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"Let's just say that if I had a choice on how to spend an afternoon, it wouldn't include my half brothers."
She turned sideways, curling her legs next to her on the swing. "It'll make your grandparents happy, though."
"I know."
"Your other brothers also have no contact with them? Just trying to gauge how awkward it’ll be."
"As far as I know, Colton doesn’t have a relationship with them, but our younger brothers do."
"How come?" she asked.
"Long story."
"But I want to hear it."
"You do?" That was surprising. I never typically spoke about our family drama, because really, who’d want to hear about all the dysfunction?
"Yeah," Natalie replied.
"My mom tried to shield my younger brothers from the gory details of her depression and illness. My grandparents tried really hard to integrate the other Whitleys into the family. My brothers were simply excited that they had three additional siblings overnight."
"How about their mother?"
"She was played by my dad too. That I wholly believe."
"She won't be at the party, right? I don't remember Jeannie telling me anything about her."
I shook my head. "No, she stays away from any sort of family events. I’ve only seen her once."
"I think this is going to be a great opportunity for you to catch up with your half siblings. Every time Jeannie talks about all of you, her face lights up. It means a lot to her to have everyone in the same place."
"I know." In all honesty, I wasn't dreading seeing my other brothers as much as usual. I had a suspicion that it was all because of Natalie. She was right. This wasn’t about me or my half brothers. It was about making Grandmother happy.
“Do they live in Boston too?”
“Yes. My grandparents encouraged them to move here.”
I heard her stomach growl, and it made me grin.
She smiled sheepishly. "I guess that's my body's way of saying I do need food after all."
I stood up, though apparently too abruptly, because the swing moved, and Natalie almost fell out of it. She put one leg down to steady herself as I caught her by the arm, and she straightened up.
"Whew. Okay, that was close." Her stomach growled even louder. "Damn. When it wants food, there's no missing it."
"Come on, beautiful girl. Let's feed you."
As we ate, I started thinking about her job search again. I wasn't going to bring it up, because I agreed with her. I wanted to enjoy this, what we had right now, but that didn't mean I could stop my brain from mulling over the issue, searching for solutions. I wanted to keep her here, and Whitley Industries was active in many branches; I had no doubt that we could find a place for Natalie at one of the companies.
If she accepted it was another story altogether.
But one thing was for sure: I wasn't going to do nothing.
