Page 25 of Sycamore Circle

“Good.” He smiled. “Now tell me about Momma.”

“She’s good. Janie and Eric went to see her on Wednesday. She cooked them up some chicken-fried steak.”

“Dang.” He’d do crunches for two hours if it meant eating an entire plate of his mother’s signature dish.

“I know. Momma’s steak is amazing. Eric even texted me a picture of it.” She paused. “I guess he didn’t text it to you too?”

“You guessed right.” His mother might love him no matter what and his sisters might have forgiven him, but it was likely that his brother never would.

Her voice turned tentative. “Do you think Eric’s ever going to warm up to you?”

“No.”

“Really?”

“His brother went to prison, Carrie. He’s ashamed of me, and I can’t say I blame him.” Bo meant that sincerely. Eric had gone to the University of Kentucky on a half dozen scholarships. He graduated with a degree in business and now worked for a big company in Cincinnati. He was married, went to church, and lived in a house in the suburbs. There was nothing about Eric Beauman that wasn’t steady and good.

Well, nothing beyond the fact that he was content to pretend that his brother didn’t exist.

“Last time I saw Eric, I told him that he was being judgmental and mean.”

“I wish you wouldn’t have.”

“How could I not? You served your time, Bo. And now you’re doing all kinds of stuff that’s good.” Her voice lowered. “Our stick-in-the-mud baby brother needs to move on.”

“I appreciate it, Carrie, but I’ve made peace with his decision. He’s a good man and looks after his wife and Momma. That’s all that matters.”

“You matter too.”

Carrie was going to get him choked up if she wasn’t careful. “Enough now. Okay?”

She sighed. “All right. Well, other than trying to finagle an invite to come see you... I just thought I’d call to see how you were doing.”

“I appreciate the call. I’ll come down and see you soon. Promise.”

“You better.”

“Tell Brian hey.”

“Will do. Don’t forget to call Momma, now.”

“I called her first thing this morning. You know I don’t forget that.” He owed his mother a lot. She sacrificed so much for them after their dad died back when he was in middle school. Times were tough and she’d been sad to only be able to give them chicken or beef once or twice a week.

He’d repaid her by being a juvenile thug and getting sentenced to prison.

“You’re a good person, Sam.”

As always, her praise made him feel sick to his stomach. Yeah, he’d been set up and forced to take the blame for a crime he hadn’t committed. But he’d done plenty of other things that he should’ve served time for.

He swallowed hard. “Love you, Carrie. You stay safe now.”

After they hung up, thoughts of his family stayed with him. They’d never had a lot of money, but they’d never gone without anything they’d had to have. He didn’t remember ever being hungry or wearing clothes that didn’t fit or that embarrassed him.

His brother Eric might have different memories—being the younger brother, he’d had to wear plenty of Bo’s hand-me-downs.

So why had Bo been the one with such a chip on his shoulder?

He’d been right in the middle of the road when he was a teenager. Good-looking enough to not worry about girls, but never the best-looking guy. Same with school and sports. He’d made Bs and Cs and made it onto the teams, but he had never been the star player. Janie always said that he’d coasted through life back then, and he reckoned that was a good description.

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