Page 190 of Broken Brothers

“You can have a little,” he said as he hugged me. “If Mom’s going to have some, you’re going to have some. Don’t tell me you’re going to say no to Mom.”

“Mom?”

She turned back to me as she set dessert in the fridge, a chocolate cake. She just shrugged and smiled.

“Sorry, Chance. This single lady has got to let loose a little bit!”

“Oh, Lord, OK, wow,” I said, chuckling.

That was another dramatic change that had come within just the last month. My mother—she wasn’t my biological mother, but to me, she’d earned the title of mom—had finally divorced Edwin. She actually said I had a large part in it, but I didn’t believe that for two seconds. They’d been married for longer than I had been alive; a significant portion of that had to happen because of her own courage and will.

It shocked me at first, but for once, I was happy to see a relationship fall apart. Marriages didn’t deserve to be what Edwin and Melanie had, with two people together more out of convenience than love. Melanie had also gotten more money out of it to take care of herself and the two of us than any woman ever needed, so that wasn’t going to be an issue either.

“Maybe Mom, you can party after you leave,” I jokingly said.

“Oh, heavens, you know I’ve got to take advantage of every moment I have, I can’t let it go to waste!” she said with a laugh.

Like all the other moments.

I wasn’t sure if this was good etiquette, but I really was curious about one thing.

“How is old Edwin, by the way? Have either of you talked to him?”

“Nope!” Mom said instantly, sounding relieved to not have to answer that question in the affirmative.

Morgan gently laughed as he held me back. I knew that my question might not have been the most appropriate, especially to ask Mom, but I hadn’t heard a word from him since the papers said he was resigning at the end of the quarter.

“You can tell it’s taken a toll on him,” Morgan said. “He’s not as engaged. Keeps his head sunk and low. Won’t look me in the eyes.”

“Damn,” I said. “I suppose the old man had it coming to him.”

“A bit,” Morgan said, his eyes looking distant.

I supposed it was a lot harder for Morgan to have to deal with than me. Edwin had made no bones about treating Morgan better than me, which sucked for me, but it did mean that Morgan had an actual relationship with him. I tried to empathize with Morgan, but considering what kind of person Edwin was, it was difficult to favor Morgan feeling sorry.

“Think he’s that way because he’s sorry for what he did, or because he’s upset that he’s lost everything?”

Morgan exhaled through his nostrils, leaning on the wall.

“I’ll answer that a different night,” he said. “I don’t want to discuss it in front of Mom.”

“Fair enough,” I said, patting him on the back.

The two of us came into the kitchen table as Mom looked to be rearranging everything before me. I laughed as I tried to get her to stop, but she was insistent on taking charge.

“Honey, you put the forks and knives on the wrong side,” she said. “And this type of glass, no, it won’t do with that kind of meal. And your food—where is your food?”

My eyes went wide. I didn’t think I’d spent that much time with Morgan, but I had largely been going by feel, and…

I ran over to the oven and opened it. The good news was my sweet potatoes weren’t burned or overcooked.

Unfortunately, the same could not be said for my chicken.

“Whoops.”

“No, don’t whoops yourself, Chance, you’ve been nice enough to host us here, we can make do,” Mom said. “You know what, I’m going to go get a pizza. And no, don’t argue with me. The sweet potatoes can be dessert.”

“But—”