Page 6 of Lilacs and Leather
Jason: Hey. When you’ve got a sec, can you call me?
Jason: Not an emergency, just would rather not text this
Jason: But please call when you get these. Please.
Way to be cryptic, Jace.I roll my eyes at my brother’s texts. He’s younger than me by less than a full year and has always been a worry wart. I’m sure he just wants to catch up, but reading the messages after waking up from my nightmare has me on edge.
It’s still too early for any sane human to be awake, so I take my sugar-with-added-coffee back to bed. I pull up a streaming service, settling in to watch a few episodes of Say Yes to the Dress while I wake up. Trash reality TV has always been my go-to guilty pleasure. A few episodes later, I’m interrupted as my phone rings, Jason’s photo taking over the screen. We share the same eye color, but his hair is a closer match to our father’s platinum blond.
“I didn’t expect you to be up so early, Jace,” I say by way of greeting after I hit the answer button.
“Hey, Lydi. I could say the same to you. I thought I’d be waking you up for sure,” he says, his deep voice rumbling through the speakers.
“Yeah, well, I had a nightmare and couldn’t get back to sleep.”
“Everything okay?”
I hesitate, biting my bottom lip. “Yeah,” I reply, drawing the word out a little.
“Was it about Dar-”
“Yes. I’m fine, Jason,” I snap, tone darkening.
“Okay, geez. Don’t bite my head off, just checking,” Jason says lightly.
There are a few moments of silence, and I hear his coffee machine kicking on.
“So, um, I’m not calling just to talk about your dreams,” he starts, picking his words carefully.
“Oh?” I say neutrally.
“Grandpa Fletcher passed yesterday.”
“Oh.”
I frown, and my stomach twists a little with guilt. I wasn’t super close with my mother’s father, but I knew he had been in and out of the hospital for his colon cancer over the last few years. I didn’t realize he’d taken that big of a turn, though.
“How’s Mom holding up?” I ask cautiously.
“Oh, you know. The pity party is in full swing, and she’s milking this for all it’s worth.”
I can practically hear his eyes rolling across the line, and a smirk tugs at my lips. Of course, this had to be about her. Everything always was.
“So should I be bracing for impact or….?” I trail off.
“Nah, she deleted your number the last time y’all had it out, and she is too proud to ask anyone for it again,” Jason says with an ironic laugh.
I laugh, too, remembering that incredible blow out. She had said she was finally done with my “ungrateful, disrespectful behavior” and I shouldn’t ever contact her again. That was less than a year ago, and three years after I had moved out and limited my contact to the absolute minimum.
“That’s good,” I hum, taking another sip of my coffee.
“Dad, though…” Jason mumbles.
My throat goes dry. “What about him?” I rasp.
Jason sighs heavily, going quiet for a moment before answering. “He wants us all there. He’s even pulling rank on Adam to get him home for the funeral.”
Adam, the second oldest of my siblings, joined the military straight out of high school, and has moved around every few years with his training and assignments. If my father is pulling alpha rank to get him home…