Page 46 of Grin and Bear It

“Yeah…?” He nodded slowly. “Alright then.”

He and Lin returned with all of that, setting the table but it was Lin who came over with a tray to put all the food on.

“The boys called you last night?” I asked him, ostensibly focussed on ferrying the sausages over to the plate.

“Yeah.”

“And where were you?”

I knew; we all knew: Lin had come home smelling of the sweetest honey. But I needed to hear him say it.

“You know where I was,” was his response.

“Lin—”

“I was with Ellie, Nash, and I will be again. If she calls me back.”

“If?” My eyes jerked up to meet his for the first time, staring.

“Things went well. I think she likes me. I sure as fuck like her.” He sat the platter down on the BBQ and then stared out over the grass. “Let’s just hope she’s the understanding type and doesn’t care that I had to skip out on her to deal with the boys.” He let out a long sigh. “So, we’re gonna talk about this?”

But before I could answer, I heard the scrape of the screen door being slid open and out walked Knox and Maddox, both looking sad and sorry for themselves. Maddox’s eyes darted around, trying to get a read on us, and his expression softened him when he saw the breakfast. My dads had done that too, lured us in with food, then had ‘the talk’. But Knox just stumbled forward, eyes squinting against the bright light, his hands shoved into his hoodie and the hood pulled forward over his head. He looked like death warmed up, but at least he was still here to shuffle forward.

“I’m not hungry,” he grunted and then he turned to go back to bed.

“It’s non-negotiable, Knox.”

My voice was calm and even: I’d worked damn hard to get it that way. But all my bottled-up concern and worry, as well as a good percentage of the anger and guilt had washed away when I had a shower.

At least for now.

“For fuck’s sake—”

“Just sit down,” I interrupted. “One hour, that’s all I ask. You’ll feel a million times better once you’ve had something to eat.”

“Even if you chuck it right back up again.” Cole shot our nephew a wink before sitting down at the table.

Lin followed, as did Maddox, then Ty swept in with a plate piled high with toast and a jug full of juice. Glasses were handed out as I turned off the BBQ, and then I sat down at the head of the table. Knox looked blearily at us all, before sitting down himself.

Not for the first time did I wonder how Adam had done this. Like, fuck, I remembered the grief they’d had as a sleuth when the twins were babies, one baby never settling at the same time as the other. Sharney had been run ragged and so had my brother and brothers-in-law, but then things seemed to get easier. The boys got bigger, more independent until they got here. They were young men. I nodded at that, swearing that’s the way I’d treat them, then I reached for the platter of bacon. I put some on my plate and then offered the platter to Mads.

He blinked, pausing for a second before taking it and then put a rasher on his plate.

“More than that,” Cole urged. “You’re a growing boy. I coulda eaten the crotch out of a low flying duck when I was your age.”

Mads smiled just a little and then put another piece of bacon on his plate.

“Not for me. Ugggh.”

Knox choked that off with an involuntary shudder, looking greener by the second, but Cole took the plate from him grabbed a few pieces of bread, adding eggs and pieces of fried potato, then pouring some chilli sauce on top before handing it to our nephew.

“Fuck, get that away from me,” the boy groaned.

“I’ve eaten one of these more times than I can count when I’m hungover. Fixes me up every time.” He shook the sandwich at Knox. “You’re man enough to be downing expensive fucking Scotch of a night time, you’re man enough to eat one of these.”

Maddox watched his brother closely as Knox took it, sniffing the sandwich experimentally before taking a bite.

“That’s the way,” I said, all of us laughing when he coughed after swallowing the first mouthful. Cole liked his chilli with serious bite. Knox persevered, eyes and nose running, chewing his way through the sandwich before reaching for some juice.

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