by Cari Z
Aaron almost choked on a laugh. “Yeah, they’re her thing. She dresses them up differently for different holidays. At Christmastime they’re all Santa’s elves, and for St. Patrick’s Day they get green hats and tiny pots of gold.”
“You’re fuckin’ kidding me.”
“I wish I was.” Aaron had only spent one holiday with Chrissy and her family, but one had been enough. “We had to put little cardboard hearts and white wings on them for Valentine’s Day, so they could all be cupids.”
“That’s… different.”
“That’s Chrissy.” Or no, there was Chrissy, opening the screen door and standing on the porch, her hands cocked on her hips. At least she was smiling, Aaron thought to himself as he got out of the car. That was better than a frown from Chrissy any day.
“There he is!” she announced—to herself, apparently—and trooped down the sidewalk to meet them. The doggie door burst open and a little terrier joined her, bouncing around her feet like a hyperactive ball of twine. Aaron winced. It can’t be the same one, he comforted himself. He’s long gone. He’s got to be.
“Aaron, look at you!” Chrissy opened her arms wide, which was apparently his cue to step into her hug. He went, inhaling the vaguely familiar scents of cigarette smoke and hair spray from the salon she owned.
“Hi,” he said, then inwardly cursed himself. Hi? That was the best he could do?
“My God, it’s so good to see you again!” Apparently Hi was enough for Chrissy. She pulled back and gripped his shoulders for a moment, looking at him way more closely than he was used to being looked at. “You got tall, didn’t you? And these glasses, mmm, stylish. What are you going to do about your hair, though?”
“My hair?”
“Yes,” Chrissy said impatiently. “This mop on your head.” One of her hands started to reach up, and Aaron backed out of reach before she could ruffle his hair. He remembered her doing that, one of a hundred unexpected and unwelcome gestures. At least he was too old to yell at now.
Chrissy dropped her hands and a little of her smile. “You should let me cut it before the wedding,” she said. “I’m doing all the girls’ hair Saturday morning, but I can fit you in any time before then. We want you looking your best for Zach, don’t we?”
Right. For Zach. Aaron cleared his throat. “Yeah. Of course.”
“Who’s your guest?” Chrissy eyed Tyler appreciatively as he came around the car. “Talk about tall, good grief! You could give Owen a run for his money!” One of the groomsmen, Aaron’s mind helpfully supplied.
There was a pause as they both looked at him. Oh right, introduction. “This is Tyler Howards.”
“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” Tyler said, laying the drawl on thick. Chrissy was predictably charmed.
“Oh, how nice! I’m so glad you could come together; it’s always hard to coordinate getting time off. Or at least it was when Ron and I ever thought about vacations.” The dog barked and bounced and barked and bounced. Aaron hoped it would get tired soon or have an aneurysm, whichever came first. “Look how happy Norman is to see you! You remember Bailey, right? This is his grandson. Granddog. Whatever.”
“Yeah, I remember Bailey.” Aaron still had the scar on his ankle from where the Jack Russell terrier had clamped down when he was a kid.
“I buried him in the backyard.” Chrissy rolled her eyes. “Between the dogs, the gerbils, and Zach’s unfortunate incident with the bearded dragon, that place is a regular pet cemetery.”
“Bearded dragon?”
“Or was it a skink?” Chrissy frowned. “Might have been a skink. Anyway, there was a heating lamp malfunction and the little thing didn’t make it. Zach cried his eyes out, he was so upset. I got him Barbie to make up for it. She died last year.”
“Barbie?” Despite himself, all Aaron could manage were one-word responses right now.
“Norman’s momma, that’s Bailey’s daughter. She was a good dog,” Chrissy said fondly. “Well, we should get inside! Can I help you carry anything?”
“No, ma’am.” Tyler stepped in smoothly. “We’ve got it. Just show us where to stow it.”
“Sure.” She headed back for the front door, and Tyler plucked at Aaron’s sleeve.
“C’mon, let’s grab our stuff.”
“Yeah.” Jesus, why was he suddenly so fuzzy-headed? “Sorry,” Aaron added.
“Man, don’t be sorry. I’m still freakin’ out about the gnomes, much less having to wonder about everything that’s changed since I was here last.” Tyler handed Aaron his duffel and the zipped suit bag. “Don’t open that until the day of the wedding,” he advised. “Otherwise it’s gonna stink like smoke in no time.”
“I know.” That was one thing he could remember, the pervasive smell of cigarettes in Chrissy’s house. Apparently time hadn’t dulled her habit at all. “Let’s go see where she’s putting us.”
Chrissy was waiting for them at the base of the stairs. “One bag apiece? That’s it? You pack light, boys.”
“It’s only through the weekend,” Aaron pointed out. Chrissy smiled, but it didn’t look like a very happy smile.
“True. Well.” She started climbing the stairs, slowly, like her knees were hurting her. “Let me show you where you’ll be sleeping.” The top floor consisted of three bedrooms and two bathrooms, one of which was attached to the master. “This one’s me,” she said, pointing at the first door on the right. “Zach and Becky are across the hall—they’re living here until her program starts. Becky was ready to get out of that farmhouse in the middle of nowhere, and it’s closer to work for Zach. You’ll all have to share a bathroom, but I’ve got you in Reggie’s room while you’re here.” She opened the door at the end of the hall. Inside was a queen-size bed, a closet, a chest of drawers, and walls completely covered with baseball paraphernalia. Even the comforter had the Royals logo on it.
Aaron had never considered blue to be an eye-searing color before. “Reggie’s not coming back for the wedding?” he asked. “Because I don’t want to take his room. We can go to a hotel—”
“Oh no, he won’t be here,” Chrissy said a little sadly. “He’s still overseas, couldn’t get the time off for the wedding. Zach and Becky are going to go visit him next year, though, kind of like a honeymoon. And Lawrence and his wife have their own place here in town, but Kim’s mother is in the hospital in Wichita, so they’re not sure they’ll be able to make it either.”
“Ah.” So the only member of Zach’s adopted family who was actually going to be at his wedding was Chrissy. That was kind of sad. Aaron felt a little better about being there all of a sudden. He might not have grown up with Zach, but at least he could hit one of life’s milestones with him.
“You boys get settled in,” she advised. “Zach’s bringing Chinese back with him when he gets off work in about an hour, and Becky should be rolling in about that time too. I’m going to take Norman for a walk.”
“Sure. Thanks, Chrissy.”
She smiled absently, then walked away. Tyler closed the door and turned to Aaron with a carefully blank expression.
“Dude… is it just me, or was that kind of weird?”
“Chrissy doesn’t really do normal.” Aaron looked around the room one last time, then put his duffel on the chest of drawers. “Sorry about the sleeping arrangements. I didn’t even think about where we’d be until we got here, but it’s not a very big house.”
“It doesn’t bother me. I can share,” Tyler assured him, grabbing both their suits to hang up in the closet. “You’ll just have to kick me off or something if I roll on you in the night.”
“I think I can handle that.” Aaron stared for another moment at the comforter, then grabbed it and reversed it. “Oh, thank fuck.” The other side was black.
“Where’s your team spirit?”
“Not a team sports kind of person,” Aaron reminded him.
“Baseball’s barely a sport,” Tyler teased. “Seems like your kind of thing.”
“Nah.” Not aft
er his brief stint living here. Chrissy’s sons and husband had lived, slept, and breathed baseball. They were diehard Royals fans, and during baseball season, those games were the only thing to grace the television screen. They’d tried to get Aaron involved in it, but he’d had goals at the time that didn’t mesh with trying to adopt his foster family’s boring habits. Zach had really gotten into it, though. His last birthday before Aaron left, they’d all gone to a Royals game together. Chrissy had bought Zach a hat. Aaron remembered being upset by how much it cost, and being told, “Aw, it’s a present, honey, lighten up! We can afford it!”
So easy, so simple. We can afford it. Like Aaron couldn’t have used that much money to feed the two of them for almost a week. He’d thrown a fit after that. God, he’d hated it there. No wonder he’d been sent back to the group home after two months—he hadn’t even tried to fit in.
“Hey.”
Aaron looked over at Tyler. “Hmm?”
“You okay?”
“Yeah. Yeah, just….” He forced a smile. “Four of us sharing one bathroom. That’s going to suck.”
“Could be worse. We could be sharin’ it with four women instead of just one. We wouldn’t even have space for a toothbrush.”
“You never shared a bathroom with all of your sisters.”
“I did!” Tyler exclaimed. “When we went to the cabin in North Carolina when I was a kid. It’s got two bathrooms, and one of them was for the parents. The other one—man, it was brutal. I started takin’ soap to the lake with me just so I wouldn’t get between Delilah and Marin when it came time to take a shower. I was lucky to survive.”
“Tell me more about the cabin.” Aaron had heard probably all of these stories, but he didn’t want to have to think right then. Dwelling on who was going to arrive home when would drive him up the wall if he let it, so finding a distraction was key, and nobody was as good at being distracting as Tyler.
Aaron flopped back on the bed and let Tyler talk for another forty-five minutes about whatever popped into his head, and it was as close to perfect as he figured life could get.
Then the door banged open downstairs, and an unfamiliar voice called out, “Mom? Is that Aaron’s car out front?”
It had to be Zach.
Tyler stood up and reached a hand out to Aaron. “Ready to face the music?”
“No.”
He rolled his eyes. “Yeah you are. You can’t hide in Reggie’s room for the rest of the night, and besides, I’m getting hungry.”
“You would be.”
“Damn straight. C’mon, tiger, up and at ’em.”
Aaron sighed but let Tyler haul him to his feet. “Any more clichés you want to throw at me before we head downstairs?”
“Uh… chin up, buck up, be a man… hell, I’ve got all sorts of bullshit I could say, but the main thing is: go say hi to your brother.”
“Right.”
“Mom? Is he here?”
Right. Aaron could do this. He walked out the door and stopped at the top of the stairs. He took a deep breath, then called out, “Chrissy took Norman for a walk.”
All sounds of movement downstairs stopped. A second later, a head poked cautiously around the wall at the bottom of the stairs. Aaron found himself looking at the brother he hadn’t seen since Zach was seven, and for a second all he could think was He looks like her. Aaron had always known that they had different dads, but where he had taken after whoever his useless sperm donor was, dark hair and pale eyes, Zach had the same sandy brown hair that their mother did and her big brown eyes. If he’d been a little skinnier, he would have looked like a startled fawn, but he had more muscle than Aaron had expected. Probably the result of his job.
“Hey,” Zach said after a moment. “Um. Sorry, I didn’t think… well, like, I wasn’t thinking very well, obviously, I knew you were going to be here. I just didn’t….”
“It’s fine. We should have announced ourselves sooner.”
Zach came the rest of the way around the wall and stared up at him curiously. “We? Who’d you bring?”
“He brought me!” Tyler appeared at Aaron’s shoulder like a huge, gangly guardian angel, and the tension noticeably dissipated. “Hi, I’m Tyler.” He headed down the stairs, grabbing Aaron’s hand and tugging him along. Aaron went with it—it was better than being stuck in place.
“Oh yeah, hey. I totally recognize you from your profile pic.” Zach held out a hand and they shook. “Nice cat.”
“My pussy is the cutest pussy,” Tyler said. Aaron elbowed him in the ribs, but Zach laughed.
“I’d say that my pussy was the cutest pussy, but then Becky would probably kill me.”
“Someone would have to tell her first.”
“Nah, she’s got a sixth sense or something when it comes to me being an asshole, she’d just know. S’better not to tempt it.” Zach looked at Aaron and made sort of an abortive forward motion, his arms coming up a little. “Hey, um.”
Now it was Tyler’s turn to elbow Aaron. He took it as it was intended and leaned in to give his brother a quick, back-slapping type hug that lasted all of two seconds. Zach was actually a little shorter than him, but probably outweighed him by at least twenty pounds.
“Hi,” Aaron said, deciding to do his part to keep the awkwardness to a minimum. “Sorry we were the first things you had to see when you got home. I didn’t mean to surprise you.”
Zach grinned at him. It wasn’t anything like Tyler’s grin, wide and infectious, but something soft and almost shy. “It’s fine. It’s not like I didn’t know you were going to be arriving today. I just thought… well, anyway, welcome back.”
“Thanks.” Aaron appreciated that he didn’t say “Welcome home.”
“I brought dinner, Chinese from down the street. It’s good, but it’s greasy, so we should eat while it’s hot.” Zach headed into the kitchen and they trailed behind him, following suit as he took a seat at the table. Cartons covered the surface, rice and noodles and eggrolls and more options for main dishes than Aaron knew what to do with.
“I didn’t know how hungry you guys would be, so I just kinda went down the menu and bought one of almost everything.”
Tyler looked the spread over and nodded. “You made the right call. I think this’ll just about do me for dinner. What are you guys going to eat?”
Aaron shoved him lightly. “Restrain yourself. We’re trying to make a good impression.”
“All of my impressions are good! Let me show you my Elvis. I’ll prove it—”
“No Elvis at dinner!” He glanced at Zach, who looked interested. “His hips will put you off your food, I swear to God.”
Norman burst in through the doggie door then, leash trailing, and ran straight for Zach. “What’ll put you off your food?” Chrissy said as she followed a moment later, and Aaron had never been so glad for an interruption. Nobody could carry a conversation like Chrissy, especially with Zach and Tyler ready and willing to play along. Aaron sat back in a kitchen chair with a container of sesame chicken and relaxed for what felt like the first time since he’d arrived.
The interplay between Chrissy and Zach was interesting. Aaron hadn’t stuck around long enough to ever feel like family, but it seemed Zach had more than just assimilated, he’d thrived. Chrissy treated him a lot like Aaron had seen Diana treat Tyler, with an underlying gentleness that blunted every barb and softened every joke. Looking at them together, Aaron wondered whether Zach even remembered their birth mother. Not that there were a lot of good memories to recall there.
“Anybody give you problems today?” Chrissy asked as she started in on one of the cartons of fried rice.
“Nah, I had an easy shift. Family Day is coming up, so everybody’s on their best behavior, trying to make sure they don’t screw things up for themselves.”
Tyler swallowed and spoke up. “Family Day? What’s that?”
“It’s kind of like a crossover between Thanksgiving and the Fourth of July. Families of inmates get to come spend th
e day in the compound, have a barbecue, play games. They get a day to hang out like normal people.” Zach grinned. “It’s my favorite day at work. I’m bummed I’m gonna miss it this year.”
“Why are you going to miss it?”
“’Cause it’s Friday, and as of today I’m off until after the weekend.”
“Oh good!” Chrissy seemed pleased. “I wasn’t sure you were going to get the extra day. That means you can pick up Simon at the airport and I can get in a few extra hours at the salon.”
“Simon’s the only out-of-towner groomsman,” Zach explained, not that Aaron had asked. “He was one of my best friends in high school, but now he’s working for an oil company in Wyoming.”
“Who are the other groomsmen?” Aaron asked. He wanted to put names to faces, or at least get an idea of who they’d be hanging out with for the next four days.
“There’s three: Simon, Owen, and Matthew. Matthew’s Becky’s brother, so he’s got to be in there.”
Chrissy reached over and gently slapped Zach upside the head. “Don’t talk badly about Matthew!”
“I’m not! I’m just—look—” He turned to Aaron. “He’s just a little focused, that’s all. He’s a mechanic, and he’s really into cars. Like… really into them. Like, from the way he tells it, I don’t actually think he’s ever had sex with a woman when he wasn’t already inside a car—ow, Mom!”
“Don’t tell tales about your brother-in-law, honestly. You’d think I’d raised you in a barn.”
A little of the joy crept out of the room as Chrissy realized what she’d said. “Not that I did. I always took good care of Zach. CPS checked up on us for years to make sure of it.”
Oh, this was not a road Aaron wanted to go down. He held up a hand. “I’m sure you did.”
Zach nodded eagerly. “She’s a great mom. I’m lucky to have her.”
Fucking hell. Zach probably had no idea what he was throwing in Aaron’s face, but the last thing Aaron wanted to hear about was how goddamn lucky Zach had been, to be small and cute and adoptable when Aaron had been anything but.
“Great,” he managed before pushing his chair back. “I’m going to go stretch my legs. I’ll be back in a minute.”