“You’ll eat out here with us,” she countered before adding, “Please? I’ve barely seen you all week.”
He huffed, muttering something under his breath, but entered the kitchen and grabbed the plates and utensils, with a little more force than necessary.
Brian kept quiet, his expression unreadable but his eyes warm, giving Tess the faintest nod of support.
Dinner was tense from the first bite. Brian tried to make conversation—asking Andy how he did on his final exams, about whether he’d seen the new superhero movie with his friends, and if he had plans for the summer other than work. But Andy answered in clipped one-word replies, his fork scraping the plate with every poke of pasta.
Tess participated in the conversation when she could, gently coaxing Andy to relax and be friendly. She was grateful Brian didn’t seem put off by her brother’s surly disposition—it was clear he was searching for some common ground between them. She just wished Andy wasn’t acting like such a butt-head.
“So,” Brian said after a stretch of silence, as he eyed Andy. “Tess said the contractor’s supposed to start next week on the house, right?”
“Yep.” Andy didn’t look up.
“Good. Shouldn’t be long before you’re back home.”
“Guess so.”
Tess set her fork down with a sigh. “Andy, knock it off. Brian didn’t do anything to deserve your attitude.”
Andy flushed red, his jaw tightening. “I don’t have?—”
“Yes, you do.” Her tone left no room for argument.
Andy pushed his pasta around his plate for a minute or so, sulking more than eating. Brian waited until he’d taken another bite before speaking again.
“You hear about the Rad-Robot Wars event coming up at R.L. Vaughan Center in a few weeks?”
Andy glanced up, his brow furrowed as if he were suspicious of another attempt at conversation. “Of course. It’s been all over social media. I tried to get tickets, but they went on sale during school. Sold out before lunch.”
Brian smiled, reaching for his soda. “Lucky for you, one of my buddies is working security for the event. He handed me four free tickets this morning. I thought maybe you and Tess might want to go.”
Her brother’s head snapped up, eyes wide. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, seriously.”
“Can I bring a friend?” he asked quickly. “Kelle—she’s really into robotics.”
The grin on Brian’s face widened. “Sure. Four tickets, right? That leaves one for me, unless your sister has someone else in mind.”
Tess gave him a stink-eye at the suggestion that there was anyone else she’d rather be with before raising an eyebrow and addressing Andy. “Kelle, huh? Should I assume she’s your girlfriend?”
His face went red immediately, and he shrugged. “She’s just a friend.”
“Uh-huh,” she teased, her smile softening at Brian’s amused expression. For the first time all night, the tension eased out of the room.
By the time they finished dinner, Andy’s sulk had vanished. He even cracked a smile when Brian told him about the time he and his younger brother Sean had taken their uncle’s beat-up Ford out onto the beach at low tide.
They’d been seventeen and fifteen and convinced the old truck could handle anything. It couldn’t. One wrong turn into soft sand, and the rear tires sank fast.By the time they realized the tide was creeping back in, seawater was already swirling around the hubcaps.
“Dan didn’t yell,” Brian said, amusement tugging at his mouth as he wiped his hands on a napkin. “He just called his buddy with a tow truck and said, ‘You boys better hope he takes payment in manual labor.’ We spent the next two weeks cleaning out the guy’s auto shop until it was spotless—not an easy feat, I can tell you that—and repainting his porch. That was on top of working at the hardware store.”
Tess laughed, trying to picture Brian at seventeen, with that same stubborn glint in his eyes, sunburned, sandy, and guilty while his uncle looked on.
Even Andy looked impressed. “So you almost drowned a truck?”
“Almost,” Brian admitted with a grin. “But hey, we learned a few important things that day—never underestimate the ocean, not all truck tires can drive on sand, and don’t borrow your uncle’s keys without asking.”
That earned a genuine laugh from Andy, breaking what was left of his earlier mood.
