“You know what annoys me most? She always acts so guarded with women who like her sons, but with me, any old drifter off the streetwilldo.”
“Like Finn, for instance.” He chortled, finding so much more amusement in this thanIdid.
“It might as well have been Mom’s birthday by the way she was carrying on like that. Poor Finn. Howembarrassing.”
“I don’t think he was embarrassed at all. He was having a great time today. The dude climbswalls,Emma.”
“So I’ve heard. What else did you boys dowithhim?”
“Well, I didn’t have all that much time to spend with him, but for the portion I was there, Finn served as our tour guide. He scored Dad a whole buttload of free shit, after which he declared today to be the best day of his birthday weeksofar.”
“Wow, the best? That’s sayingsomething.”
“Anyway, I like him. Finn seems like agoodguy.”
“A good guy I met on the side oftheroad.”
“So what? Everyone has to meet somehow. Imagine the story you could tellyourkids.”
“That will not be happening. It’s one day. That’s all. And then he’llbegone.”
“And Finn is finewiththat?”
“It doesn’t matter what he’s fine with. The decision’s mine. I don’t want to talk about Finn anymore. I want to talk about something way moreinteresting.”
“Is there anything more interesting than the first guy you’ve introduced to the family in likeforever?”
“Please – you’re always the most interesting person in the room. Anyway, I had a nice time with Casey the othernight.”
“Yeah, so I heard,” he said, sinking down into a chair andstretchingout.
That turned my senses on high alert. “Why? What didyouhear?”
“Nothing. She said she had a good time too. Jesus. Why are you always sosuspicious?”
“Maybe because I got the distinct impression the two of you have been having in-depth conversationsaboutme.”
“Huh,really?”
“Stop playing dumb… I don’t appreciate it, okay? Just because you two are stupidly happy doesn’t give you the right to push your agenda on the restofus.”
“My agenda?” He smirked. “I wasn’t aware I had one. Look, Casey and I have conversations. Can I help it if sometimes they include members of my family? Who else am I going to talkabout?”
“You’re a rock star, Jake, surely you have more exciting things to discuss than your older sister who lives with her gender-bendingcat.”
“Not anymore.” He laughed. “Not since you picked a stuntman off the side of the road and he started doing backflips in frontofme.”
“Backflips, too?” I complained. “He has broken ribs,Jesus!”
“Really? Damn. Well, you couldn’t tell. He’s like a goddamn monkey. Never seen anyone who can do that shit. Gotta get him in my next video,nojoke.”
“And I’m sure he’d love it. Anyway, have a good laugh on my behalf, but if you want me to have a close relationship with your wife, then you need to stop psychoanalyzing mewithher.”
“I don’t even know what that means,” he said. “Stop talking like atherapist.”
“Speaking of that… why aren’t you going to yoursanymore?”
My brother’s smile immediately faded, and he turned away. Tightness gripped my stomach. I’d wanted to bring it up in a tactful way, but instead just lobbed it straight in his face like a grenade. Sometimes I could be soinsensitive.
