Page 11 of Her Brother's Keeper

Me: Not what u expected?

Maren: I’m sorry, I must sound horribly judgmental.

Me: I’m used to it from citizens like u.

Maren: Ouch, not sure what you mean by that but yeah, I apologize. It was wrong of me to judge you like that when all you’ve been is nice to me.

Me: Sorry, sarcasm and joking don't come thru txt the best. I’m in an MC – Citizen is what we call anyone not in the club with us. Ur a citizen, Sage is a citizen, anyone not in a patch is a citizen.

Maren: The way you make it sound, it sounds as if ‘citizen’ is either a dirty word or somehow less in your eyes.

Me: Maybe it does carry thru txt just fine. :-P Seriously tho, it’s hard to explain. I’ll take you out to dinner sometime and tell you all about it if u want. Well, what I can say without giving up any club business.

Another long pause. I pictured her lying there, phone raised above her face, considering carefully what I’d just said. She had a habit of chewing the inside of her cheek when she was thinking, causing an adorable one-sided dimple when she did it. Finally, she texted back.

Maren: I think I’d like that actually.

Me: Good, it’s a date then.I texted it without thinking, and sighed thinking it was going to be a pain in the ass weaseling out of this one, my brain asking me,now why the fuck did you do that, numbnuts? She’s young enough to be your kid. A date? Really? She isn’t even eighteen!

Maren: Aren’t I a little young for you? :-P

Me: Just a turn of phrase, angel. Just a turn of phrase.

Maren: LOL I know, I just had to yank your chain a little.

Me: Ha ha. Very funny. Lemme ask you something.

Maren: Sure

Me: Did you smile?

Maren: Yes ?

Me: Are you smiling now?

Maren: Yes ?

Me: Do you feel better?

Maren: Yes, much. Thank you.

Me: Well alright then.

Chapter 6

Maren

Thank you, Jesus!I thought to myself. It was two days after Christmas and I was trying to spend my winter break getting the house in order and my English lit paper finished before Sage and I had to go back to school. I was scheduled to work later, trying to get as much ofthatin as possible too; but the snow had piled so high in front of the garage, that there would be no going to work unlesssomeoneshoveled the driveway. I’d been begging Sage to help me for like the last hour andfinally,I heard the scrape of the snow shovel against the concrete out front.

I wasinthe garage, shivering and trying to fold the clothes out of the dryer double time so I could go back inside and get them put away, just so I could go onto the next tedious chore. It’d been like this for so long, I didn’t really know any other way of life except how to be frazzled and tired all of the time.

I dropped a pile of Sage’s folded tee shirts into the laundry basket, followed them up with a bunch of his balled up socks, and finished off the pile with his neatly folded jeans and boxer shorts. I hefted the basket, propped it against my hip, and went for the door leading into the house gratefully. That first blast of warm air as I opened it up was a welcome one, let me tell you.

I took the basket in both hands and the stairs two at a time, nudging Sage’s bedroom door open with my hip. I froze in the doorway and blinked at my brother sitting cross-legged, still in his PJ’s at the end of his bed, game controller in his hands.

“Sage, what are you doing?” I demanded.

“What’s it look like?”

---