Jack
“She has this gorgeous mouth,and I’ll be honest, Uncle Jack, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything I want more in my entire life than to kiss this girl.”
“Then do it. What’s holding you back from asking her out and just going for it? Shit!” I grab at the rock above me. “You’re such a shit. You told me this was going to be an easy, chill hike.”
“First, I never said chill. And are you complaining? For real?”
I laugh and wipe the sweat from my forehead. “I don’t complain, kid. I could run circles around you. I was just expecting something a little less intense. I didn’t eat anything before I left this morning.”
I pull my weight up the wall and meet Benny at the top of the trail. “Wow. This place keeps impressing me. You and your mom picked a helluva town to settle down in.” I look over at my nephew and still see the little kid I taught to ride a bike, but staring back at me is a man.
“I hope she can be happy here.” I grab his shoulder but don’t say anything. I want him to be able to talk to me, so I make space for him to do that. “She wasn’t happy with Dad for a long time, but I just don’t—” He blows out a heavy breath, shaking his head. “I don’t know that a new place is going to make her happy. I mean, she’s taken on this shop and the stress that comes with it. I feel like she jumped into this.”
“Your mom came here for a fresh start. Your dad wasn’t the man she thought he was, and she needed to stop running into him everywhere she went. It wasn’t healthy.”
“I know that, but I don’t think Dad was the only problem.” He pulls a knee up toward his chest, draping his arm over it, and looks out over the horizon. It’s well into the morning, but since it’s fall, the air around us it’s still chilled enough for us to see our breaths.
“How about we hike back down, and I’ll make you some lunch at the coffee shop? We can hang in the back, and you can tell me your game plan for this girl with the beautiful mouth.”
“Uncle Jack?” Benny looks at me, searching for some comfort. “You think Mom will be okay? I’m worried about her.”
My nephew witnessed more than he needed to in that relationship. Instead of walking away a long time ago, Kathryn stayed. It was loyal, and it was a bad call, in my opinion, but it wasn’t my life. She made choices I never agreed with, but always supported. That was who we were to each other. The other’s anchor, but never the navigator.
“I can tell you one thing that I know to be true, and it’s that your mom is capable of so much. I know she’s dealing with a lot, but that’s how life hits her. She’s always dealing with something big. Ever since we were kids, she had something running against her and now, well, now, it's her turn to do things that are going to make her happy.” I nudge him with my shoulder to make sure he’s really hearing me. “She came here for the both of you. You’ve been wanting to be in a place like this for years. Out of the city, with access to things like this. The fact that her dream shop just happened to fall into her lap was the push she needed to finally get out from under the weight of her life back east.”
Benny just nods. He hears me. I stare into his brown eyes that are riddled with wisdom, far beyond his years. His features have slimmed, leaving him with more angles than cheeks, making him look far from the boy he used to be. For a seventeen-year-old kid, he’s mature and much smarter than the lot of us. “I’m happy you're here, Uncle Jack. She needed to see you, spend time with you. Heck, I need to be around you too. Stuff with Mom and Dad has been exhausting. Then Dad just checked out. He hasn’t wanted to hear much from us since the move either. Part of me understands and then part of me is pissed.”
“Don’t do that. You don’t have to be okay with the way your mom or dad reacts to things if you’re not. It's not okay that your dad isn’t still there to listen to you, regardless of what’s going on with your mom. That’s on him. Don’t be so quick to take the blame or forgive it so quickly.”
“How long will you be in town? Any chance you’re going to be here through the holidays?” Benny asks with a twinge of hopefulness in his voice.
“My contract runs for another few weeks, but after that, I hadn’t thought about it. Maybe I will. I don’t have any more jobs until the New Year that I can’t get done remotely from here. I won’t fit in your apartment though, so I’m going to need to find a place.”
“What about just staying at the Riggs’ house a bit longer? Can you just maybe rent the space?”
We start descending the last climb we just made, and I take a minute to think if that might be a real possibility. “It's, well, there are some complications there, so I’m not sure. I’ll figure it out, don’t worry. I can always just rent something else. I think I’d like to stay a bit longer. Make sure you and your mom feel settled, and I would have come back for Christmas anyway, so that’ll just save me on the travel.”
And just like that, I’ll be in Strutt’s Peak for longer than I’d planned. More time with my nephew, I’ll help out my sister, and while they are the reason for my staying a bit longer, I’m immediately thinking about a smart and opinionated brunette who I’ll have more chances to be around.