Chapter 9
NINE
THE SONG OF DEVIN
ALEX
The moment I left the room, Sebastian started to hum.
His voice drifted through the door to my ears.
It was ever so quiet, but since it carried the melody of the song I had written that morning, I stopped in my tracks.
A small tingle spread from my heart through my chest. It started out faint, but the more I focused on the melody, the more unbearable it unfortunately became.
No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t go back in there. I couldn’t tell him how much last night meant to me. And I certainly couldn’t keep listening.
As I went downstairs, his voice grew quieter, but, like yesterday, it still reached my ears even when I entered the kitchen.
The sizzling of pancakes frying in butter—a Sunday sound I loved because it reminded me of home—tried to drown out his voice, but couldn’t.
Neither could the morning greetings from Laura and Dany, the clinking of dishes, or the crunch of my teeth as I dug into Laura’s pancakes after she urged me to eat so I would finish before the extended family woke up.
I tried hard to ignore the hum. Not that it was unpleasant. On the contrary. In fact, it was so pleasant that I wondered how I was supposed to live knowing I might never hear it again in person after today.
When Sebastian closed the door to my room as quietly as possible, it got even worse.
Without the door between his voice and my ears, his humming forced its way into my brain so fiercely that I had to close my eyes and surrender to it.
I stopped eating and just listened. It was probably my last chance to hear it anyway.
Fortunately, Dany was engrossed in his newspaper, and Laura was too busy making more pancakes to notice.
Sebastian hummed on his way downstairs, stopping only when he entered the kitchen.
“Good morning, everyone,” he said, his voice suddenly half an octave deeper.
“Morning, my dear.” Laura glanced at him but quickly returned her focus to the pan. “I’ll have these ready in a second.”
“You can feed the others first.” Sebastian walked over and rested a hand on her back. “I’m not that hungry.”
“You have to eat something! They only taste good when they’re fresh. We’re not waking the rest of the family for another half hour.”
“Okay, I’ll have one,” he sighed.
“There’s also fresh coffee,” Laura said, flipping one of the pancakes. “Help yourself.”
She pointed to the table. Sebastian’s gaze followed her finger and landed right on me. His lips curled downward, suppressing a smile.
“Thanks, Mom.”
He squeezed past the counter, pausing in the walkway as he took in the seating arrangements.
We had extended the table for the reunion so that as many people as possible could find a seat, which made the already cramped space even harder to navigate.
Right now, it was still possible to move around, but only because most of the seats were empty.
“Morning, Dad,” Sebastian said.
Dany sat on a chair next to the fridge, his newspaper spread so wide it blocked the entire walkway on that side of the table. “Morning,” he grunted, straightening the newspaper in his hands and sending a sharp flap through the room.
Sebastian ignored it entirely and scooted to the seat farthest from his father—the one right next to me.
A hushed smile crossed his face as he sat down, but when Dany flapped the newspaper again, it disappeared.
With a big smile lighting up the room, Laura walked around the kitchen island and set a plate with ten pancakes in front of Sebastian.
“Let me know if you want more,” she said, her eyes shifting between him and me. “How about you, Alex?”
“I’ll finish these first,” I replied, cutting a bite from the three remaining pancakes on my plate.
“Sure!” Laura looked at everyone at the table, nodded, and walked back to the stove.
Looking at the plate in front of him, Sebastian pulled his lips together, shook his head, and then reached for the coffee pot in the middle of the table.
“How is everyone?” Mila sang as she came around the corner.
“Good morning,” Dany and Laura replied in unison.
As if that pulled Dany out of his trance, he lowered the newspaper and exchanged a sweet smile with Laura before his gaze fell on Sebastian and me. His eyes widened as he searched for Laura again, but she was already focused on the next batch of pancakes.
Mila joined us at the table, dropping into a seat between her father and brother.
As if Sebastian were a natural phenomenon, she stared at him while he took a sip of his coffee, frowned slightly, and added more cream.
Her eyes wandered to me, her lips pressing together to suppress a smile, and then back to him.
Dany watched the exchange of looks curiously. “So,” he grumbled, flipping his newspaper over to take a look at the back. “How did everyone sleep?”
“Good,” Sebastian replied, glancing at me. “Thanks again for letting me stay at your room.”
“No problem.”
Dany raised an eyebrow but didn’t take her eyes off the paper. “You two sure do get along, don’t you?”
“Is that a problem?” Sebastian asked quietly.
“Not at all. I’m just curious.”
“Well, the two of them certainly have enough in common,” Laura called from the stove. “And we’re happy about that, right?”
“Right,” Dany agreed, nodding along mechanically. “I still wish Devin had spent more of the evening with his family.”
“What are you talking about?” Sebastian’s head snapped back. “I talked to everyone for hours.”
“True, but still—”
“Now, now,” Laura said in her softest voice as she brought over a small bowl with freshly cut bananas and strawberries.“Everyone’s supposed to enjoy the reunion in whatever way they want.”
“Then why couldn’t Devin do that with us? We’re his family.” Dany asked, shaking his head wildly before hiding behind his newspaper again. “Whatever. No one listens to me anyway.”
For a moment, everyone went quiet. Even the fridge’s cooling unit clicked off.
His words echoed in my head. His family—the one I wasn’t part of.
“Sorry,” I chimed in. “I didn’t mean to monopolize him for so long.”
“I’m not mad at you,” Dany said.
“Are you serious right now?” Sebastian asked, glaring at the back of the newspaper. “If you didn’t want anyone to talk to Alex, then why did you invite him?”
The newspaper whipped through the air as Dany yanked it down. “Don’t twist my words. You know exactly what I meant.”
“I know you wanted to make it clear that you’re mad at me. But you didn’t hear how insulting what you said was to Alex, did you?”
Dany turned to me. “Alex, you know I didn’t mean it that way.” Then he turned to Sebastian. “Don’t twist—”
“I’m not twisting anything. You just don’t hear how mean what you said actually was. You invited him to take part in our family traditions. That means he had every right to connect with anyone there, however he wanted. Sorry, not sorry, that it was me.”
“That wasn’t even the topic.” Dany glared at him, then looked at Mila and Laura for confirmation.
“I’m with Seb on this one,” Mila said, shooting me an apologetic glance.
“Can’t we all just enjoy the morning?” Laura asked, stepping behind Dany. “And I agree with De... Sebastian.” She turned to me. “I am happy that you joined us, Alex, and that the two of you had… such a wonderful evening.” She patted Dany’s shoulder and walked back to the stove.
Dany folded his newspaper and set it on the table. He let out a heavy breath. “I’m sorry, Alex. “I really didn’t mean it that way.”
“I know,” I said quietly. “Sorry again for taking up so much of Sebastian’s time.”
“You don’t have to be sorry. The others are right.
Everyone should enjoy the reunion however they want.
Although I still get to feel sad that my son spent more time with someone he wasn’t related to than with us.
” He turned to Sebastian, clearly trying to keep his voice calm, but the longer he spoke, the harsher his words became.
“And, unlike your mom, I don’t think this will lead to you coming over more often. ”
The mood in the room shifted. After a moment of silence, chairs scraped across the tiles as everyone started talking at once.
“For Pete’s sake, Daniel,” Laura called out. “Why can’t you ever just enjoy a moment—?”
“Because I care about Devin—”
“Dad—“ Mila interjected, but Sebastian cut her off by slamming his hand on the table.
“If you really cared, you wouldn’t call me by that name anymore.”
“It’s the name I gave you. The one you were fine being called for twenty years until that stupid record label put it on some posters and you decided it needed to be erased from earth.”
“Of course, you wouldn’t understand.”
Laura slammed two more plates of pancakes on the table, the clatter slicing through the raised voices as if it were her final warning to end the fight immediately or face her wrath. She placed one in front of Mila, who thanked her quietly. Then, she sat down in front of the other.
Dany leaned back, clenching his jaw. Sebastian took a deep sip of his coffee, hiding his face behind the mug.
“So, how’s college?” Laura asked in an overly cheerful voice.
Sebastian broke off another small piece of pancake and put it in his mouth, chewing on it for ten seconds before answering her question with a tight-lipped “Good.”
Dany crossed his arms over his chest. “Come on, son. We were kind enough not to open that can of worms yesterday. You can tell your mother a little more than that.”
“As I said, it’s good,” Sebastian said louder, clenching his teeth. He kept his voice flat. “Classes teach me things. I have grades. Only half a year to go. Woohoo.”
“Damn. I thought you were studying hospitality, not hostility.” Dany picked up his newspaper again.
Laura put on a smile. “How’s your friend doing? The girl you share an apartment with? What was her name again?”
“Nora,” Sebastian replied, keeping his eyes on his plate as he sat up straight. “She’s doing well. She’s all lovey-dovey with her new boyfriend.”