“Hey, man,” Will says with a smile that lights me to my core, while simultaneously tearing me apart inside. How had I let so much time pass by since last visiting him? Determined to look forward and live my life to its fullest, I embrace my brother, and he crushes me in his arms in the best way possible.
“Good to see you,” I say, pulling away.
“Colt, meet my girlfriend, Lexi.” Will moves to put an arm around his girlfriend, but she isn’t there. Instead, the girl with beautiful ebony skin and long blonde-and-black braids stares wide-eyed at the Rembrandt that hangs in the living room, just above the grand piano.
“Lexi? You okay?” Will asks.
Lexi blinks the trance from her eyes and turns away from the painting and toward us.
“Is that … Is that real?” Lexi asks, walking over to us and pointing to the centuries-old painting.
“Uh, yeah,” Will says.
She punches Will in the arm. “You didn’t tell me you grew up in a museum, you jerk.” She suddenly looks down at her jeans and oversized hoodie. “You could have warned a girl to dress a little nicer.”
Will laughs. “I like you just the way you are.”
Lexi tugs at her sweatshirt, looking self-conscious in her surroundings, but Will just smiles at her as if she’s the sun itself, and I instantly crave Missy. Missy must know my thoughts because she comes to stand next to me, lacing her fingers with mine. I give her hand a squeeze.
“Nice to meet you, Lexi,” I say to Will’s girlfriend. “I’m Colton, and this is Missy.”
Missy lets go of my hand to give Lexi one of her signature hugs, and it melts the self-conscious look right off Lexi’s face. And just like that, Missy and Lexi dive into a conversation as if they’ve been best friends since birth.
“Hey, Colt,” Will says.
Reluctant to look away, I tug my eyes away from Missy and toward my brother. “What’s up?”
“You have a little somethin’ somethin’ on your—” He circles a finger around his lips, and I wipe my hand over my mouth, smearing lip gloss across my skin.
“What, you don’t like Berry Red on me?” I say.
“I’m just wondering who wore it first, you or Missy?” Will smirks.
“I’ll never tell.” I smirk back.
“You dog.” Will backhands my arm. “Good to know my future sis has good taste.”
“In men?”
“No, you idiot. In lip gloss.”
I chuckle. Oh, how I’ve missed him.
For the next half hour, Missy, Lexi, Will, and I, and eventually Mom, eat an uncanny amount of brie cheese with raspberry jelly and crackers, filling our stomachs while enjoying easy banter in the kitchen before adjourning to the living room with steaming mugs of hot chocolate.
Missy and I sit on a cream-colored couch that mirrors the one Lexi and Will nestle into, while Mom sits in one of the two armchairs next to us. Soon after, Dad joins, filling in the chair next to Mom’s. My body instantly tenses when I see him, and if I’m reading my brother’s rigid posture correctly, Will likely feels the same way. While my family’s made huge strides just by being in the same room together, it’s still going to take time to not feel the imagined weight of expectation every time Dad looks at me.
Fortunately, Mom fills in the uncomfortable silence by asking Missy about her mom, who moved to Pine Lakes last August and is currently working as the receptionist for Something to Glow About. It’s been moving to see how far their relationship has come over this past year and a half. They are two peas in a pod; that is, unless Maria comes into town. Then they are three peas in a pod. To both Missy’s and my delight, Bill and Maria frequently make trips out to Pine Lakes to see us.
And since Maria, Missy, and her mom are nearly inseparable, Bill and I have formed our own little club of sorts. Ever since returning home fromSunsets and Sabotage, Bill and I have spent hours reliving our island glory days at Pine Lakes Paintball Club. We’re even planning on participating in a two-on-two paintball competition in Dallas come next spring.
“How’s your job going?” Will asks me when the silence begins encroaching once more.
I glance at Dad, just as his eyes flick over to me. I can almost feel my foot stepping on an eggshell, but I choose to ignore it. If Dad and I are going to progress in our relationship, I need to be open and truthful about everything happening in my life.
Instinctively, I hold Missy’s hand, my fingers fiddling with her engagement ring. She tucks into me, likely knowing my fiddling for the nervous habit that it is. “Work is going well. I actually just got promoted to a mid-level associate a few weeks ago.”
“Whoa, Colton. Congrats.” Will leans over the coffee table full of hot cocoa mugs for a fist bump, and I meet his knuckles with mine.
