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“We’re not snot-noses!” Connor said.
“Of course you are. What do you think you have in your nose? Snot.”
“Mamaaaaa!” Max shouted while continuing to jump and try to get the pistol.
Emily came into the room and started laughing. “I wouldn’t know which of the three of you was the bigger baby.”
“Axel, obviously,” Justin answered, turning around.
“So who’s the baldest one of all?” I asked, giggling.
“Son of a…”
“Shhh!” Emily said.
Her children were perplexed when their father, normally so proper, leapt at me and threw me onto the bed. That was my gift. I was the only person on earth capable of driving my older brother nuts. The boys and Emily disappeared when my mother announced that she’d brought candy.
“Fucking dickhead!” Justin punched me on the shoulder and I started laughing.
“What the fuck’s wrong with you? Did you not get your regulation fuck in this week?”
“Very funny.” He pulled away from me and lay on his back. “Axel, do you think our parents will ever retire, or is it all just hot air?”
“I don’t know; why, what’s up?”
“I took the job at the café because they were thinking they’d retire soon, but years have passed. I’m starting to think they only hired me so I wouldn’t find another job and leave.”
“That sounds like something Mom would do.”
“I think I’m going to talk to them. I’m supposed to be running the café, but they still treat me like an employee. I’m going to give them an ultimatum. Either they do what they promised or I try to set up something of my own. I want to do things my way without Mom calling the shots. Will you take my side if things get ugly?”
“Of course, I’m with you.”
He breathed a sigh of relief I didn’t understand, because Justin’s never needed my approval or support. I punched him in the shoulder to relieve the tension.
The doorbell rang again.
“I’ll go,” Emily shouted.
We got up and walked to the living room. I took a deep breath when I saw Leah at the end of the hall.
Fuck, what is going on with me?
I greeted her as always, with a kiss on the cheek, and the usual racket started up. Plates right and left, my mother examining Oliver to be sure he hadn’t gotten some infectious disease during his weeks in Sydney, Emily ordering the twins to go wash their hands, my father softly humming the popular song of the moment.
I sat down in my usual spot, next to Leah.
“You want peas?” I offered her the dish.
She shook her head without looking at me.
“Max, don’t grab the food with your hands!” Justin shouted. “Damn it! Emily, pass me a napkin. Or two.”
“How’s everything going, dude?” My father looked at Oliver.
“Good, it was a good week, actually, right, Leah?”
She nodded and took a sip of water.
