Page 86 of Neat
Kylie was a tiny little thing — maybe five-foot-two wearing heels. She had long, dark, chestnut hair and the classic girl-next-door face. She’d always kind of felt like one of the guys when we were younger. I remembered her playing man hunt with all of us out in the backyard, and had a distinct memory of her knocking one of Mikey’s teeth out when he said something she apparently didn’t like. Now, though, she and Mikey both looked like they were caught in some strange in-between — not yet a man and woman, but far from a boy and a girl.
It made my chest hurt a little to see them growing up like that.
She’d been around more that spring, trying to help Mikey break into our dad’s hard drive. It apparently was more encrypted than we knew, though, and she said she could do it, but it would take time.
Michael took a sip of his water when we were all settled again, clearing his throat with his eyes on his glass. “While we’re making announcements, I guess now is as good a time as any to tell you guys…”
“Tell us what, sweetie?” Mom asked.
Mikey looked around the table, and then he sniffed, eyes back on his glass. “I’m going to spend the next few months here in Stratford, enjoy one last summer in my hometown. But, after that, I’m moving.”
Everyone stopped what they were doing — forks suspended in mid-bite, hands paused around glasses, all eyes on my baby brother.
“To New York.”
There was a very,verysmall stretch of silence — and then all hell broke loose.
Mom started crying — this time, they weren’t happy tears. Jordan immediately launched into not making hasty decisions while Noah argued that he couldn’t leave the distillery. I opened my mouth to chime in, but Mallory squeezed my knee in warning under the table, and when I looked at her, she just shook her head.
“You guys can yell and holler all you want, but my mind’s made up,” he said over the chaos, standing and tossing his napkin down on the table. “I’m eighteen now and this isn’t a choice that any of you get to make for me. So, you can either support me, or not, but either way, I’m going.”
With that, he stormed across the house and out the front door, footsteps thumping down the porch steps.
Kylie grimaced, folding her own napkin and setting it on the table beside him before she stood. “I’ll go talk to him.”
When they were both gone, Mom’s whimpers were the only sound at the table. Jordan reached over to hug her, and Betty smiled, turning the attention back to the good news of Noah and Ruby Grace’s engagement.
“So, tell us how he proposed,” she urged.
And, at least for the moment, Mikey’s news was put aside.
I was still reeling from it all when Mallory and I pulled into our driveway later that evening, and I felt like a zombie opening the car door for her, carrying the leftovers Mom sent with us inside, and plopping down on the couch. Mallory sat next to me, running her fingers through my hair and watching me with worried eyes.
“You okay?”
I nodded, though I wasn’t entirely sure. “I just… I can’t believe he wants to move. ToNew York, of all places.” I shook my head. “This has always been our home. I guess I never considered the possibility that one of us could leave it.”
“Maybe he’ll change his mind,” she soothed.
“Maybe. But if he doesn’t, I’ll support him. That’s what he would do for me in the reverse. I should put it on my work calendar now that I’ll be out a couple weeks at the end of summer, just in case he needs help moving.”
Mallory smiled, moving until she was lying on my chest. “You’re a good brother.”
We laid there like that for a while, both of us quiet, until a soft chuckle left her lips.
“What about your other brother? Getting married?”
I smiled. “That wasn’t as much of a surprise. I knew when he first got caught up with that girl that he’d marry her one day.”
“Oh, yeah?” Mallory asked, scooting up to look at me. “How’d you know?”
“He looked at her the way I look at you,” I explained easily, moving her hair away from her face. “Like forever was sitting right there in her eyes.”
Mallory made a gagging notion with her finger, rolling her forever eyes.
I laughed. “What? You don’t like the sweet romance?”
“Not when it’s cheesier than a pizza from Mario’s.”
