Page 118 of The Other Brother

Mum puts the keys back on the hook in the kitchen. Then she comes and stands in the doorway of the living room.

“How did it go?” Dad asks tentatively.

“It was good,” she says quietly. She walks over and sinks into a chair, looking at me.

Oh shit. Tears glisten in her eyes. My heart thuds.

Mum wipes the corner of her eye. “You were right, Ryan. I can’t believe I needed you to remind me of what’s important.” She takes a shaky breath. “It’s so easy to get caught up in the petty stuff and forget what matters.”

“Yeah, I know,” I say.

When I go up to my room, I have a message on my phone from Kate.

Thanks for bringing Mum xx

I stick my phone on my bedside table and rub my forehead. Maybe that’s the good thing to come out of this whole Cody thing. By thinking about what he would do in a situation, I’ve become a better brother.

It’s the only positive I can find right now.

Chapter32

The weeks trudge by. And I survive.

Sure, it sucks big-time being rejected. I can’t see how I will ever move past feeling like something is missing without Cody.

But I put myself out there. I let Cody know how serious I was about us. It sucks so much to have tried at something and failed. However, it’s much better than not having tried at all. Now at least no questions remain unanswered. Even if I don’t like the answers, at least I know.

Unfortunately, all my rational thinking about Cody and me melts into a puddle of nothingness as I get ready for Ethan’s christening. My hand shakes as I try to straighten my tie.

This is why I never should have had a relationship with my sisters’ half-brother. Everyone tried to warn us. I can’t escape from him like you can normally escape your ex. I’ll see him at Kate and Mel events for the rest of our lives.

At some point he’ll turn up with a new boyfriend. The thought hollows me. Having to see Cody with someone else, see him smile with someone else, laugh with someone else—it will be all kinds of awful.

Yet as I try to make myself regret Cody, I can’t. Getting to know him changed me. In a good way.

Mum’s wearing her usual I’m-bracing-myself-for-dealing-with-Frank face as we drive to the church. I’m sure I have a similar expression, although mine isn’t tinged with hate like hers.

Ha. We’re both about to face our exes. A great mother-son bonding moment. Are Frank and Cody having a similar father-son bonding moment?

It’s so messed up.

I’ve never been in St John’s Cathedral before, despite having grown up only ten minutes away.

Inside the church, there’s a musty smell of empty space.

“Was I ever christened?” I ask Mum as we walk down the aisle of wooden pews. At the end of the church is a huge stained-glass window depicting the nativity scene with baby Jesus looking all holy in a manger.

“No, we didn’t christen you. Your father and I decided not to. We felt it should be your choice.”

“But Kate and Mel were christened?”

“Yes. Frank wanted it. They were christened here, actually.”

“You used to come to church here?” My voice rings with disbelief. My mother is not the church-going type. I can’t believe she’s had a complete personality transplant since she divorced Frank.

“We didn’t attend church, but Frank’s parents were Anglican, so this is where we christened the girls.”

Kate’s holding Ethan in one of the front pews, looking flustered. She’s dressed in a yellow outfit. I wonder if she chose the outfit so that if Ethan makes any generous donations of his stomach contents, it will blend in with the fabric.