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“So, me and Ziggy were thinking about hitting the road.”
I frowned over at him. “What? Really?”
Honor shrugged. “Not for long. Just a little vacation. Staying in one place too long kinda makes me go stir crazy. I thought we’d go down to the Gulf. Been a long time since I was out there.” He looked over at me. “You got any big plans coming up?”
“You’re looking at ‘em.” I gestured out to the pool, the backyard, and the distant mountains. “My plan is to relax, swim until it gets too cold for it, smoke a few with whoever comes over, and see where life takes me.”
“Go with the flow, eh?”
I nodded. “Go with the flow.”
“You’re a lot like your dad in that respect. Speaking of…” Honor set his bottle down on the concrete, getting out of his chair. His flip-flops slapped loudly against the ground as he walked over to the littles storage shed and threw open the doors.
We’d put all the boxes in there that we hadn’t gotten around to sorting through yet. I was slowly working on getting to it, but my priority was on more important things like living in the moment. Enjoying life. I hadn’t been in the shed in almost a month, so I had no idea what was in there.
The shed doors shut and Honor came back with a big picture frame tucked under his arm. “Me and the others have been working on this a while. Took a lot of messing around with computers and whatnot to get it right. Seemed like every other week, Robert was calling me asking me to find a photo for it.” He sat down, holding the frame in his lap with the back to me. “Anyway, I thought… Well, I thought it’d be something nice for your wall. If you want it, that is.”
He turned the picture around and my throat was suddenly tight. It was a photo of my family. My entire family. Chris, Ollie, Bud, Phoenix, Junior… They were all there. Charlie and Cupid were together with Robert making rabbit ears behind Hopper’s head next to them. But it wasn’t just them. They must’ve scanned a bunch of old photos of Mom and Dad too because they were in there, smiling like they’d been posing for a group photo, standing down in front next to Honor. Ghost was there too, standing next to a picture I recognized as one we’d taken while we were moving. I was flashing a peace sign and had my tongue out, one eye closed. Through the magic of some image editing software, we were all there, together for the first time.
Tears welled in my eyes. I took a deep breath, willing them not to fall. “That’s the best gift anyone’s ever given me,” I said and threw my arms around him. “Thanks, Pop.”
Honor closed one arm around me and patted my back. “You’re welcome…son.”
I took the picture in and hung it in the living room behind the couch, right where it’d be the first thing everyone would see when they came through the front door. Then I stepped back, hands on my hips taking it all in.
Family was a hell of a thing. It wasn’t all sunshine and roses, being part of a family. We argued, and sometimes we made the wrong decisions, but when it counted, everybody was there for each other. All my life, I’d felt alone, even when I was with my friends, living in a prison of my own lies. I’d hidden who I was, afraid the government was coming for me, or that my friends wouldn’t like me if they knew what I really was. I was always so afraid of being the weird one.
It turned out being weird was kind of my superpower.
When I called everyone together last month to tell them the truth about my lineage, they all acted like it was no big deal. We were cracking jokes about it within an hour, laughing off years of hidden truths and unexplained odd behaviors. Then it was pizza, beer, and Mario Kart until four in the morning, just like always.
Because that’s what it meant to be family. They accepted me in all my weirdness. Hell, after they all hooked up with monsters too, I was hardly the odd one out anymore. It just took me a while to see it.
The side door slid open, and Honor poked his head in. “Hey, Chris and Ollie just got here and brought a big ass block of ice to make ice cream. Robert called and said they were on their way with Phoenix and their family. I’m going to get some extra chairs set up. I could use your help.”
“Axel, come swim!” Ghost shouted.
I smiled. “Be right there,” I said and gave the photo one last glance before going out to join my family.
