Page 18 of An Adventure For Aster

“No,” he said. “I’m not that way. It just was random I found out who you were.”

“Ivy is good that way. I wouldn’t have been upset if she had. She is the best thing to ever happen to my brother. You haven’t met Brooks, have you?”

“No,” he said, reaching for his beer that was just set down. She wasn’t ready to order, but he got a burger so she picked the first chicken sandwich she saw. “Why did you ask me if I met your brother?”

“He’s pretty gruff and hard to be around. He’s always been that way. He does not smile a lot. Used to get in fights as a kid because he couldn’t stand to see people getting picked on.”

Usually Brooks was defending their parents.

“A good trait to have,” he said. “If you’re not caught in the fight.”

“He got caught enough, then learned not to. Nothing was ever horrible. He matured pretty fast. My parents weren’t tolerant of it. You talked about your parents not being around, mine were. But we didn’t have a lot. My father is a boat mechanic. River and Brooks worked at the marina summers and school breaks. My mother is a waitress at the same diner she’s been at most of her life. I worked there as a kid too.”

Many made comments to her and her brothers about that. That they’d never be anything more than their parents.

In her eyes, her parents were the best there was. Money wasn’t everything.

She had no idea what kind of situation Aster had, but it wasn’t one with parents that appeared to be there for him.

So in her eyes, she had more than enough wealth.

“I had a lot of jobs in high school,” he said. “That is how I got to buy things I needed. My parents provided clothing and fed us, but it’s not like what I considered normal.”

“What’s normal?” she asked, tilting her head. “I see so many kids that don’t even know what it’s like to sit down with their family at dinner twice a week. In my house, that was every day. My mother worked nights when we were little so that she could watch us, but she went to work after our dinner was served. My father cleaned it up and she left and he put us to bed. When we were in school, she switched to working days and then we had that structure and dinner when she got out of work at six.”

“In my mind that is normal,” he said. “My mother hardly ever had food in the house unless it was snacks or leftover takeout. She barely cooked. We didn’t starve, they’d just go pick up something or bring it home from work. We ate where we planted our butt. Half the time my father was with his friends or my mother went out with hers.”

“I see that a lot too,” she said. “Parents in the picture but not active.”

“That sums it up,” he said.

“You mentioned a sister?” she asked.

“Daphne.”

“Another flower name,” she said. “I’m sure you figured out we are water names. Comes from living here and my father’s love of the water. He’s worked on boats his whole life but never owned one. We can’t get our parents to take anything from us. We’ve all tried. Last year we were thrilled they finally accepted new furniture for Christmas.”

It only worked because she took her mother shopping after she said her father’s recliner should be retired, as it was almost as old as her. While her mother was picking that out, she added a couch to the order so her mother got something new too.

“Let’s say that’s the opposite of my parents,” he said drily.

“Does your sister still live back home?” she asked.

“She does,” he said. “She’s twenty-eight and works her butt off. She works for a daycare and is a waitress part time.”

“Sounds like we grew up about the same way,” she said. “I was a waitress for a few years when I first started teaching. I have student loans and hated living at home, but man, I didn’t make enough to be on my own at first.”

She got her apartment about five years ago. Just a seven-hundred-square-foot place that she made her own and was proud of it.

“Daphne still lives at home and hates it,” he said. “I’ve offered to help her move out a few times, but she won’t take it. Sounds like your parents.”

“Which means you and she were raised right.”

“I don’t know about that,” he said. “I think it came from other people. Some of those teachers in my life and then I tried to instill it in her.”

Raine smiled softly and reached her hand out. “That’s one of the nicest things anyone has ever said to me.”

“What?” he said. “It’s not like you weremyteacher.”

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