The hour drive flew by as I listened to music and podcasts, and when I pulled up to my mom’s house, there was her car and one I didn’t recognize.
I parked behind her Honda and knocked on the door before pushing it open. “Mom?” I called as I walked inside.
“In here!” Mom’s voice sounded from the living room.
“Whose car is—” I started to ask, but that question was quickly answered when I saw my brother sitting next to her. He must’ve come here straight from work, because he was still in his slacks and button-up with his hair neatly styled. “You got a new car?” I asked my brother.
He looked up from the photos that were spread out on the coffee table. “Yeah,” he said simply. “Figured it was time for an upgrade.”
I nodded, trying to ignore the way my chest tightened when I saw him. It was the first time I’d seen him since things between Eliza and me changed. As much as I believed Colin didn’tdeserve her, they’d still spent a year together, and he’d cared about her.
I cleared my throat. “I didn’t know you’d be here tonight,” I admitted.
Colin scoffed. “Good to see you, too, brother.”
“That’s not what?—”
“Okay, boys,” Mom sighed. “Maybe one dinner without an argument, all right? Or at least save the argument until after we eat. I don’t think that’s too much to ask.”
We both mumbled a version of, “It’s not, Mom.”
Colin let out a sigh. “I have a meeting not too far from here tomorrow and thought it’d be nice to see Mom and help out.”
“Which worked out perfectly having you two here, because I have a couple of boxes of things for each of you,” Mom said as she stood.
It wasn’t a problem that Colin was here, and I knew I shouldn’t have been surprised to see him…but I was, especially since I wasn’t prepared on what to say if he brought up Eliza. I hadn’t asked her if she’d returned his call, and she hadn’t said anything.
“I also ordered pizza, so don’t worry about cooking tonight, Leo. I’m going to get cash to pay the delivery driver,” she added, walking to the kitchen and leaving Colin and me in the living room.
I glanced down at the photos on the coffee table, most of which appeared to be from when Colin and I were kids. I picked up a photo where Colin was likely around six and I was fourteen. We were sitting on the same side of a red, weathered booth with two giant sundaes in front of us and grins on our faces.
“What’s this from?”
I turned my head to the side, realizing Colin had stood from the couch and was now next to me. “Do you remember the ice cream parlor that used to be downtown?”
Colin shook his head. I wasn’t surprised he didn’t remember since the place closed not too long after this photo had been taken.
“You had a baseball game and Mom was dealing with some divorce stuff, so she dropped us off at your game and gave me some cash in case we needed something. Things took longer for her than she realized, so after the game, we walked over to the ice cream shop. When she met us there, we’d already ordered two giant ice cream sundaes, and there was no stopping us. Pretty sure we would’ve spent all our money there had she not shown up.” I chuckled at the memory, setting the photo back down.
“You stayed for the game? You didn’t just…leave?” Colin asked.
I shook my head. Maybe the thought had crossed my mind, but I couldn’t remember. All I knew was that I’d stayed and cheered for my brother. Maybe got a hot dog or popcorn while I was there, too. “I’d never leave you like that.”
I looked over at my brother, his eyes focused on the photo and his jaw clenched. “Everything okay?” I asked.
“Yeah.” He stepped to the side, clearing his throat. “Everything’s fine. I’m, uh, gonna see if Mom needs anything.”
I watched as he walked away, his back tense. We’d never been particularly open about what was going on in our lives, but I knew my brother well enough to recognize that there wassomethingon his mind. But that didn’t mean much considering I also knew there was no way he was going to tell me what it was.
While Colin and I weren’t exactly talking nonstop, the tension from when I first got to Mom’s house had disappeared.Mom walked us through the repairs that had been completed or were in progress thanks to Jules’s recommendations on local contractors.
Now, we were back in the living room. The photos had been put away and were replaced with two boxes of pizza—one sausage and one pepperoni.
“Did you want another slice?” Mom asked, tipping her head toward the pizza.
“No, I’m good. I ended up eating a little before making the drive up.” I kept my answer simple on purpose. So far, Eliza’s name hadn’t been brought up tonight, and I hoped it stayed that way. While I didn’t think word would get back to Colin, that was another benefit of Eliza and me keeping things quiet on our casual arrangement. Even though we weren’t technically doing anything wrong, and I wasn’t sure if my brother would even care, it felt safer for him not to know. Less questions that way—from both him and my mom.
“And how’s Eliza doing? I considered reaching out and congratulating her on the yoga studio, but I didn’t want to overstep,” Mom asked, and although she’d been looking at me, it was my brother who answered.
