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I rolled out of bed around eleven and found Uncle Joe and his caterers setting up a late brunch. The food smelled amazing, and there was a lot of it. Brunch was something Uncle Joe did a lot when we were younger. I looked forward to it every weekend when I stayed at the cabin.
“I should have known you’d be doing brunch one of these days,” I said. “Now that I’m older we can have mimosas.”
We embraced each other and joked as the staff finished setting the table. Brayden had just pulled himself out of bed and wheeled into the dining room and the setting was just like old times. Minus Trent and a few other friends.
“I see you two haven't killed each other yet,” Uncle Joe said. “Good job, kids.”
“We’ve gotten close,” Brayden said. “Real close.”
I loved the start of the day that day. Spending time with Uncle Joe, and Brayden, the way we used to felt like I had family again. My family was so broken even before I moved away, I hardly remembered what it felt like to have a family. That's why I was always so fortunate for Uncle Joe, and Brayden.
“In due time you two will be as close as you were before. I hope so, at least,” Uncle Joe said. “Life is too short to waste it being angry with each other. You two were like family before anything. Even if that’s the only relationship you mend, try to mend it somehow, will you?”
Brayden and I looked at each other. A part of me felt hopeful that he and I would be able to mend our friendship. I wasn’t sure if he felt the same way because he was so closed off and unwavering. The hard-on he displayed the night before said that maybe he was, but only time would tell.
“We’ll see,” Brayden said. “We’re different people now, Uncle Joe. Mia’s got her life and so do I.”
Over brunch, Uncle Joe hammered into me about my life. He wanted to know everything. How my career as a romance novelist was going, if I planned on going into any other genres, whether or not I wanted to get married and have kids. The more questions he asked, the huffier Brayden became.
I thought it was because he wanted all of Uncle Joe’s attention like he always did, but when I thought about the way he looked at me in the pool the night before, my mind wondered if there was something more.
I wondered if he still had feelings for me deep down inside. I wondered if I still had feelings for him. The way his jaw clenched and his eyebrows furrowed in the heat of his annoyance made me wonder if he was able to have sex with his legs all bandaged up.
“What’s going on in your life, Uncle Joe?” I asked, trying to take some of the heat off me. “You’re prying all into my story, tell me a piece of yours. Any new girlfriends? New businesses? Are you ready to write your memoir yet, because I can help with that.”
Uncle Joe let out a hefty chuckle before sipping from his wine glass. He had a mound of pancakes and fruit in front of him but pushed his plate aside to dig into his story. He loved to talk about his life, always had. Even if he were telling the same story he’d already told a thousand times before.
“I am planning to step into a new business venture shortly,” he said. “I won’t speak too much about it just yet, but I think it’s something this town will appreciate. As far as the love department goes, old Uncle Joe is staying away from that right now. I've got too much on my plate with the hotels and all that.”
“Don’t be so busy that you can’t find time for love,” I said. “You don’t want to end up like a lot of men who grow old and lonely in their old age.”
I glanced at Brayden without meaning to. Though he did seem like an old lonely man who was past the point of opening up to anyone new, I didn’t mean to point it out. His energy was just so dark and heavy at the table, it was hard to miss.
“I’ve been trying to get Brayden here to open up. He's the one you should be worried about,” Uncle Joe said. “He’s still got a lot of years left in him, but he mopes around like he’s only got a few left.”
“I know right!” I laughed. “It’s all over his mug. He reminds me of that grumpy cat we see on meme’s all the time.”
Brayden slouched in his chair and mean-mugged me and Uncle Joe as we laughed and cracked jokes on him. He let a smile slip a few times when something was funnier than expected, but after that, a soggy look overpowered his mug again.
“Have you uh, have you guys talked about this Trent thing yet?”
A long silence came over the room after Uncle Joe’s question. Of course we hadn’t talked about Trent. It was the one thing Brayden avoided like the plague. I avoided it for years too but being in the same room with him made me want to talk about it. The look on Uncle Joe’s face made me want to talk about it too. It looked like there was something I didn't know.
“Nope,” I said. “I think it would do us both some good if we did though.”
I looked at Brayden who was picking around on his plate trying to avoid the topic again. I could tell he was annoyed because of the way his jaw clenched and his eyes rolled. He was already annoyed with Uncle Joe and I ganging up on him, but even more when we talked about Trent.
“I think so too,” Uncle Joe looked at Brayden. “It’s been many years of sitting on things that need to be said. It's clear that’s the elephant that follows you two into every room, so why not address it.”
“It’s a touchy subject,” Brayden said without looking up from his plate. “Some people want to place the entire blame on me when that’s not the case.”
He was talking about me. I did blame Brayden. I blamed him for giving Trent the excitement he called for that night. If he had listened to me and stayed inside instead of hyping Trent up, the accident wouldn't have happened. At least, that was how I felt about it all those years.
“No one’s to blame here,” Uncle Joe said. “It was a stupid accident caused by two knucklehead kids. No one could have known that would happen.”
“That’s exactly what I said,” Brayden agreed. “Mia just can’t get over herself. She feels like her brother can do no wrong even though he already had.”
Brayden's words were harsh. It made me wonder if he was angry at me, or Trent. I didn’t like his tone or what he said, and I didn’t like the fact that Uncle Joe didn’t agree with me. I felt like he’d always given Brayden too much of an out in that situation. No one ever made him take accountability.
