Page 3 of An Unexpected Twist

Any other day when Booneneededto be up early, he neverwantedto wake up. Probably some cosmic bullshit working against him. Might as well get in the shower. As he emerged from his room, loud music bellowed up the staircase.

“Dammit Pearson, really?” No point trying to yell at him from the staircase. His brother would never hear anything through that racket. Besides, he’d have some shady ass logical comment that Boone would struggle to argue with anyway. He grabbed a towel out of the linen closet in the hall and went in the bathroom, flipping the light on as he entered.

“Are you kidding me?” This is exactly why he lived alone and liked it.

Boone left the bathroom and went downstairs in search of Pearson, counting to ten so he wouldn’t kill his brother. He found him in the kitchen, in a wake of eggshells covering the entire counter, egg whites dripping onto the floor.

“What in the hell are you doing to my kitchen?”

“Oh hey, bout time you got out of bed sleepy head. I’m making breakfast. Waffles?” He raised a plate full of blueberry waffles toward Boone. As he grabbed the plate before Pearson dropped it, his hand stuck in a glob of syrup dripping off the side of the plate.

“Youarecleaning up this kitchen when you’re done, got it?”

“Hey man, of course I will, you know me?”

“Yes, I do know you, that’s exactly why I made that statement Pearson. If it’s the same way you cleaned up the bathroom after you used it, we’re all in trouble.”

“What’s wrong with the bathroom?”Good god, did he have to ask? Is he like multiple personality challenged and doesn’t remember what his alter did?

“You’re kidding, right? You left the tub full of waterandthe carpet is soaked. If I hadn’t seen your towel on the floor, I would have guessed you didn’t use one. Or did you just splash half of the water out? You aren’t supposed to swim in the tub.”

“Maybe you should get a maid to help you around here.” His brother changed the subject like he hadn’t even heard Boone talking.

“Were you even listening to me? I don’t need a maid. You need to find your own place to live.”And it won’t be in my house.

“Glad I haven’t redone the upstairs yet, I’m sure that water soaked right into the floorboards.”

“When are you going to fix up this place? It could use a lot work?” Pearson flipped sausage links out of a pan onto Boones plate, oblivious to his growing anger.

“Pearson, when are you leaving?”

“You tired of me already big brother? I thought maybe I could hang around awhile. You know, sibling bonding? Plus, I could be your cook, I’m pretty good in the kitchen if you didn’t notice.”

“Wait, awhile? What’s your idea of a while?”

“Oh, I don’t know, a few weeks maybe.” He clanked the pans together and swung them toward the sink, knocking the measuring cup to the floor. “Good thing that’s Pyrex.”

When Boone graduated high school, and moved out of his parents’ house, that was all the permission he needed to not have to live with any of his family again, and that included his brother. Boone really liked living on his own.

“Why aren’t you staying with mom and dad?”

Pearson shrugged his shoulders. “I was but mom kicked me out.”

He knew his mother was a smart woman.

“She suggested I come to your place so here I am.”

Lovely.

He could guarantee that’s why his mom wanted to see him. She would play the mom card and convince him that he was doing them all a favor by helping and it wasn’t like he didn’t have plenty of room. Shit.

“Okay, if you’re going to stay here, there will be rules and youwillbe working for your room and board.”

“Sure thing bro. I don’t mind cooking all day.” He was sure his younger brother was living in an alternate reality.

“No, when I say work, I mean hard, hands-on labor. You’ll be working on this house every day and we’ll get you started in the bathroom upstairs, after you make this kitchen spotless.”

After Pearson stopped gawking at Boone, he looked around at the mess like he’d only just now noticed it was there, then threw the towel onto the counter.

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