The Wrong Brother

Chapter 15

MONTY

“And then, once they processed that refund, she called back and said never mind she wanted to keep the quartz countertop instead. I just about died. I’m pretty sure the retailer has me on some blacklist now.”

Jade let out an exasperated sigh and the rest of the table laughed at her story. She works for a real estate mogul who remodels and flips houses and today was quite the day for her. Apparently one of the designers couldn’t make up her mind about a countertop and it involved repeated phone calls to cancel and re-order a product. Jade seemed exhausted by the end of the conversation, but maybe that was just because she was a lively storyteller.

Neither of us could remember if we had ever officially met back when Iris was dating Maddox in high school. She clearly remembers seeing me at a few parties and events, but I couldn’t put a finger on it. Not surprisingly though, whenever I was home I was mostly focused on attending what I needed to attend so I could get out of there sooner. 

I’m glad I took the chance to travel over here tonight to see Iris. I just wanted to make sure that she had one less thing to worry about after Nia’s practice. My plan wasn’t to finagle my way into their dinner plans, but I can’t say I’m disappointed this is how it ended. I pulled up to the house right as Iris and Nia were pulling in. The smile on that little girl’s face made my entire week. Iris hadn’t told her I was planning on coming over after all, she wanted it to be a surprise. I’m glad she did because her reaction was priceless.

Tonight’s dinner might only be some sandwiches and random chips that were in the pantry, but it feels more important than any high-end catered meal I’ve ever had with my parents. “So what exactly do you do, Jade?”

“I’m the phone bitch, can’t you tell?” She snickers.

“Jade.” Iris raised her eyebrow and then moved her eyes in Nia’s direction.

“See, now I know you’re just trying to pretend because your boyfriend is here because Nia’s heard us use curse words plenty of times before and you never go all mom on me.”

“That’s not it. Maybe we just need to be watching our mouths a bit. I don’t need her to start thinking it’s okay to have that kind of mouth.”

“Don’t worry, Mom, I know those are adult words. Plus, I don’t want to lose any points at school so I would never.”

“Lose points?” Iris asked to clarify.

“Mrs. Stevie gives us class points when we are caught doing something good, but if you’re doing something dangerous or against the rules she’ll also take points away. Lots of kids get points taken away because they’re using bad words.”

“What grade are you in, Nia?”

“I’m in fourth grade,” she says with a huge grin. “It means just one more year until I get to be in band! Except that means we only have one recess,” she frowns.

“That stinks, just one recess?”

“Yeah, I guess it’s kind of okay because sometimes I’m tired during morning recess and I don’t do anything. Lunch recess is where it’s at.”

“Oh yeah?” She had me smiling big. “What’s so special about lunch recess?”

“Well, first of all, we get to play basketball and it used to be just me and Nikki, but then the principal told the boys that they had to let us play too. So now me and Nikki play against the boys and some of the fifth grade girls play too and we pretty much beat them so bad!”