I have no desire for a family reunion. It’s not like we really knew them as kids. I’ll pass.”
Even as I’d asked that question, I’d already known what Asher’s answer would be.
I worried about Asher sometimes.
We were both distant, unpleasant, and solitary, but Asher took that attitude to a whole new level.
He’d been a workaholic most of his life.
Yeah, I’d always worked hard, too, but occasionally, I did take the time to do things I enjoyed.
Asher…didn’t.
If I didn’t know my brother, I’d probably think that he was an unfeeling robot.
We’d both learned to bury our emotions a long time ago, but Asher did it so well that it was scary.
Asher and I were tight, but I knew there were some things that I didn’t know about our younger years, and that was one thing that my brother hadneverwanted to talk about with me.
I’d asked him many times just how much he’d protected me when we were young. He just gave me his standard answer, telling me that if he had been a better protector, I would never have been abused by our father at all.
That statementalwayspissed me off.
Asher was only two years older than me, and there had been absolutely nothing he could have done to protect me any better than he had.
“Our cousins are decent guys,” I told Asher. “And Aunt Millie has been good to me.”
At one time, I’d been certain that I had nothing in common with my cousins.
Asher and I had finally gotten advanced college degrees, but ours had come through work and sweat when we were younger. We’d taken classes when we were able to, along with our full-time jobs.
My brother and I were blue-collar men who had worked our way into a better life.
We weren’t Ivy League guys like my cousins, nor were we raised with any kind of manners, kindness, or refinement.
It was only recently that I’d started to think a little differently.
I wasn’t so sure we had absolutely nothing in common anymore.
“I’m glad you’re going,” Asher said stoically. “I think you should get to know them. It will be good for you.”
I shot him a questioning look. “But it wouldn’t be good for you?”
He shrugged. “You know how I am.”
Yeah, I did, and it worried me.
My brother needed to learn how to relax once in a while.
“What finally made you decide to accept an invitation to The Mug And Jug with the family?” Asher asked me.
We’d both been invited to nights at The Mug And Jug with our cousins, and we’d always refused.
“The invite didn’t come from the family this time,” I told Asher grudgingly.
It wasn’t like I didn’t want to tell Asher what had changed my mind, but I really didn’t understand what had happened myself.
I was dead set against hanging out in town when I didn’t have to, yet I’d tossed out that dinner invitation to Lauren without really thinking it through.
