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“Brynn’s a naughty girl,” he replied, “She stuck Buck in the oven, Daddy said, ‘naughty, Brynn,’” he told me, wagging his finger and scowling deeper like he was mimicking Sawyer scolding his daughter.
Sawyer chuckled. “Yeah, she did, cost us fifteen hundred bucks for new oven in the main kitchen, the plastic looked like some stalactite formation when Billie went to put the roast in. It was weird, the poor thing was cremated in less than the minute it took for Billie to finish prepping the cut of beef for the oven and going to put it in.”
“Naughty Brynn not allowed behind the counter now,” Remy added, finishing the conversation for his dad.
“That was almost three weeks ago, and this little guy has milked it… I don’t think he’ll ever let her forget it,” Sawyer chuckled.
“No, she’s naughty. Me asked what’s smelly, four times,” he said holding up two fingers in my face, “before Mommy shouted, ‘Sawyer get over here. Look what she’s done,’ to my daddy,” he continued all animated, like he was mimicking his mom.
“Guess you were smarter than me,” my brother told him, making Remy grin wide.
“We’re all smarter than you. Ask Mom, she tells us that all the time,” Colby chipped in, appearing from nowhere and stepping forward, hugging me from the side. “Hey, Uncle James, I didn’t hear you come in. How’s it hanging?”
I blinked, fighting the huge laugh suddenly clogging my throat and tightening my chest as I stared straight-faced toward my fourteen-year-old nephew by marriage, asking me ‘how’s it hanging.’” I wanted so desperately to say, ‘to the left’ and watch his jaw drop, but I’d never have done that to the kid. Instead I coughed, glanced at Remy still perched on my arm, and tried for a nonplussed expression.
“Good, life’s going great,” I replied, a chuckle threatening to erupt which I swallowed back down and coughed instead. “You? How’s school?”
“Oh, you know, pretty boring,” he said in that sullen teenage way, before his eyes brightened and he became more engaged. “But we’ve had a couple of new girls this semester, so that’s kept most of us guys entertained at least.” A hearty laugh rumbled out from my chest and I looked to Sawyer wanting him to interject.
Picking up on my silent cue, Sawyer wandered toward the barbecue and turned it on. Glancing over his shoulder, he shrugged, but targeted his gaze toward Colby. “Girls are fun, Son, but don’t take your eye off the prize. You’ll need those straight A’s for your choice of baseball scholarships to one of the best colleges.”
“I have four years before college, yet everything I do still comes back to my grades, huh?” he scoffed. “We both know that’s because you want to clear out my room and make space for all that junk of yours. Don’t think I don’t know how Mom keeps moving it closer to the garage door for Goodwill, and you keep sneaking it back.”
“Hey, when did you get so sassy?” I asked, my eyes wide at how much his confidence had grown since I’d known him and how amazing his relationship with his stepfather was. As Remy felt heavy and I couldn’t help Sawyer one-handed, I walked down the veranda toward Tricia, who sat on a plush outside couch, still talking to Billie.
Depositing Remy on her lap, without giving her any say in the matter, I touched her shoulder and winked. I then gave Colby help with the tray of corn on the cob Sawyer had prepared, and I decided to reinforce my brother’s views on education.
“My brother’s right, Colby, you need to keep your head down and get the job done. I mean, look around you,” I said, holding my hands out to show him my brother’s domain. “Sawyer knows what he’s talking about, he’s living the dream.”
“Funny that’s what he says about you,” he replied, and I stopped, glanced toward Sawyer, and wondered exactly what he’d been saying.
“True, I do,” Sawyer interjected. “I mean, look at your Uncle James. He’s a company director of an international corporation. He has a huge salary with many benefits and perks, a beautiful girlfriend,” Sawyer said, nodding toward Tricia.
My nephew’s jaw dropped, his eyes almost bugging out of his head as he took in Tricia and raised his eyebrows to his hairline. “You’re kidding me?” Sawyer shook his head. Addressing me, Colby folded his arms like he was interrogating me. “Is my dad joking, Uncle James? You and my Auntie Tricia?” Sawyer burst out laughing as he walked back over to the fridge and grabbed the jug of Sangria from earlier.
“As true as there’s a moon in the sky every night,” Sawyer replied. Colby planted his hands on his hips as he looked first to me, then to his mom’s best friend, his nose scrunched in distaste. “Grab some glasses and take them to the table,” Sawyer told Colby, who moved slowly when asked, but continued to stare at me.
“Erm, that’s all a little bit weird,” he muttered, pulling wine glasses down from where they hung above his head in the bar, and placed them two at a time on the bar counter, suddenly stopping. He leaned heavily on the bar in my direction and took a deep breath. “I mean, do you guys have sex n’all?”
I blinked—my words stuck in my throat—as I held his gaze. Everything around me appeared to slow down. I glanced at Sawyer with a silent question in my head. Are you going to let him ask me this without shutting the conversation down?
When Sawyer hesitated and moved in to lift the glasses from the counter, I knew I was on my own. “She’s my girlfriend,” I replied with a shrug, like my explanation answered the question and hoped he’d leave it there, but he wouldn’t.
He shrugged. “I have a girlfriend, but we don’t have sex—”
“Colby Drummond, I damn well hope not,” Billie interjected, immediately tuning into the conversation. “I’m bringing you up to respect girls, my boy.” The horrified look of alarm on her face would have been funny had I not been at the center of his targeted inquiry.
“What? What did I miss?” Tricia asked, having been distracted by caring for Remy and had no clue what Colby had said.
When no one replied, I looked from Billie to Sawyer like they had been missing the point in allowing their son to challenge me on my love life. They were more focused upon his comment that he wasn’t having sex than the question directed toward me. He’s fourteen for goodness sake. Then I remembered I’d lost my virginity when I was fourteen… and Sawyer had probably been the same, how mature I had thought myself back then.
The scary thought of how everyone said kids matured earlier since I was that age, and I shuddered at the thought Colby could well be sexually active in the hands of the wrong girl… or the opposite could be true. I immediately made a mental note that a private conversation should be had with him in the near future to ensure we all had Colby’s back covered in respect to that.
Looking for a distraction from the topic of conversation, I glanced toward Tricia again, who sat quietly rocking Remy on her knee. The position he lay in was one of complete trust, sitting astride her his knees up under her arms, his chest flat against hers. He’d fallen sound asleep with Tricia sifting her fingers through his hair, and my heart instantly melted.
“I’m only asking, Mom. I just want to know if they’re boyfriend and girlfriend buddies or the kind of couple that like making babies,” Colby insisted in an innocent tone, but he smirked when his eyes flicked to mine, which told me he got a kick out of making me feel uncomfortable. I’d never been awkward in any setting talking about sex, until I was questioned about my sex life by my teenage nephew.
“All right, Colby, I think you’ve embarrassed Uncle James enough for one night,” Sawyer said chuckling, as he swung by the refrigerator and pulled out a tray of marinated steaks. “Besides, I’m starving and we’ve still got to cook the meat. At this rate it’ll be midnight before we eat.” When I cast a glance toward my brother a look passed between us that said, ‘I’ve got you,’ but he smirked wickedly and lifted a brow, like a reminder that his teenage son had gotten one over on me. It made me chuckle and I felt all tension leave my body after being embarrassed by a fourteen-year-old kid.
