“And when will next time be?” she asked, glaring at me. It was almost like she was daring me to not answer her.
“I was thinking we could do this once a month,” I started, but at the face she immediately pulled, I stabbed at a potato and wished I’d stayed silent. “But maybe every other week?”
Mom immediately relaxed. “I’d appreciate that,” she said at last. She glanced back at the living room. “Maybe next time I can get all four of us around the table for a proper family dinner,” she murmured. Then her attention laser-focused on me. “Maybe at some point you can bring home a boyfriend.”
“You’re more apt to get Kyle to bring over a girlfriend than I am to bring home a boyfriend,” I said as I finished up. I stood, picking up my plate. “Are you done?”
“Yes,” she said, handing me her plate. “Thank you.” She spoke louder as I took both our dishes into the kitchen. “Your brother had a girl he was ‘talking to’ recently. But I haven’t heard anything more than that.”
“Who did you hear that from?” Kyle asked. His arm was thrown over the back of the couch and he watched Mom with a worried expression.
“Your father is the only way I can keep tabs on the two of you,” she said with a huff. “How else would I hear anything about you or your sister?”
“And he didn’t tell you anything about Grace seeing people?” he asked, sounding irritated.
I stayed quiet as I cleaned up what I could from dinner. I loaded up what was in the sink into the dishwasher, listening as Mom and Kyle went back and forth about dating. Mom made another demand for grandchildren.
I dragged my feet about cleaning up, striving to keep the attention off me. With dinner over, it would be safe to leave, right? I wiped my hands dry on a dish towel.
I drifted into the dining room, where Mom stood, her hands on her hips, as she glowered at the back of Kyle’s head. “I’ve got a long day tomorrow,” I said carefully, “so I’m gonna go.”
That got Mom’s attention, and she immediately turned to me. “It’s still early! Kyle stays until the game is over,” she protested. “You could do that too.” She gestured over my shoulder. “There are more boxes in your room. I’m sure we could go through it and find something . . . ” She struggled to find a way to keep me entertained.
It was fair. There were bits of me they didn’t get to know. Not after sending me away to school. I tried to be gentle as I gave her a hug and kissed her cheek. “I’ve got a long day that starts early and ends late. So I need to go so I can get to bed.”
Her shoulders slumped, and she leaned into the hug. “You promised me every other week,” she murmured, “not once a month. I will hold you to that.”
“Yeah,” I said, pulling away.
“How are you going to get home?” she asked. “You don’t have a car. Kyle,” she snapped at my brother, “take your sister home!”
That was how I ended up in my brother’s truck. Silence stretched between us, interrupted only by the radio. The game echoed through the cab, and I was sure if I tried to say anything, he would snap at me. This wasn’t something he’d wanted to do.
But Mom was a pro at laying on guilt.
He nudged my shoulder and dropped his phone onto the center console. He didn’t say a word. He just kept driving like he hadn’t touched me.
Curious, I looked at his phone. There was a text thread between Shay and him. I reached over to see that the conversation wasn’t sexual, even though Kyle had laid on heavy flirting. There were several messages that were just Shay checking on him, inquiring about his well-being and mood.
“Is it real?” he asked.
“What?” I looked up at him.
“You fucked my friends,” he pointed out, sparing me only a glance. “I fucked your friend. I know that had to be part of it.” He nodded toward his phone. “Is this just another nail in my coffin? Is she gonna bring Darius in on it?”
I shook my head as I eyed the chat thread. “She felt bad,” I admitted to him, “and she worried about you. That’s probably what this is.”
“You should feel bad,” he muttered as he pulled into the parking lot of my apartment complex. “It was shitty.”
“Sure,” I said, not holding back the sarcasm. “Let’s not pretend that you haven’t fucked over any of them on any other occasion.” I opened the truck door so I would have an easy escape. “I mean, you fucked Shay without even thinking about how pissed Darius would be.”
“And that’s why you haven’t told him,” Kyle pointed out. “Because you know how pissed he would be. So, you’re waiting to tell him at the first opportunity that benefits you—”
“The same reason you’re waiting to tell Dad?”
“Or,” he continued as if I hadn’t interrupted him, “you know you’re wrong.” He gave a slight smirk in my direction. “You can call me an asshole all you want, but really, you’re the dick in this situation.” He pointed at his phone. “She’s having the same thoughts. And while I won’t turn down a pity fuck, I don’t need to be babied.”
“I accept full responsibility for what I did,” I mumbled. “I never said I wasn’t the asshole.” I got out of his truck, but kept talking. “Was Shay in on it? Absolutely. Did she do it for the same reasons I did? No.” I eyed him speculatively. “Is she reaching out to check on you as a part of the game? No.”