“This is what matters to me now. You and little Trixie. Us.”
She relaxes instantly and we both sit quietly, the steam and bubbles relaxing us both but it’s having each other so close and being so honest that I think takes the weight of the past from both of us.
“What happened?” she finally asks me. “With your brother I mean. Something happened, didn’t it?”
She’s beaten me to it again, but this time scratching open an old wound I’ve never told anyone else about. Not even talked to my dad about it properly.
“Yeah, something happened,” I sigh. Wishing I could leave it for another time, but it’s been on my mind lately anyway.
“I think I mentioned, my dad adopted me and my brother, separate birth parents when he found out he couldn’t have kids,” I remind her, feeling her head nod slowly against me as I keep talking.
“He was older, smarter, and always better at pretty much everything than me. Believe it or not, I was a real little runt growing up. Didn’t hit puberty until I was about twenty,” I joke.
“Somehow I find that hard to believe,” Phoebe murmurs, gripping my thigh under the water and giving it a firm squeeze.
“When we were both old enough, our dad took us into his shop and we were told it would all be ours someday, so we’d better learn the trade and run it as if it were our own.”
I fall silent again, not lamenting the past. Not that part of it anyway.
“So what happened?” she finally asks impatiently, making me realize I’m not much of a storyteller either.
“Well, Shane. That’s my brother and me, we did all we could, and before we knew it we were actual locksmiths, helping out the old man with each of us making enough to tell ourselves we had a good living.”
“But?” Phoebe asks, prompting me some more.
“But my older brother had some demons. Dad found out later he was put up for adoption after being removed from his birth parents who both had problems with gambling and drugs. Drink too. By the time Shane was old enough, he was headed down a pretty dark path that neither Dad nor I could follow him down, let alone keep up,” I tell her.
“So Shane took off one day, just like that. Along with a few thousand dollars and most of our tools,” I recall with a twinge of bitterness.
“Dad and I would’ve had to work our tails off to get back to where we were, and without tools, a locksmith is like a hammer without a handle. Useless.”
“So what did you do?” Phoebe asks, her voice filled with concern as she moves from in front of me to sitting next to me, clutching my arm as she gnaws at her lip. Needing to know what happened next.
“I found Shane and the tools. He was pretty messed up but I managed to get it out of him that he’d used the tools to rob a string of local businesses. Some of the businesses we even had as customers. He used the master keys to help himself.”
Phoebe gasps and then frowns. “That’s awful,” she remarks. But as bad as it was, it’s not even why things went south between the Three Bears.
“I told Shane to beat it, to skip town. Gave him some money and he gave me a split lip for my troubles. By the time the cops traced it all, I told them it was me who did the stealing. Broke my old man’s heart.”
“But, you didn’t do anything wrong, Max,” Phoebe protests, balling her hands up. “How could you take the fall for someone else like that?”
How could I indeed?
“I was locked up, but not for long. Once Shane heard what I’d done, he came back to town and leveled with the police, proving it wasn’t me by producing a bunch of other stuff they never found, so we switched places. My smarter older brother was in jail and I was set free.”
“What about your dad?” Phoebe asks.
“He was heartbroken, still is. Shane got out a few years back but he’s never spoken to me. He keeps in touch with dad but dad keeps him at a distance, scared of a repeat performance, I guess.”
“I’m so sorry, Max,” Phoebe sniffs, getting a little emotional. “I’m sorry I just assumed your life was always so perfect, just because you have nice things and look the way you do.”
“Thanks, I think,” I tell her, pulling her close and reminding her not to worry about the past, mine, or her own anymore.
“It’s us now, right? You should meet my dad though. He’s a great guy, just always wanting to play matchmaker with me and strangers, wanting me to give him the perfect family he never had I suppose. Grandkids instead of kids. And one’s that don’t betray him.”