Page 17 of Silver Lining Love

By the time I got to the truck, Michael was already sitting inside. Once I secured the dome that his biosphere was housed in, I climbed in and noticed he was staring down at his hands. Over the past two months or so, he’d grown increasingly withdrawn.

Whitney was aware of it. She’d spoken to Michael’s therapist. Dr. Ruben explained to her that grief was not a linear trajectory. It would hit him in stages and could look like a lot of different things. In addition, he was an adolescent boy. That in and of itself was tough. She said that the best thing to do was give him the tools to handle everything that he was feeling. A safe space to express himself. And time.

It sounded like a solid plan to me, but Whitney had been upset about it. She’d wanted to know what she could do to make him feel better. The truth was…nothing. The kid was sad. And mad. And confused. And frustrated. And he had every right to be all those things.

I was with Dr. Ruben, the best thing we could do was just be there for him.

As I backed out of my driveway, I asked, “Did you really eat breakfast?”

He nodded and kept his face staring down.

“What did you have?”

“A piece of toast.”

“That’s it?”

“Alice ate all the cereal yesterday. Aunt Whitney was supposed to get more, but I guess she forgot,” he explained.

“Open the glove box.”

Michael reached out and popped it open. When he saw what was inside, he turned to look at me. “You have candy bars in your truck?”

“They’re protein bars.”

Sometimes I got so busy or wrapped up in work that I forgot to eat. I’d get in my truck and be starving. My brother JJ was a spokesperson for the company, so he’d sent me boxes of them. Since my glove box was refrigerated, I always kept a few bars in there. Although, I had to admit, it was strange to eat something that had my little brother’s face on the wrapper.

“There are different flavors. Grab whatever one you want.”

He picked a peanut butter fudge. When he ripped it open and bit into it, I was fully expecting him to complain that it didn’t taste like a candy bar, but he didn’t say a word. He just inhaled it.

I handed him the bottle of water I’d brought with me. “Here.”

He chugged the entire contents in five large gulps. When I saw him staring down at the wrapper with my brother’s face, I figured this was as good a time as any to let him know that JJ was my brother.

“Did I ever tell you that JJ Briggs is my brother?”

His head spun to me. “What?!”

“Yeah, he’s my little brother.”

“JJ Briggs?” He said with awe and wonder.

I had to admit that seeing hero worship in Michael’s face for my baby brother was a bit of a blow to my own ego. Usually, he looked at me like that. I wondered if that was how Whitney felt whenever Michael or Alice wanted to do things with me and not her.

“Yep.” I nodded in confirmation.

“Holy shit!”

I’d done my best not to “parent” Michael because he needed a safe space, but his language was really getting out of hand.

I pulled up to the red light a block from his school and turned toward him. “If you want to say those words, it’s okay to around me. But when you are at home or school, you should really try to use better language. Your aunt doesn’t want to hear you say those things, and you know your little sister repeats everything you say. You need to be a good example.”

I could see that he took what I’d said seriously.

The light turned green, and as I turned my attention back to the road, I heard him quietly apologize, “Sorry.”

“No worries, little man.” I nodded at him.

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