5. Brax
5
brAX
Family dinners have become more chaotic, or maybe I’ve finally grown up enough to notice.
Feeding a small army, half of whom think they’re in charge of the preparation, is exhausting. If we didn’t own a bar and restaurant, I don’t know how we’d ever be able to prepare so much food in such a short amount of time.
I’ve already been chased out of the kitchen by Aunt Daphne, and surprisingly, I’m okay with it. When I go to grab a beer, Tate’s sitting at the bar with Ma.
“So…” Tate says, drawing out the word. “How did last night go?”
I glance up at her, knowing she’s talking to me and not our stepmom. “Fine.”
“You stayed with her?” she asks .
“Didn’t feel right leaving her alone in a place she wasn’t familiar with on a side of town she doesn’t know.” I take a sip of the beer, wishing it were a warm night outside instead of the frozen tundra that’s currently blanketing the city.
“She was lovely,” Ma says as she touches the rim of her martini glass. She’s always been a sucker for sweet drinks, and tonight’s no exception. I made her favorite, a chocolate martini with top-shelf liquor.
“Wait.” Tate turns her head to stare at Tilly. “You met her?”
Ma smiles at Tate and nods. “She walked over to get some breakfast this morning, along with two coffees.”
“You didn’t tell me you met her,” Tate says to her.
“Sorry, kiddo. I didn’t think it was important.”
Tate drags her gaze back to me. “Did you sleep with her?”
I shake my head and somehow don’t choke on my beer as I swallow. “I don’t sleep with every woman I meet, Tate.”
Tate snorts. “Since when?”
“I told you. I’m getting serious about my future, and that doesn’t include sleeping with the entire city.”
“You’ve blown through most of them anyway,” Tate replies with a chuckle. “And you can get serious and still have some fun.”
I glance over at Ma, but she’s busy staring down into her drink like she’s searching for something. She doesn’t want to hear this conversation as much as I don’t want her to. “I’m turning over a new leaf. I was a complete gentleman.”
“When are you seeing her again?” Tate asks.
“Never.”
Tate gawks at me, blinking a few times. “What? Why?”
“I didn’t get her number.”
Tate hangs her head, muttering how I’m an idiot under her breath. “Why wouldn’t you get her number? You get everyone’s number.”
“I don’t know, Tate.” I blow out a breath and lean over the bar, taking up some of the space between Tate and Ma.
“That’s a shame,” Ma says, using the tiny red straw to stir her martini. “I really liked her.”
“She knows where to find me. If she’s interested, she’ll be back.”
“You really are an idiot,” Tate says as she lifts her beer to her lips, glaring at me over her hand.
“My baby isn’t an idiot,” Gram says, coming up next to me and snaking her arm around my waist. “He’s a fine man.”
“Gram,” Tate says as she shakes her head. “Your fine man has a reputation with the ladies.”
“So did your grandpa when I met him.” Gram gives Tate a big smile.
But my sister doesn’t smile back. She jerks her head back and makes a gagging noise. “Ick, Gram. I don’t want to hear that about Grandpa.”
“Well, sweetie, we were all young once. No one is an angel, and your grandpa certainly wasn’t. Don’t even get me started on his time in prison.”
Tate’s eyes go wide. “What? I thought that was my childhood imagination playing tricks on me. I remember something about him going away when I was little, but I thought my memory had to be wrong. ”
Gram laughs. “I wish it were, but that doesn’t mean it’s not funny, even after all these years.”
“What in the world,” Tate says as she stares at our grandma in disbelief.
“But he’s not that man anymore,” Gram says, as if that somehow makes up for all the insanity he put her through in their marriage. “Enough about the past. What are we talking about?”
“Brax had a sleepover with a woman, and all they did was sleep,” Ma says, entering the conversation a little more.
Gram peers up at me with a concerned look. “Are you sick, baby?”
I lean over and kiss her cheek. “I’m fine. Just trying to be better.”
“Is she the one?” Gram asks as she tightens her arm around my middle.
“Oh hell, Gram. I don’t know. Do people really know that after meeting once? ”
“I heard they do. I didn’t feel that way. I couldn’t stand your grandpa, but eventually, he wore me down, and the rest is history.”
“Wow,” Tate mutters as she leans back in the chair, looking bewildered. “That’s so romantic. Everything every little girl hopes for in a courtship.”
“You’ve watched too many movies, baby. Not every relationship starts with a sprinkle of magic.”
“This conversation is depressing,” Tate adds.
“When are you seeing her again?” Gram asks.
“I don’t think I am. I didn’t get her number. I only know her name.”
“Dumb boy,” Gram whispers.
“Exactly,” Tate agrees.
“What’s everyone talking about?” Dad asks as he walks up and takes the seat next to Ma.
“Your son being a dumbass,” Tate tells him.
Dad blows out a loud breath as he scrubs his hand down his face. “Well, okay.”
“He didn’t get a woman’s number,” Ma explains, motioning toward me with her hand.
“Are you feeling okay?” Dad asks.
“Exactly what I asked,” Gram replies.
I raise my hands as I straighten. “I’m fine. Sheesh. A man can spend a little time with a woman and not ask for her number. It’s not a crime.”
“Yeah, but we’re talking about you,” Tate says.
“Are you sick?” Wylder asks as he sits down at the other end of the group next to my sister. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m not sick,” I say with a growl. “You people overreact about everything.”
Wylder leans over to Tate and whispers, “What did I miss?”
“My brother is an idiot,” is her reply.
“Most men are,” Wylder replies.
“Speak for yourself,” I tell him with a chin lift.
My family, as much as I love them, is so freaking nosy and opinionated about everything. Working together doesn’t make anything easier. Nothing is private, but it never has been. I should be used to it by now.
“If she likes me, she’ll be back. I left the ball in her court.”
“Does she know you’re interested?” Dad asks.
I shrug. “I don’t know. Clearly, I don’t know much about women.”
“Obviously,” Tate mumbles before I can finish the statement.
“I never knew asking someone for their number was that important. She could’ve asked for mine, you know.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t happen,” Tate says.
“Women have asked for my number, sister.”
“Not the kind you want to marry,” she replies.
I snap my lips shut at her response. I hate to say it, but she’s right. All of the women who have asked for my number in the past aren’t the type I’d ever consider getting into any sort of long-term relationship with, let alone marry. It was all about fucking, plain and simple.
“Is this the sweet woman you were talking about this morning?” Dad asks Ma, trying to catch up to the conversation.
“Yeah,” she says as she places her hand over his.
They’re my inspiration. My entire life, I’ve watched them be completely devoted to each other. Well, not my entire life. My birth mom passed away when I was little, and my dad met Tilly a few years later. I barely remember a time without Tilly in my life. She’s really the only mom I have memories of, which makes me sad, but I’m extremely happy I have her to fill the void.
“How did she pay?” Dad asks Ma.
Ma stares at him and doesn’t reply.
“Did she use a credit card?” he asks her.
Ma nods. “Yeah.”
“So, you know her full name.”
I stare at him as I push my eyebrows together. “Don’t even say it,” I tell him.
“You can find her online, then. Maybe reach out and say hello,” he explains, like it’s really that easy.
“That’s super creepy, Dad,” Tate tells him, coming to my rescue from Dad’s grand plan.
“Is it?” He scratches at the scruff on his jawline. “I don’t think so. ”
“It’s kind of romantic,” Ma says, giving him a sweet smile. She thinks every idea the man has is romantic.
“If you’re a stalker,” Tate adds.
“Creepy is better than nothing,” Gram says from where she’s still stuck to me like glue.
I glance around the bar, looking for a rescue from this batshit crazy conversation. I lock eyes with Vinnie. He’ll save me.
But before I have a chance to excuse myself, he heads our way. “What’s up?” he asks when he’s close enough to hear our response over all the talking.
“I’m an idiot,” I tell him, saving time.
Vinnie chuckles. “Well, at least we’re in agreement.”
I give my uncle the middle finger, and he lifts his hands. “You said it, buddy. Not me.”
“My dad wants me to look up some woman on the internet and send her a message.”
Vinnie’s face scrunches up exactly how I’d expect it to. “He wants you to stalk her?”
“See?” I say, waving a hand in my uncle’s direction. “Stalker.”
Dad shrugs. “Fine. Maybe by some miracle, she’ll show back up here at the bar.”
“If she comes back to the bakery, do you want me to ask for her number?”
Mortification overwhelms me. “No, Ma. That’s not any better. ”
Tate giggles. “I would love to watch that conversation unfold. You’d totally lose your man card if Ma asks a girl out for you.”
“I think it’s sweet,” Gram adds.
“Ma, I think Daphne needs help in the back,” Vinnie tells her.
“Oh,” she says before peeling away from me and disappearing.
“Why’d you do that?” Tate asks our uncle.
“Because Daphne literally texted in the group chat that she needed Ma,” he says, showing Tate his phone screen.
“I thought you were just trying to get rid of her,” Tate tells him as he places his phone in his back pocket.
“Nah. Ma’s cool. She put up with all my insanity. She can handle a conversation about romance, although her idea of relationships and acceptable behavior may be a bit wonky.”
“A bit?” Dad says to his brother and snorts. “It’s a lot wonky.”
“Dad was such a dick back in the day,” Vinnie replies.
“That’s my grandpa,” Tate says, lifting her chin at their negative conversation.
“He is that, but he was still a dick,” Dad says. “Thank goodness he’s not that man anymore.”
“Can we get back to talking about Brax and not Grandpa?” Tate says .
“Food’s ready,” Gram says as she walks out into the bar from the kitchen.
I’ve never been so happy to eat. As long as everyone is jamming food into their mouths, they won’t be able to talk about me.
Like we do every week, everyone files into the kitchen to grab the food, along with the plates, silverware, and everything else we need.
After I dish out a small amount of food, I find a table near the window and hope no one will sit next to me. I am already talked out.
“What’s shakin’, bacon?” Lucio asks as he sits down next to me, killing any hope of a quiet meal.
“Not much, Unc. You?”
“Eh. Same shit, different day.” He stabs at his pasta like he’s starving to death and hasn’t had a decent meal in days. “Wish it were summer.”
“Same,” I say with a mouthful of rigatoni.
“Dating anyone?”
I peer up at him in surprise. He doesn’t usually talk about relationships. He and Aunt Delilah have been married for twenty years, and just like my parents, they’re crazy about each other.
“No. Single as the day I was born.”
“Shame,” he mutters as he moves the food around on his plate like he’s searching for the right bite. “Are you taking a break?”
“No, Unc, but I’m not scouring the dating apps to find someone either. ”
“It’ll happen when you least expect,” he says.
And I wonder if it already has. I shake my head, knowing I’m being an idiot. My dream girl didn’t walk into the bar last night and then I let her leave without getting at least her basic contact information. All I know is her face, her name, and how she feels curled against my side.
“Delilah wandered into the bar with Lulu in her arms. I never thought I’d be sitting here with her decades later. Life is funny like that somehow.”
“Can I sit here?” Lulu asks, holding two plates. One is loaded with salad, and the other has nothing except dessert.
“Yeah, sweetheart. Sit. Sit.”
I stare at her plate in confusion. “What’s that?” I point to her plates with my fork.
“I’m saving the main-course calories for my dessert.” She doesn’t even look at me when she answers. She’s too focused on the chocolate cake and cupcakes she grabbed from the far end of the bar. “These hips didn’t make themselves.”
“That’s not healthy, baby girl,” Lucio, her dad for all intents and purposes, says to her.
“Salad’s very healthy,” she tells him before she shoves a big forkful of vegetables into her mouth.
Lucio shakes his head but lets the conversation drop.
“What are you looking at?” she asks me.
“Nothing,” I tell her. I mean, I was looking at her food, but I wasn’t thinking anything except I hope there’s some cake left by the time I’m done eating. “Just that you were smart to grab the cake before everyone else.”
“Thanks, cuz. I’m not a dummy, but from what I hear, you are,” she says with a smile as her eyes flit toward my sister.
“What happened?” Lucio asks her.
“Nothing, Unc.” I glare at my cousin, wanting to let the conversation die off as quickly as her dessert in place of a meal did. “How’s college?”
Lulu groans. “Last semester and it’s killing me.”
“But think, you’ll be done soon, and then you’ll be making bank.”
She snorts and shakes her head. “Hopefully the business degree will be worth it.”
“I’m sure you’ve learned tons of useful stuff,” I tell her. “You’re going to be your own boss.”
“Your lips to God’s ears,” she mumbles. “Too bad the startup didn’t pan out, but I have a few other ideas I’m working out in my head to start my own business.”
“There’s always a spot for you here,” I say, earning a smile from her.
“I’m so proud of you,” Uncle Lucio says to Lulu. “You’ve worked so hard for this.”
And she has. Lulu was never the best student. Math wasn’t an easy subject for her, and she spent hours every week going to tutoring so she could pass her math requirements in high school and then did it again for college.
“Thanks, Dad. I’m just ready to get out there and start my own business.”
Lulu isn’t much younger than me, but she took some time off after high school to backpack around Europe. She said she wanted to see the world because she hadn’t been out of Chicago much in her life. She came back an entirely different person, one who seemed more content with who she was and where she was headed in life.
“You’ll figure it out, cousin. Don’t worry,” I tell her. “We have enough connections in the area, anything you do will be successful.”
“I want to accomplish things because of my ability and merits. Not because I knew someone’s uncle.”
“There’s no shame in how you get a job, as long as you get it,” Uncle Lucio tells his daughter. “We could all use a hand sometimes.”
“Brax knows all about that,” Mason, my little brother, says as he sits down with us. “Don’t ask me how I know, but I do.”
“You’re an asshole,” I say, kicking his chair with enough force to make his body jolt.
“Dad told me he wants you to stalk someone.”
Lucio starts to choke on his pasta. “What?” he asks in a strangled voice, barely able to breathe past the noodle in his throat .
“You okay?” Lulu asks her dad.
“Fine, sweetheart,” he says and clears his throat. “What is your dad telling you to do?”
I explain the entire situation. No point in hiding it. The entire family will know about it before we leave the bar tonight. Again, there’s no such thing as privacy with this group.
“Yeah, don’t do that,” Lulu says. “That would creep me the hell out.”
I nod. “I told him.”
“We’ve been out of the dating world too long. Your dad doesn’t understand the boundaries when it comes to social media and what’s acceptable behavior.”
“Thank you,” I tell my uncle.
“But you could maybe look her up and send her some flowers.”
Lulu drops her forkful of cake on her plate. “Dad, that’s no better. Sheesh. What’s wrong with your generation?”
Lucio shakes his head. “Honey, we’re romantic.”
“That’s not romantic. That’s pathological,” she replies as she grabs her fork again.
“How hot are we talking?” Mason asks me. “Like melt the snow outside hot or what?”
I stare at my brother, trying to remember if we dropped him on his head when he was little. “She was beautiful.”
“You’re a dummy,” he replies .
“See.” Lulu smirks. “We’re all in agreement.”
“Eat your cake,” I tell her, motioning toward her plate with my fork.
“If it was meant to be, you’ll find your way back to her, kid,” Uncle Lucio says. “The universe won’t be able to keep you apart.”
I stare at him without a response.
Is he right?
Is there such a thing as fate?
I’ve never believed in it. But for the first time ever, I hope he’s right.