Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 83211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83211 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 416(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 277(@300wpm)
Mom laughs.
“People stink,” I say. “Like, they haven’t bathed stink. And they’re touching everything in there like they’re intentionally trying to spread the stink to the apples.” I gag. “I can’t. And there’s the kids screaming. The people on speakerphone walking down the middle of the aisles. Yeah, it’s a nope for me. I’m just going to have the essentials delivered and eat at your house from now on. I tried.”
“Well, trying is more than I expected,” Dad says.
I kiss Mom on the cheek. She pats my face like she used to do when I was a little boy. Even now, it makes me happy. Sara can’t take this away from me.
“What’s for dinner?” I ask as Dad rummages through the overflow pantry in the hallway.
“I made your favorite—pork chops, buttered potatoes, and green beans,” Mom says.
“And cooked apples?” I ask.
“You know I didn’t forget the apples.”
I grin and walk by her. “You’re the greatest, Mom.”
“Don’t forget your toilet paper,” she says.
“I’ll get it before I leave.” Maybe.
Sunday Dinner is in full swing as I enter the kitchen. Pots boil on the stove, a timer beeps on the oven. My brothers sit around the table with glasses of tea in their hands.
I look forward to this every week—the one day that we all get together without question. Mom making food. Dad giving her hell. My brothers catching up from the previous week and making plans for the next.
I’ve worried my whole life that this would end. That Foxx would move and do whatever it is he does somewhere else. Moss would decide to try life elsewhere. That Maddox would want a break from all of us and start a life in a place without being one of those Carmichael kids.
Me? Being one of those Carmichael kids has been a part of who I am since the day I was born. There’s never been a moment in my life that there haven’t been four boys before me and Paige with me; it’s all I know. My teachers compared me to them. My girlfriends’ parents were aware of the antics of Jess and Moss. The wrestling teams remembered Maddox coming through the year before and were ready to tear me apart.
And I didn’t mind. Actually, I kind of liked it. Paige liked it too.
I never felt alone in that scenario. I always felt like a part of something bigger, like I was a piece of a puzzle. There were people to come home to, that expected something of you, that would hunt you down if you were late on curfew. And probably relished the chance to embarrass you in front of your friends. Thanks, Jess.
The only thing I’ve been afraid of in my life is this ending. Every week when we show up at Mom and Dad’s, it reminds me that it hasn’t. And hopefully, it won’t.
I pour myself a drink. “What are you guys arguing about?”
“Listen to this shit,” Maddox says, rocking back in his chair. Mom’s going to be pissed about that. “Jess thinks he can beat me in a race.”
I take a sip of my tea and make my way to the table. “Race as in cars or feet?”
“Feet.” Maddox laughs. “There’s no fucking way.”
“Please,” Jess says, shaking his head. “You’d have no chance against me in a forty-yard dash.”
Foxx crosses his arms over his chest and tries not to laugh. He flicks a toothpick around between his lips.
“Moss,” Maddox says. “Tell him the truth—that I’d beat his ass in forty yards.”
Moss looks between the two of them. “I don’t know.”
“What?” Maddox says, mouth gaping.
“You both know I’d take you, right?” I say, sitting at the far end of the table.
Jess snorts. Maddox laughs. Moss shakes his head. Foxx just stares at me.
“I’m the youngest,” I say. “Quickest. I’m in better shape than all of you. And although looks probably don’t have much to do with it, I’m also the most handsome.”
“I would’ve brought my boots if I’d had known the shit was gonna get this deep,” Foxx says.
“Oh, what?” I turn to him. “You think you could beat me?”
There is no doubt that I would beat Foxx’s ass in wrestling. As a matter of fact, I’d take all my brothers with little fanfare. And if it was a straight-up fair fight, Jess is the only one that I think has the potential to give me trouble. But if all rules were off the table and it was a life-or-death situation, something tells me that none of us would stand a chance. Call it a fighter’s intuition.
Foxx would win before we even knew we were in trouble.
“Banksy,” Foxx says, slipping the toothpick out of his mouth. “I applaud your self-confidence. But it would behoove you to remember that overconfident individuals are prone to making mistakes.”
I look him in the eye, wondering if he’ll flinch. He doesn’t. Awesome. “Well, it’s a damn good thing I’m not overconfident then, isn’t it?”