Page 133 of The Prodigal Son

He nods before we both climb out of the car.

I stand under the hot water for what feels like hours. I needed this. If I could wash away the last forty-eight hours, I would.

When I come downstairs after my shower, wearing the clean clothes Adam brought over for me, I’m greeted by all of my brothers in one room. They’re sitting around the table, chatting like it’s just a regular Tuesday morning. It feels like sliding the last puzzle piece into the puzzle.

“Hey, baby,” my mother says as she stands from the table with her coffee cup in hand. “You hungry?”

“Starving,” I reply.

Adam grabs me a plate and my brothers rush to fill it with eggs and bacon and biscuits and pancakes. I grin softly at them as I take the plate. “Thanks, guys.”

“Here,” Adam says, pulling out the chair next to him. “I saved you a seat.”

We stare at each other before I sit down next to him. Luke is across from me, watching me like the protector he is. Caleb tries to act natural, picking food off his plate. And my mother is at the head of the table to my left. She looks content and I don’t take that for granted for a moment.

Then we fall into easy conversation. No one brings up Jensen or church or Dad or anything. We mostly joke and catch up and poke fun at each other. It’s nice.So nice.

I needed this. We’ve never had the opportunity to be together like this without our father around. Just brothers.

Adam tells us that Sage wants to start trying for another baby already. Caleb makes a sex joke, and Luke immediately replies with some jab about him having the most sex since he hastwospouses, and my mom winces next to me.

“You boys behave!” she says, covering her ears. “Mothers are not supposed to hear this stuff.”

We all laugh so hard my cheeks hurt. It seems wrong after what the last two days have entailed, but it feels good to smile now.

My first thought is that I want to tell Jensen about this. Eventually, I will.

Getting an idea, I pull out my phone and open the Notes app. It’s filled with lyrics and ideas, and I open a new one.

Breakfast at my mom’s, my brother bringing up threesomes.

I’ll keep a running note of everything I want to tell Jensen until I see him again. It’ll keep me occupied over the next two months. And it will always remind me of how lucky I am that I will have the opportunity to tell him.

Even after breakfast is done and we clean up the table, we still sit down together and talk. No one is in any hurry to leave this.

That is until there’s a knock at the door.

“Expecting company?” Adam asks my mom. She shakes her head.

“Not that I know of,” she replies as she stands from the table. “It’s probably one of the neighbors. I’ll get it.”

My brothers and I watch as she walks to the front door. We all glance at each other with confusion, expecting her to greet one of her church friends.

But then I hear a voice that sends chills down my spine.

“I don’t think you should be here,” my mother says gently.

“He’s my son too, Melanie. I just want to see him.”

Chairs fly from the table as my brothers bolt up in unison. I’m too frozen to move, but I hear footsteps as someone enters the house.

Then I see my father pausing at the entrance of the dining room, his eyes immediately landing on me.

All three of my brothers move to stand like guards between him and me.

“Get the fuck out,” Adam barks first.

I rise from the dining room chair, feeling helpless as I watch my brothers fume with rage at our father.

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