“Hey, what’s up?” I ask, trying to cover my hurt.
“What’s wrong?” Should have known better than to try and hide my feelings from my older brother. He’s spent his life teasing me and knows exactly how I sound when I’m trying to stay strong.
“Nothing, it’s just been a long day and the kids seem to be getting tougher and tougher for me to deal with. I come home exhausted most days.”
“Well, where’s Mason? He should be there making your afternoon easier. That man should be waiting on you hand and foot with the chase he put in after you.” Hearing my brother talk about my fiancé this way gets annoying. I know he tolerates Mason for my sake, but Deacon’s never been his number one fan. Though, after his best friend played me the way he did, he’s just happy I’ve moved on and seem happy.
“He just left for another business trip,” I admit.
“Fuckin’ hell.” I hear my brother grunt with another few mumbles I can’t quite make out. But his displeasure of my fiancé’s absence clearly pisses him off as much as it does me. “I’m coming to get you. You shouldn’t be left alone as much as you are. We’ll get dinner and a drink then I’ll take you home.”
“Deacon, I’m fine home alone. I’m a big girl.”
“I know you are. And I also know where you hide the gun, I taught you to use. But no sister of mine will be left home alone on a Friday night. Now, get your skinny ass out of your work clothes— I’ll be there in ten minutes.”
“I suppose there’s no talking you out of this by mentioning how tired I am?”
“Not a chance,” he says, then the line goes dead.
“I didn’t think so,” I say to my empty room and start working my yellow cardigan off my shoulders. The dark wash skinny jeans and white V-neck with an apple on it that says “teacher of tiny humans,” isn’t my best ensemble, but it did the trick. It’s Friday and tomorrow is laundry day, which means my outfit was a little thrown together.
Walking to my closet, I step inside and rifle through the racks of clothing still clean and can’t bring myself to muster the energy to change. Turning to look in the full-length mirror at the back of my closet I figure, it’s been a long day— what I have on is fine for any bar my brother would take me to in Daphne. Now if we were going to head down to Fairhope where Mason wanted to move, I’d have to get out the pearls and heels just to step outside my home.
So glad I talked him out of that one. There’s no way the Nut and Tree moms would accept me as a schoolteacher let alone when I leave the house in sweats and a top knot.
Buzzing from my bed pulls my attention, but there’s no way Deacon is here yet. He said ten minutes. A second buzz comes as I make my way toward my bed to find text messages from my best friend.
Millie: Was that Mason I saw headed toward the Bayway?
Millie: I swear if he’s going out of town again, I’m going to cut off his balls myself.
A smile pulls at my lips as I read through the texts of my bestie. She’s a trip and a half and I love her for it. She’s the only one outside of my family would ever say a bad word about the man about to become my husband. His wealth means nothing to her.
Callie: Why don’t you come over. I’m going to head out for dinner and a drink and could use the company.
Sure, my brother is going, but I could also use my friends’ shoulder to lean on. Not to mention she lives about three minutes from me and it would be easier to get a ride home from her at the end of the night than with my brother who lives in the opposite direction.
Millie: Already on my way.
As the text comes through, my front door opens, and heavy footsteps tell me someone is walking toward my steps.
“Hello?” I call out.
“You know you should really learn to lock your door,” my brother’s deep voice says from outside my bedroom. “You better be dressed, I’m coming in.” Seconds later, he comes trotting in, all six-foot-one-inch of him. He was the quarterback in high school, all lean and muscular, but now he’s the sheriff and bulked up to a brick house. We used to look so much like twins before he doubled in size.
“But then what would my big brother do when the world was crime free?” I ask teasingly.
“You said you were going to change—that’s what you decided to put on?” There’s the jackass of a brother I know and love.
“I was going to change, but then I realized I’m too tired and it’s laundry day, so this is what you get? Embarrassed to be seen out with me?”
“Maybe a little,” he jokes.
“Jerk,” I say shoving him as my front door opens again.
“Who the hell is walking in now?” Deacon growls, making our way down the stairs.
“It’s probably just Mill.
“Fuck! Why the hell is she here?” I have no idea what Deacon and Millie’s deal is, but this has gone on for longer than I can remember.
“Oh, maybe because she’s my best friend and I want her here,” I say just as we make it through the foyer to the kitchen.
“Damn straight she does. How you doing, Cal?” she asks looking at me with empathy. When I shrug, she knows to drop it before I get emotional. It’s why I love her. Then she looks over to Deacon and the caring look on her face disappears. “And hello to you, asshole.”
“T-bag, I thought I smelled a dog,” Deacon laughs, and I swear I see red flash across Millie’s face. I really wish he’d stop calling her that. It’s his own fault that my Granddaddy’s dog stepped over Millie in the first place. Not that he cared. All his sixteen-year old mind remembers is old Frankie’s privates just about grazed over Millie’s nose as he trotted over her to get to Deacon who had called him.
Now all the two could do was argue and bicker like cats and dogs. I swear its hell taking the two of them out together without a buffer. Luckily, the buffer tonight is my absent fiancé. Though, I’m not surprised they’re getting their quips in before we’ve even properly said hello.
“Fuck off,” Millie grinds out between a clenched jaw. She’s practically shaking she’s so mad, but holding it in for my sake. I don’t deserve this girl as a friend.
“Are we ready to go?” I ask when I see Millie open her mouth to probably spew more hatred toward my brother. I love them both, I just wish they would get along.
“Yes, let’s go,” Millie agrees as she grabs her purse and heads to the door without waiting.
“I don’t know why you keep that around. You could do so much better,” Deacon says as we walk a good distance behind.
“She’s sweet as sugar if you’d just leave her be. You’re always making fun of her and calling her that God awful name. What do you expect but to get venom in return?”
“She deserves it all,” he says before he walks toward his Jeep and I head for Millie’s SUV. These two!
There’s one thing and one thing only, that I’m looking forward to while being back here. And it’s not the neighbors. Sitting on a bar stool in the house I bought for my brother and sister, I think about my time back “home” so far. Can a place still be considered home when you haven’t stepped foot on the land in more than a decade? Just because I was born here and spent the better part of my life pissing off the adults in the town as a youth, does that make it home?