Page 48 of Bringing Home the Bacon
Alex mutters. “Me too with Molly.”
They turn to me expectantly. Seems like it’s my turn to say that I too had a hard time expressing myself before the woman in my life came along. I want to fit in with these guys and be part of the conversation, but that just wasn’t the case for me.
I clear my throat. “I, uh—I learned at a pretty early age that talking about your feelings is vital if you want to live any kind of quality life. And listen, that’s not a humble brag by any means. I just think after seeing my mom suffer so much with her own mental health, I knew I had to stay on top of mine. She didn’t feel like she had anyone to talk to, which destroyed her. It’s possible I’ve gone a bit extreme in the other direction.” I let out a soft chuckle. “Colleen says I’m quite the ‘talker,’”
“She says that because the poor girl grew up with four punks like us, who didn’t know a healthy emotion from a hole in the ground.” Ethan laughs.
“I don’t know.” I smile. “You guys seem alright to me.”
“You’re alright too, Bacon,” Sam says. “I’m glad she has you.”
“Did I just get the twin brother approval?” I joke.
“You did,” he says. “Take good care of her and that baby, okay?”
“It will be the great honor of my life,” I say seriously, then proceed to shake the hand of each of Colleen’s brothers.
Alex’s eyebrows are raised as he looks around the table. “Is this what Tiddy’s nights will be now that Bacon’s part of the family? Full of male bonding, shared trauma, and healthy emotional discourse? I’ve made my peace with going to therapy, but geez.”
“I promise I’ll keep a lid on it when I can.” I laugh.
“All good,” Alex says with the hint of a smile. “Let ’er rip, man.”
The guys move on to other, more lighthearted topics, but I can’t shake the warm feeling blooming in my chest.
I’m part of the family.
We’re several hours into our time at Tiddy’s, and one thing is clear: The Bedd Boys are drunk.
Who am I kidding? We’re all drunk.
“Hey, guys,” I slur slightly. “Do you think Colleen was mad that I came out with you guys tonight instead of staying home with her? Because she seemed a little mad.”
“Why would she be mad?” Ethan waves a dismissive hand.
“Oh, she was mad alright,” Sam says definitively.
“Shit. Really?” I whine.
“For sure,” Sam says. “But she’s mostly mad at herself for being mad.”
“How do you know this?” I ask. “Did she text you?”
“Nope. Twin-sense.” Sam points two fingers to his forehead, then shoots them out into the air a few times like they’re picking up a signal of sorts.
Alex throws up his hands. “Here we go with the twin-sense thing again.”
“Dude, it’s real!” Sam says.
“I don’t doubt that it’s real. But that doesn’t mean we want to hear about it all the damn time! You and Colleen have a connection we singleton siblings could never understand. We get it!”
“Don’t listen to him,” Sam says to me. “He’s just jealous he was all alone in utero, and I had a built-in friend.”
Alex glares at his brother. “Yeah, that’s totally it.”
Sam ignores him and focuses on me. “She wants you to bond with us. But she’s also afraid for that to happen. She has this thing in her head that everyone uses her to get to us, which is?—”
“Ridiculous,” Ethan finishes Sam’s sentence for him.
