“Officially or accidentally?”
“There are options?” Confused, l stared at Brecken and waited for him to explain.
“Sure, the first time I saw her dad, I was in the middle of climbing out of her bedroom window at four a.m., which didn’t encourage friendly conversation.”
Gaping at my idiot brother, I couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled out. “Only you, Breck, only you. And officially?”
“I don’t know for sure, but it was about two weeks in I reckon. Her old man still hates my guts, but I don’t give a toss, as long as Tash loves me, that is all that matters to me.”
Sometimes, only sometimes, my brother surprised me with his sweetness. His girl Tash, my whole family liked her a lot. She was young, just nineteen, but she had a good head on her shoulders going to uni and, of course, putting up with Brecken, a girl had to have some courage and tenacity about her.
“How long have you been with Tash now?”
“Six months. The girl deserves a medal if you ask me.”
“Oh, don’t worry,” I laughed. “We all think that too, trust me.”
Breck slapped me on the arm, but I barely felt it. One thing about the Tessler men, they never hit women in play or anger. My sister and I, as kids, tried to rip each other’s hair out when going to battle, but Breck would just sit still and let us have at him. He endured girlie punches, nail scratches and high-pitched screams. Not once did he fight back because he loved us, and Dad would have had his balls on a platter if he did.
“So why all the questions, doesn’t Luca’s mother like you?
“I don’t know I haven’t met her,” I admitted quietly.
“Fucking what!” Breck shouted loudly. “Why the hell not?”
“I guess you would have to ask Luca that, but I guess what I want to know is this normal or totally bizarre.”
“It’s fucked up is what it is, sissy. I mean, Luca is at our place all the time. Lennie likes him enough to take him in Charlene and Trish fawns all over him like he is Thor. Even though Tash’s dad wants my dick on a stake, he talks to me when I am there because I am important to his daughter.”
I was in the twilight zone, officially. A universe that existed where Brecken was making sense and sounding … adult.
“I am important to Luca, and I know that, I just don’t know why I’m still waiting to meet his family,” I defensively replied, because I wasn’t all that sure about it now. If Brecken thought it was suss that Luca hadn’t yet to shown me off, then it had to be true, right? Could he be ashamed of me, so much that he couldn’t bring himself to introduce us? Was I just a fling, something to pass the time until he found someone more acceptable? The questions were no sooner thought of than rejected by my heart immediately. No way was Luca feigning his reaction to me, and no way did he not feel our connection as deeply as I did. I refused to believe that our nights together were faked, the passion not real. We spent so much time together outside of the bedroom, too, going on day trips, strolling hand in hand around second-hand markets. He even took me down to Warrnambool to show me his bridge project. We stayed in a B&B that weekend, two days of swimming, sightseeing and making love. If I was just a good time to him and nothing more, his acting game was superb.
“You know, Meadow, did you ever stop to think that it’s his family he is keeping from you and not the other way around?” Breck surmised, his question piquing my interest.
“What?”
“Yeah, I mean Luca isn’t acting when he looks at you with gooey eyes, and have you noticed he doesn’t stop touching you despite the dagger glares Lennie throws him. Not all men pretend sissy, Luca is the real deal, so maybe he hasn’t introduced you because his family is more whacked than ours.” Brecken tapped the end of his nose with his finger and winked at me. What he was saying made perfect sense, and the few times I came into contact with Kayla, I got the impression she thought herself too good for me. I also got a vibe that she resented my very presence in her brother’s life. Could Brecken be right? Again!
Shaking my head, I let out a frustrated sigh, “I don’t know, Breck, maybe you are right. Maybe I’m just being a girlie girl and thinking the worst when there isn’t anything there.” Turning to look back to the road ahead, I ignored Brecken’s roar of laughter and watched the scenery in front of me.
“Ya think? Between you and Spring overthinking your men and their imaginary intentions, Trish and her desire in suddenly wanting to get her boobs done, I thank the Lord that Tash is normal because I don’t think I can handle four crazy—”
“Brecken, watch out!” My scream coincided with four huge kangaroos leaping their way across the road. I saw them in my peripheral jumping through the trees off to the side, never thinking for a second all four of them would try to pass over.
“Fuck me!” Wrenching on the wheel, Brecken swerved the truck over to the other lane, the brakes squealing at a horrible high pitch as Brecken did everything in his power to bring the heavy vehicle to a stop.
“Hold on, sissy!” Brecken shouted as he yanked on the steering wheel, narrowly missing the largest of the marsupials as it hopped over the front of the bonnet and away from the truck. “Brace!” Breck roared before a huge thick-trunked tree filled my vision. Grabbing hold of the door rest with one hand, the other one wrapping around the shoulder strap of my seatbelt, holding it firm just as the truck impacted with the trunk of the tree, the sound of
