Page 34 of Valentine Dare

13

Brent

“Thank goodness for Friday!”I cried as I headed to the breakfast table and saw everyone having breakfast, apart from Jenny, who clearly wasn’t an early morning riser.

Mom smiled. “Good morning to you too. You had a good night, I heard.”

I winked at her. “Every morning getting up and seeing your beautiful face is a good morning, Mother.”

I kissed her on the cheek, and she waved my kiss goodbye. “You’re such a smooth operator. Just like your dad.”

I sighed as she mentioned him. Even after all this time, she still held a torch for him. I felt guilty about it. I missed him, but every day I seemed to remember him less and less. Unlike Trent and mom. They would always say stuff like that. Oh, dad would have loved to do this or he would be so proud of you today.

“You seen what’s on social media?” Trent asked, as he directed his question to me. He should know better than to expect me to wake up, shower, and go straight on my phone.

“Nope.”

“Yeah, it’s pretty crap. Kurt’s saying all this shit about Jenny and her dad.” Prent filled in the blanks, and I was surprised by his statement. When was he so concerned about social media? He tended to avoid it like the plague.

“Well, her dad clearly had a judge in his pocket. I’m not even sure how he managed to make bail, let alone is out and about.” Mom sighed.

My eyes darted across the table. I wasn’t in the mood for fruit, and it was all everyone seemed to be eating this morning.

I clapped my hands together ignoring the news. I wasn’t like my brother. I tended to sweep things under the carpet, a tendency I inherited from dad, I wasn’t proud of it. It was the way I was. “Who wants bacon and eggs? Something greasy and fattening to get the morning going, like a normal family?”

“Funny!” Trent said. “No, but we should do something about Kurt. He’s just too much.”

I sighed, thinking everyone had ignored my comment and was too busy talking about Kurt. It was too early for this type of conversation. Besides, it was Friday. When did Friday become the gloomy day?

“Friday fry-up for Brent only, coming up!” I hinted at the gang, who were still too busy nibbling on their fruit and drinking coffee. Even Prent, who liked a fry-up once in a while, was too busy discussing Kurt. It was as if my family had been transported and had been replaced by some boring freaks who were concerned about social media. I headed into the kitchen and decided I would make eggs and bacon, not only for myself but Jenny too.

“We need to pay him back,” Trent said, and Prent agreed.

“You need to concentrate on finishing your final year and going to college. That’s what you both should be doing. And ignoring Kurt like you’ve done for the last five years,” Mom said disapprovingly.

I was just about to ask her if she wasn’t heading to the office. It was weird she was wearing a shirt and jeans and didn’t seem to be in a hurry. She was always working, especially since dad died. She said working helped her get through it, and us guys were older and didn’t need her as much, but she needed something to keep her busy and that seemed to be being a lawyer again.

I shrugged. “I don’t get what’s the big deal. We agreed not to go on social media, especially for Jenny’s sake, and we’ve done pretty well until now. I don’t get why you’re going on about it.”

Mom said, “Because, he’s everywhere. Now, his trial date has been brought forwards, it’s the talk of the town at the moment. The media are feeding off it. They love a good story and are like rats. If they knew Jenny was here, they would be outside our front door.”

“Kids had something else to talk about, and now they’re back on Jenny. Look what happened on Monday. They wanted to make her pay!” Trent said, and I noticed I’d been out off the loop a bit.

What did he mean?

Prent told me they did some shit, and she skipped class, but then the way he described it, I didn’t think it was any big deal. Then again, what did he know? He didn’t go to our school. With essays needing to be handed in, and the end of the year soon approaching, I hadn’t spent as much time with her this week as I’d done before, apart from at the dinner table, she seemed fine to me. I felt as if my brothers were exaggerating. I knew why Trent was; he was all into her. As for Prent, he didn’t seem interested at first, and part of me wondered what had made him have a change of heart. I would grill him as soon as I finished making breakfast.

“Anyway, I have some errands to run. This is all interesting, but I have a meeting with Russell and her dad later, so I’ll fill you guys in on it during dinner,” Mom said as she reached out and kissed both Trent and Prent on the forehead before heading into the kitchen, no doubt to give me a kiss too.

“You not dressing for the office?” I asked as she stood close to me.

She shook her head. “Nope, we’re going to meet in a restaurant downtown. Besides, I couldn’t be bothered to put on a suit today. It’s an informal meeting, just to discuss Jenny. I set it up, but Russell chose the restaurant.”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course he did.”

“Anyway, have a good day.”

I smiled at her, and just as quickly as she was by my side giving me a kiss, she was away again.

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