Page 36 of Easton
Why am I like this?
“Everything is okay. Just checking in to see how you’re doing,” I say, using the same reason he did when he texted this morning.
“Oh.” He frowns. “I’m fine.”
He heads past me to the front door, without looking me in the eyes. I’m not sure if he means for me to follow. Part of me wants to turn around and leave because it’s a whole lot easier than navigating our relationship, but instead I go after him.
“What were you doing?” While all three of us are capable of working with our hands, it’s not something I’ve ever seen Rhett do just for fun. It’s not something I’ve seen him do much of, if at all.
“Nothing.” He goes into the kitchen. I stop at the table and see his phone sitting there. Has it been there all day? Maybe he doesn’t even know that I replied to him like an asshole earlier.
Rhett grabs a bottle of water from the fridge and downs it. He’s bigger than both me and Morgan, taller and broader. Rhett’s only thirty-six, but he’s already got some gray in his hair.
“You been staying out of trouble?” he asks when he finishes drinking.
The question immediately sets me on edge. “Yeah. I doubt it will last, though.”
“No one can control your actions but you, East.”
“Fuck off, Rhett. Sorry not all of us are as perfect as you.”
He sighs, and yeah, I feel the same. This isn’t what I wanted to happen by coming here, but I’m not surprised it has. This is just how we are.
“I don’t have the energy to fight with you.”
I nod.Me neither.I glance at the heavy wooden table that doesn’t look like something you’d buy in a chain store. It’s got detailed carvings and designs on the legs. “This is…nice.”
This is nice? That’s the best I can come up with? He’s my brother, and the only thing I know how to say to him is complimenting his furniture?
“Just a table.”
“I think she’d like it…Morgan naming the bar Gracie’s,” I say, at a loss for any other words, though talking about her always makes it difficult to breathe.
Rhett flinches. He must not have known. Goddamn it. I fucked up again.
“There’s no doubt in my mind Morgan was going to tell you.”
“Well, I doubt it.”
“You answer his calls? Come to the door when he knocks?”
The silence that greets me is response enough. He doesn’t, which I already knew.
“I think it’s real special,” Rhett finally replies. “The name. She loved being the center of attention, so she’d get a kick out of it.”
A surprise chuckle falls from my lips. How sad is that? I have never talked and laughed telling stories about my other half. “She did.”
“And you loved giving her that. You were a lot more vocal and fun-loving…before…but you would always step back and let her be in the spotlight. There’s nothing you wouldn’t have done for her.”
A whole world of pressure lands in my chest, squeezing my lungs. “Can’t talk about her,” is all I can say.
He nods, and both of us just stand there, neither having any idea what to say to the other. How is it this bad? This isn’t normal. None of it is.
I hate this…hate the way things are, East.
Me too, but I’m not sure how to change it.
“You should talk to him…Morgan,” I tell Rhett.