Page 10 of Deck of Scarlets

I trekked down the stairs and slid into my usual seat across from my brother, Aiden. He was on his way to the University of Maine, or as I liked to call it, Hicksville, USA. He chose a school far from my parents and society so he could be part of a pyramid scheme selling marijuana out of his dorm room.

At least he stopped drinking.

“You look rough,” he pointed out.

“It’s the glow after a hangover,” I said, grabbing a piece of toast.

“Is that what you’re telling yourself these days?” he teased.

I chucked a piece of crust at his forehead. “Shut up.”

“Guys, not at breakfast,” warned Dad over his cup of coffee.

Aiden brushed the crumbs off his shirt and gave our dog, Tito, the crust. I could hear his little Corgi mouth chomp on the burnt piece underneath the table.

My mother walked in carrying a platter of waffles and fruit. “I forgot how much I love to cook.”

“Should we fire Rose?” my dad suggested, looking over his newspaper.

She took her seat and gave him a warning look from the other end of the table. “No. Her help is much appreciated. But maybe some nights, I could let her go home early.”

He hid behind the paper again with a smirk. “Good call.”

“I wanted us to enjoy one last breakfast together before all my children went to college,” said Mom.

“You sound like we’re moving across the world.” Aiden laughed, helping himself to some waffles and fruit.

“Maine is far,” she stated.

“I wish I went far for college,” I mumbled, piling up my plate. I wished I never went at all, but if I had a choice…

Mom pursed her lips in a tight line. I could tell she was holding back her distaste for my chosen school.

Dad folded his paper and began to pile his plate with waffles. “Columbia University is a wonderful school to get into.”

“Please, Remi is literally down the street. It’s more of a vacation for her,” interrupted Aiden.

“You don’t think I can handle being on my own?” I asked. I loved being in the city, but college… not so much.

“Nope. Not a chance,” admitted Aiden.

“You’re an asshole—”

“Robert!” my mom called.

Dad sighed deeply into his hands. “Can we please just have a nice time together? Just once?”

I looked down at my food, trying to keep my cool.

It was no surprise to my family that New York would be my home until the day I died, another reason why Grams’ will almost made my mom break her favorite coffee table.

“Besides,” Aiden said in between bites of waffles, “Remi couldn’t go two seconds without her posse.”

That sent me over the edge. “You couldn’t go two seconds without getting arrested, but here we are.”

My mother had, at this point, walked away from the table, and my father was inhaling his food, ignoring our childish banter.

I got up, which left Aiden hanging on his rebuttal, but I wasn’t going to give him a chance and headed to the kitchen, where my mother sat on the stool at the island, looking over the mail. She looked so small on the chair, her blonde, curly hair tied back in a ponytail. There was a time in her life when she was young and wild and had done some of the same reckless things her children had, and if I wasn’t mistaken, she fought with her siblings as well. Sometimes she forgot the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

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