He lifted my knuckles to his lips, tenderly kissing all four of them. I watched him, in awe of how different he was here than the man he was at the office. No one would believe it if they saw him standing in his dad’s kitchen, cooking and kissing the hurt from my hand.
“You’re one of the boys, too,” I said when he turned to check the progress of the omelet.
“I’ve tried telling him that for years,” Jim said, returning from the hall. “You should have seen him dressing Trenton for his first day of kindergarten. He made sure to fuss like their mom would have.”
“I gave him a bath the night before, and he woke up dirty.” Thomas frowned. “I had to clean his face four times before he got on the bus.”
“You’ve always taken care of them. Don’t think I didn’t notice,” Jim said, a tinge of regret in his voice.
“I know you did, Dad,” Thomas said, clearly uncomfortable with the conversation.
Jim crossed his arms over his protruding belly, pointed once at Thomas, and then touched his finger to his mouth. “Do you remember Trav’s first day? You all beat the stuffing out of Johnny Bankonich for making Shepley cry?”
Thomas puffed out a laugh. “I remember. Too many kids got their first black eyes from one of the Maddox brothers.”
Jim wore a proud smile. “Because you boys protected each other.”
“That we did,” Thomas said, folding over the omelet in the pan.
“Together, there wasn’t anything you couldn’t figure out,” Jim said. “You’d beat the tar outta one of your brothers, and then you’d beat the tar outta someone else for laughing about you kicking your brother’s ass. There’s nothing none of you can do that would change how much you mean to each other. Just remember that, son.”
Thomas looked at his father for a long time and then cleared his throat. “Thanks, Dad.”
“You got a pretty girl there, and I think she’s smarter than you. Don’t forget that either.”
Thomas put Jim’s omelet on the plate and handed it to him.
Jim patted Thomas on the shoulder and took his plate to the dining room.
“You want one?” Thomas asked.
“I think I’ll just get coffee at the airport,” I said.
Thomas smirked. “Are you sure? I make a mean omelet. Don’t you like eggs?”
“I do. It’s just too early to eat.”
“Good. That means I’ll get to make you one of these sometime. Camille hated eggs…” He trailed off, instantly regretting his words. “I don’t know why the fuck I just said that.”
“Because you were thinking about her?”
“It just popped into my head.” He looked around. “Being here does weird things to me. I feel like I’m two people. Do you feel different when you’re at your parents’ house?”
I shook my head. “I’m the same everywhere I go.”
Thomas considered that and then nodded, looking down. “We should probably get on the road. I’ll go check on Taylor.”
He kissed my cheek and then turned left down the hallway. I ambled into the dining room, pulling out a chair next to Jim. The walls were decorated with poker chips along with pictures of dogs and people playing poker.
Jim was enjoying his omelet in silence with a sentimental look on his face. “It’s strange how food can remind me of my wife. She was a damn good cook. Damn good. When Thomas makes me one of her omelets, it’s almost like she’s still here.”
“You must miss her, especially during times like today. When is your flight scheduled to leave?”
“I’m leaving later, sis. I’m catching a ride with Trent and Cami. Tyler is, too. We’re on the same flight.”
Cami. I wondered why Thomas didn’t call her that.
“That’s good that we can all carpool to the airport.”
Thomas and Taylor stood near the front door.
“Are you coming, baby?” Thomas called.
I stood. “See you this evening, Jim.”
He winked at me, and I hurried to the door. Thomas held it open for Taylor and me, and then we walked out to Travis’s car.
Dawn was two hours away, and the whole town of Eakins seemed to still be asleep. The only sounds were our shoes crunching the frozen dew on the grass.
I stuffed my hands into the front pocket of the hoodie and shivered.
“Sorry,” Taylor said, pushing the key remote to unlock the doors and then again to pop the trunk.
Thomas opened the back door for me and then walked the bags to the trunk.
“I should have warmed up the car,” Taylor said, standing next to his open door.
“Yeah, that would have been nice,” Thomas said, loading our bags and then Taylor’s.
“I couldn’t sleep last night. I’m freaking out that Falyn’s not going to show.”
Taylor sat behind the wheel and then waited for Thomas to get in.
He started the car, but he waited to switch on the lights until he backed out of the driveway, so they wouldn’t shine into his dad’s house. I smiled at the unconsciously sweet gesture.
The dashboard lights made Thomas’s and Taylor’s faces glow a dim green.
“She’ll show,” Thomas said.
“I think I’m going to tell her about the chick at the bar,” Taylor said. “It’s been eating at me.”
“Bad idea,” Thomas said.
“You don’t think he should tell her?” I asked.
“Not if he wants to keep her.”
“I didn’t cheat on her,” Taylor said. “She dumped me.”
Thomas looked at him, impatient. “She doesn’t care that she broke up with you. You were supposed to be sitting at home, thinking of ways to get her back.”
Taylor shook his head. “I was, and then I started feeling like I was going to go crazy, so I bought a plane ticket to San Diego.”
Thomas shook his head. “When are you dumbasses going to learn that you can’t go off and sleep with someone the second you’re rejected? It’s not going to make you feel better. Nothing will make you feel better but time.”
“Is that what made you feel better?” Taylor asked.
My breath caught.
Thomas craned his neck and glanced back at me. “Maybe now isn’t the best time, Taylor.”
“Sorry. I just…I need to know—in case she doesn’t show. I can’t feel like that again, man. It feels like death. Liis, do you know how to get over someone?”
“I, um…I’ve yet to have my heart broken.”
“Really?” Taylor asked, looking at me in the rearview mirror.
I nodded. “I didn’t date much in high school, but it’s avoidable. One can analyze behaviors and observe markers that tip off the end of any relationship. It’s not that hard to calculate risk.”
“Whoa,” Taylor said, looking to Thomas. “You’ve got your hands full with this one.”
“Liis has yet to figure out that it’s not about math,” Thomas said with a smile. “Love isn’t about predictions or behavioral markers. It just happens, and you have no control.”
I frowned. In the last three weeks, I’d had a glimpse of what Thomas described, and it was becoming obvious that it was going to be something I would have to get used to.
“So, you’ve only dated guys who didn’t make you feel too much,” Taylor said.
“Definitely no one I was…invested in.”
“Are you invested now?” Taylor asked.
Even from the back, I could see the grin on Thomas’s face.
“You’re going to let your little brother do your dirty work?” I asked.
“Just answer the question,” Thomas said.
“I’m invested,” I said.
Taylor and Thomas traded glances.
Then, Thomas turned to me. “If it makes you feel better, I’ve run the numbers. I’m not going to break your heart.”
“Oh,” Taylor said, “intellectual foreplay. I don’t know what the fuck y’all are talking about, but I’m feeling a little uncomfortable right now.”
Thomas smacked the back of Taylor’s head.
“Hey! There will be no molesting the driver on this trip!” Taylor said, rubbing the sting from the back of his head.