With her distracted and disappearing into the living room, a smiling baby improving her mood, Max quietly asks, “You think it was Elizabeth?”
“Yeah.”
“You call her?”
“Hell no!”
My stride increases as Ethan and Eric ask, “Who’s Elizabeth?”
“No one,” Max shrugs.
Hunter leaves the dishes to say hi to Ben with us, and his eyes register Max’s lie. It didn’t slip past Ethan or Eric either.
The five of us guys walk into the living room where our long lost cousin Ben is being greeted in a big way. The guy seems to have disappeared ever since he got married to his second choice. Gabriel married his first. And now they’re all in my living room with the rest of us cousins, plus my parents who tend to let us do the dirty work when it comes to the problems of this generation. They had enough issues during their own.
“What the fuck, Ben?” I grin. “I gotta move to another state in order to see your mug? Get over here!”
He walks into a bear hug and since he’s six-six, the fucker picks me up and makes the room laugh.
“Light as a woman,” Ben calls out to them, setting me down.
I smack his chest. “How’ve you been?”
He glances to Shelby, quietly walking up to be at his side. “Good. We’ve been keeping to ourselves on the farm. Living a life that would bore the rest of you. Just sunsets and chickens.”
Nicholas shouts, “You know we love your farm! Don’t pull that shit with us.”
Murmurs of agreement, some not so murmured.
He takes her hand. “Hey guys, why don’t you let up. I just wanted to come say goodbye to Caden.” Emerald eyes fixate on me as Ben frowns. “Can’t believe you’re moving to a whole other state. It’s going to be like Soph.”
My sisters cry out, “Don’t say that, Ben!”
And Lexi adds a vehement, “You suck,” as Dad puts his arm around her. She burrows into him.
We hardly ever see Sofia Sol because she was raised in South Vacherie, Louisiana. All the rest of us were close by, and are close today because of it. Ben’s only an hour north of Atlanta, not far. Which is what makes his absence-of-late so unacceptable.
Elijah gets a pass pursuing a career in DC, but he flies back and forth because like his father, he plans to represent Georgia. We see him way more than Soph.
If anyone’s becoming as rare a sight as Sofia, it’s Ben. But we don’t want to scare the guy off.
The room is a little tense, and I need to lighten the mood. “The only way I’d be like Soph is if I grew a set as big as this.” I cup my hands far away from my chest. Our family shouts at me with varying reactions, and there’s lots of eye-rolling. On a satisfied grin I reassure everyone, “I will be in contact with you way more than she ever has been. Don’t you worry!” To Ben and Shelby I ask, “Can I get you guys a beer? Hunter’s already ahead of us.”
“Sure, I’ll take one. But uh…Shelby can’t.”
My eyes widen.
The room stills.
For a little too long.
Everyone breaks into congratulations like you’re supposed to do, coming forward to hug the future parents, and ask the normal questions you’ve gotta ask when this kind of news comes along.
But that extended moment of stillness said it all.
CHAPTER 30
C ADEN
C urbside at O’Hare Airport I greet my second cousin, “Look at that hair! Good to see you, man!”
“Caden! Been too long, right? Yeah, I like it longer. Mom loves it. Dad hates it. ” Kian carries one of the two huge black suitcases that I stuffed to the point of busting, and throws it in the trunk of his Volkswagen, hair flying back like a shampoo commercial. If Lexi could see him now. He’s a stud.
I throw in my other suitcase while checking out the contents of his trunk—jumper cables, salt, a shovel and an ice scraper. “It works on you, man. Couldn’t do it in my field. Plus I wouldn’t have the patience for that.”
“Ihate getting my hair cut every month. This way I don’t have to.” We slide inside, seatbelts clasping as Kian pulls away from the scuffed curb while checking traffic. “Fuckers stop wherever they want. Unbelievable.”
“Airports are the worst.”
Expertly navigating our way to a free lane, he leans back in his seat. “I can’t believe how cool this is. You living with me. How was your flight?”
“Shorter than I expected. Never been to this airport. Big fan of the dinosaur.”
He glances over, deep-set chocolate eyes dancing. “The 72-foot-long brachiosaurus? I have a huge urge to climb it.”
Laughing I admit, “I thought of that.”
We merge onto the Kennedy Expressway as Kian holds his hand out. “Here’s the deal with roomie number three, the one you’ll meet tomorrow probably. His name is Oz. Staying at his girlfriend’s tonight. He’s super low key.”
“Nice.”
“He’s a video editor, mostly commercials. You know any editors?”
“Max just shot his first feature. I met his girl. She’s quiet.”
“Exactly. They’re pretty introverted. It takes a certain personality to dissect hours of footage into the perfect minute-long ad for Meyers Soap.”
At the unexpected reminder of Elizabeth, I blink and face forward, leaning my elbow on the arm rest as my jaw tenses. “Right.”
“He smokes pot. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Couldn’t care less,” I smile, but my head is elsewhere. “He’s the one who pays rent, so apparently he’s not giggling on a couch not earning his living.”
“Nah, Oz is too addicted to work. He loves that computer more than he loves pizza.” Meeting my eyes, Kian reminds me, “And with the munchies, you can imagine how much he loves pizza. That guy you’re replacing? He was a friend.”
“He’s not one anymore.”
Watching the road, Kian mutters, “Burned that bridge. Sucks. I mean, I’ll open the door again if he ever gets his act together and reaches out. But you
