I playfully gaped at my parents as if I was offended. “Wow, such heartfelt greetings. Really, guys, you outdid yourselves this time.”
Dad swallowed me up in a hug. “I missed you, kid. How’s your brother?”
“Doing good. He says hi.”
“I called him today, and he totally brushed me off,” Mom complained.
“I can’t imagine why.” I made a face.
“Did he really have a TV appearance today, or was he lying to get me off the phone?”
As far as I knew, Jake didn’t have anything going on, but I wasn’t about to throw my brother under the bus. “Oh, yeah, he did, actually.”
“You’re such a bad liar, Kyle.”
I laughed. I really was. “Honestly, I have no idea what his schedule is. I stopped looking when it no longer directly impacted me.”
“Well, once he gets to Arizona, he won’t be able to evade me,” Mom jested, using her best crazy stalker-lady voice.
“You keep talking like that and I’ll help him hide,” Dad countered.
“Yeah, yeah. Come on, Kyle, let’s get you home. I need to fatten you up before you get on that show.”
“I heard it’s better to go into the competition already starving, so you don’t crash and burn the first day out there.”
“Listen to yourself, Scott. You want to send our son off half-starved onto an unforgiving, deserted island?”
“Well, when you put it that way…” he grinned.
“I think he’s trying to kill me, Mom,” I pouted, sidling up to my protector.
“No, Kyle, I just know you,” Dad said. “And you’re definitely the type of person who would blow his chance at a million dollars for a spoonful of peanut butter.”
* * *
Ispentthe following two weeks meeting with producers and medical staff and getting briefed on the rules. Because I’d been away on tour, I had some catching up to do in order to be ready to go with the rest of the contestants in three weeks. The producers gave me a little leeway, no doubt because of my connection to Jake.
I had first been approached to do the show by a talent scout after one of my brother’s Los Angeles concerts. The guy pretended not to know who I was, saying only that he thought my edgy look would play well with audiences. I wasn’t fooled for a second. Of course he knew. I didn’t stand out in a crowd. Really, there was very little that distinguished me from any other twenty-something guy on the street. Hell, the only interesting thing about me wasn’t me at all... it was Jake.
But dignity had never been high on my list of must-haves. It made no difference to me how I got the gig; it only mattered that I got it. And I jumped at the offer. It’s not like I had much else to do. I mean, technically I was ‘working,’ but it wasn’t like the tour couldn’t go on without me. I was hardly an integral part of the team. The only one who would miss me was Jake… and even he probably wouldn’t miss me all that much.
* * *
“So I gotta know – whosebright idea was it to rent a car and drive to Arizona for the wedding?” I asked, while shoving a piece of bread in my mouth. Mom had been doing an excellent job of fattening me up. I tore into my plate of steak and potatoes as I awaited the answer.
“Yeah, that’s what I want to know too,” my older brother, Keith, pitched in.
“I thought it would be fun,” Mom answered, shrugging.
“You thought it would befun?”
“Yes, Kyle, like old times.”
I gaped at my mother. “Clearly you don’t remember old times.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Um… the motorhome trip?”
