“Yeah,” I agreed. “We were always taught that when someone works hard to make food and is kind enough to offer it to you, you should be grateful and show your appreciation by eating every bite.”
Brock nodded. “Our dad was a stickler about that. He’d lose his mind if he thought we were being disrespectful, especially to our mother.”
I paused, the memory of our parents hitting me full force. Not in an unwelcome way. I couldn’t always remember them anymore, since they’d been gone almost as long as I’d had them, so it was nice when Brock brought up a memory that I could actually grab on to and visualize.
I felt eyes on me and looked up to see Ming watching me closely.
I tried to give her a smile, but knew it came off a little shaky. Instead of calling me on it or making me feel awkward, Ming turned to Victoria and asked, “Is Rose asleep?”
Victoria’s face blossomed, just like it always did when her baby girl was mentioned.
“Yeah, she was up early this morning, and went down for a nap right before you guys got here. We probably have about another thirty minutes before she wakes up.”
The conversation lulled while everyone was eating, then Brock said, “Brandt wanted to know if we could come down to the studio next weekend. Work on some of Brendan’s new songs.”
“Uh, yeah, what time? You guys are doing the baby shower thing at my place on Saturday, right?” I asked Ming and Tori.
“Yeah, I’ll finish up your living room this week,” Tori replied.
“Cass and I will need to come by around ten to set up and get ready, if that works for you,” Ming added.
“No problem,” I said, then turned back to my brother. “If that works for Brandt, we can hit the studio while the ladies are at my place.”
“I’ll shoot Brendan a text, then call Brandt,” Brock said. “And I gotta say, I’m grateful that you guys didn’t plan one of those horrible co-ed showers like Cal and Shelly always like to torture us with.”
“Oh, c’mon, Brock, they’re not that bad,” Victoria said.
“They absolutely are that bad,” he replied, causing laughter to erupt from both Ming and Victoria.
I didn’t say anything, but I agreed with my brother, one hundred percent.
“I still have to come up with six games,” Ming said, and the way she sounded made me think she wasn’t too thrilled about a baby shower either.
“I can talk to Abby. I think she still has a file on her computer with the games she found for my shower.”
“That would be great.”
“You guys go ahead,” I said when they started to get up and clear their plates. “I’ll take care of cleanup.”
Ming looked at me, the surprise evident on her face, but Victoria just smiled at me and said, “Thanks, Brady.”
When they left to go talk baby showers, or whatever, I turned to Brock and asked, “You gonna help?”
My brother looked at me, then over at his son, who was still going to town on his breakfast and replied, “Sorry, brother, I’m on Dec duty.”
“Well isn’t that convenient,” I muttered with a scowl, even though I didn’t really care about doing cleanup on my own. I wasn’t one to shy away from being alone, and I always got a lot of thinking done when I cleaned.
I was almost done with the last pan when Ming came into the kitchen and said she had to get going.
“I’m supposed to meet Natalie in forty-five minutes, and I need to stop by my office first.”
“Okay.” I wasn’t quite sure what I was supposed to say or do at this point, so I stood there awkwardly with my hands in the soapy water.
Ming stepped closer and pressed her lips to my cheek.
“Thank
s for inviting me to breakfast.”