The kid gives Garrett a starry-eyed look and blushes scarlet. “No way. You’re like ten times bigger than me and ate way more than I ever could. ”
“You are cold trippin’, kid,” Garrett says with mock anger. “You ate like five plates of food. I only had two. ”
“Four,” Glenn counters.
“Three and we’ll call it even. ”
“Deal,” Glenn says with a grin and then pushes away from the table to copy his dad and me. Garrett follows suit.
Sneaking a glance at Sutton, who sits to my right, a flush of warmth goes through me. She’s leaning forward in her chair, one elbow propped on the table, her chin resting on the heel of her hand. She’s watching the interplay between Glenn and Garrett with such a dreamy look on her face, completely in love with her younger brother and over the moon at the positive attention he’s getting. I love seeing how happy that makes her, but at the same time it causes a small pang of hurt to go through me because I never had a family member look at me like that. My dad’s gaze was usually too bleary and Cameron was lost in his own world, trying to ignore the f**ked- up relationship we all had.
As I watch Sutton, glowing with serenity and peace, I actually feel a bit envious of her. She had a shitty life to start out, same as me. But her life changed and mine didn’t. I’m not sure if the things we have in common drew us together, but I’m fearful the differences we have could cause a void because maybe I can’t be truly happy for Sutton and the life she’s made.
Shaking my head from those thoughts, and needing a bit of distance, I stand up from the table and grab my plate. “Come on, guys. Let’s clean up the kitchen. ”
Glenn and Garrett stand up at my suggestion and start stacking plates. Penny makes a small attempt to intervene as she stands up. “You’re guests, Alex. You boys sit down and I’ll get this later. ”
Before I can even say a word, Garrett says, “With all due respect, Penny, sit your butt down and let us clean up. You’ve earned the break. ”
Sutton starts to stand to help but I give her a hard look. “You sit your beautiful butt back down too. You helped your mom cook. Us men will handle the cleaning. ”
I look over to Jim but he just gives me a smirk. “Hey, my hard-earned money bought all this food. I think I’ll just sit back and relax. ”
“Fair enough,” I laugh and then we get to work cleaning.
Okay, so two men in their mid-twenties and an eleven-year-old kid really aren’t the best at kitchen duties, but what we don’t have in efficiency, we make up for in determination.
It takes us over an hour to clear the dining room table, put the leftover food in containers and wash all the pots and pans. By the time we finish, I’m exhausted and looking f
orward to maybe some couch snuggle time with Sutton.
Garrett is in the dining room wiping down the table and as I dry my hands on a towel, I look over to Glenn, who just put the last container in the fridge.
“How’s school going?”
Shoving his hands in his pockets and looking at the floor, Glenn shrugs his shoulders. “Okay, I guess. ”
I recognize the move…it’s one I did repeatedly when teachers would ask how things were at home. I was a pro at averting my gaze so no one would see the truth in my eyes.
“Hey, man,” I say as I walk up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. He finally looks up at me, so I continue. “If you need to talk about something…something that you can’t talk to your parents or even Sutton about, you can talk to me. ”
I’m not quite sure why I offer this, because honestly, what type of sage advice could I give him? I have no realistic idea of what a normal childhood looks like, and God help me if he wants to talk about girls. Until Sutton, I never treated a woman decently in my life. Still, I give him a reassuring smile so he knows I mean the offer is good.
Shooting a quick glance in the living room, and satisfied no one is listening because Sutton, Jim and Penny are all sound asleep as a football game plays on TV, he says, “There’s this kid at school, who everyone picks on. When he comes to school, he’s always dirty, and smells bad. I think he and his mom may be homeless. ”
My heart lurches when Glenn sneaks another glance at the living room, then turns back to me in a whisper. “Anyway, the other day some kids were pushing him around and I told them to stop…”
Glenn pauses and looks down with a shamed look on his face. “Hey, bud, it’s all right. You can tell me. ”
He looks back up and a hard glint is in his eyes. He whispers again while leaning toward me, “They wouldn’t stop…and I just…I got so angry I got in a fight with the other kids. ”
Of all the things I thought Glenn was going to say, I didn’t think that was it. My brain goes into overdrive, trying to think what an adult piece of advice would sound like, but Glenn doesn’t even give me a chance. “I ended up hitting one kid really hard and cut his lip. ”
“Did you get in trouble?” I ask, fascinated over the prospect that Glenn was involved in a schoolyard brawl.
Shaking his head, he says in a low voice, “No…it broke up when the bell rang and the kid didn’t rat me out. I guess he was afraid he’d get in trouble for pushing the other kid around. ”
“So what’s the problem?” I ask, genuinely not knowing why this should upset Glenn. To my way of thinking, he was a little hero. He stood up for someone weaker.
One more glance into the living room, and I notice that he’s looking directly at Sutton. Then his eyes come back to me, filled with regret. “Because…Sutton says violence is never the way. She says violence begets violence. ”
I blink at Glenn hard, absorbing the almost biblical tone to his voice as he quotes his sister. He’s feeling shame over hitting another kid.
“But surely she’d understand,” I say, but Glenn is shaking his head, cutting me off.
“No…she lived in a violent household when she and Mom were with Cosmo. She’s been through things much worse, and she’s told me to always turn the other cheek. ”
I almost rear backward over this revelation. I’m surprised first that Glenn would even know any such details of Sutton’s life before Jim rescued her and her mother, and second, I’m stunned that violence was part of the f**ked-up existence that Sutton lived in with her drugged-out father. Suddenly, I’m wishing I had punched Cosmo Price rather than shook his hand last week.
“What exactly did Sutton tell you about when she lived with her—with Cosmo?”
“No real details because she thinks I’m just a kid, but just generally things like hitting another person doesn’t solve a problem. She told me that she had been hit a lot and sometimes she wanted to react the same way, but she always told herself to be the bigger person. I want to be a bigger person like Sutton, but maybe I’m just as bad as Cosmo. ”