Mom's death had been a long time coming. We already began mourning her the second she had been given a rough deadline so when she actually did pass on - and finally escaped her suffering - none of us were as devastated or heartbroken as people expected. It still wrenched our hearts and made us all lose sleep. But as her death hadn't been sudden we all just sort of braced for the impact for when it eventually came. It was truthfully more of a relief than anything. I know that sounds awful for me to say that about my own Mom but I hated seeing what she was going through. I hated being so powerless even though it was my job to take care of her. She was a woman that worked constantly as a family lawyer while also supporting three kids. A single mom that honestly did not know what the word "stop" meant. Then the cancer hit. She had to stop going on her morning jogs because she didn't have the energy. As it slowly killed her from the inside she had to leave her practice; the one she had started with Dad. She stopped doing anything more than eating a little bit then sleeping. Then she died in her sleep having finally learned what it meant to stop.
I wish from the bottom of my heart that my Mom hadn't gotten cancer in the first place. But wishing doesn't do much of anything. I'm just glad that she's no longer going through that pain. That we don't have to -
"Rye!"
I jumped and winced as I bumped my head against the car window I was leaning on. I looked over at Bethany, rubbing my head. "What?"
"We're here." Bethany rubbed at the spot I had bumped, blue eyes filled with concern. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare ya. I thought you were sleeping."
"It's fine." I pushed her hand away and smiled. "Let's go."
"Yea. Let's." Bethany grabbed her purse and got out.
Belle, who had been driving us, was already out and banging on the door of our Aunt's house. She turned as she waited for the door to open. "Get our stuff please."
"Why me?" I grumbled, already heading for the back of the jeep. The rest of our stuff had already arrived with the movers a few hours ago. The stuff we hadn't left back home that is.
"Because you're the man of the house now. Gotta take care of us girls." She smirked.
Belle was not a girl that needed to be taken care of. She could do just fine by herself, but she was also a lazy bum who liked forcing me to do stuff for her. Oh well. It's fine. It's expected from your sister right? To do their absolute best to annoy the hell out of you without doing it so much that you end up hating them?
Bethany was not like that though. She rolled her eyes at her twin then came to help me. "Here. I'll take half and you take half."
"Thanks." I nodded appreciatively. "Then when we get to the house we can dump all of it on Belle."
"You're here!" Aunt April tugged the door open and pulled into the house to give her a hug. "Ohhhhh I'm so happy you're finally here!"
Belle just smiled and returned the hug. Bethany and I pushed into the foyer and promptly dumped all the bags at Belle's feet once she had pulled away from our Aunt.
"Hey Auntie." I smiled and hugged her, ignoring Belle's glare.
"Ryan!" She squeezed me and kissed my cheek. Then turned to Bethany to give her the same treatment. "So good to see you three again."
"You saw us a week ago." Belle said. She was purposely not looking at the bags.
"Yea but that was...You know. Not the same."
The atmosphere grew awkward. Last week had been our Mom's funeral.
"Are you kids, okay?" April's eyebrows furrowed with concern. She seemed to be focusing on me the most. "Or as okay as you can be?"
She was looking at me when she asked us the second question. So I answered for all of us. "Yea we're okay. Okay as we can be. How about you?"
"Okay as I can be." She smiled sadly. I noticed that she was fingering the pendant on her necklace. The other half was buried six feet under the ground. She suddenly shook her head and clapped her hands together. "You three must be tired and hungry! I had the movers put your boxes in your rooms. Ryan you're in the room at the end of the hallway to the left. Girls you're in the room opposite his." She picked up two of the bags and started up the stairs. "And Ryan your bathroom plumbing needs some work. For now, you can use mine downstairs."
"That's okay. I can just use Bethany and Belle's..." We were already imposing on Aunt April. I didn't want to take her bathroom away too.
"Nonsense! Three people sharing one bathroom? Can't have that."
"Thanks." I mumbled. I grabbed some of the bags and followed her up, Bethany and Belle close behind. At the end of the hall I pushed into my room while my sisters went into theirs. There was a twin bed against the corner of the room right under a window. And a medium sized desk was next to the head of the bed. Other than those two things, the room was cluttered with my boxes. I dropped my bags with a sigh then crawled onto the bed. This had been my cousin Caleb's room before he had moved to New York. It felt strange to be here without him looming over me and telling me not to touch his stuff.
Worse than that was moving into Aunt April's house. She had offered it since it was much closer to college for me and work for Bethany and Belle. She had also mentioned that she was suffering from empty nest syndrome with Caleb and Samantha gone. But I couldn't help but feel that we were getting in her way. Wouldn't she rather take this time to travel or follow her other passions? That's what people did when they were rich and their kids left home right?
However, she had insisted so constantly that we couldn't help but take her up on her offer. It would be easier on us to still have someone taking care of us. We were all adults - Bethany and Belle were 24 - but we didn't feel like adults. We weren't ready. Mom dying managed to reset the timer on when we'd be ready to be completely on our own with no world-wise adult nearby guiding us. Until we became 'world-wise' ... we'd be living with Aunt April.
My thoughts were interrupted by my phone vibrating. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and smiled lightly. Toon had texted me.
"You make it to your Aunt's house?"
"Sure thing, Petunia." I smirked. Pissing her off was the easiest way to make myself feel better.
"Suck my dick Rye." Then moments later. "Good to see you're still an asshole."
"I'll always be an asshole."
All I got in response was a smiling emoji followed by the middle finger emoji.
"When are you gonna visit?"
"I'm thinking this Saturday. I've got work all week."
"Sounds great! We should be all moved in and settled by then."
"Great! I gotta go. Damn customers need me."
"Later, Toon!"
"Later, Rye :)"
I put my phone back in my pocket and got up. I stepped over my boxes and opened the door. I'd move in later. Right now, I just wanted to walk around a bit and this house had a great backyard that was bordered by the woods. Caleb and I had camped many a time as kids right at the edge and pretended we were adventurers. Somehow I doubt that true adventurers had their mothers drop in every hour to make sure they were alive or not.
When I stepped out of my room I thought I heard Bethany say my name from her room so I stepped up to the door and put my ear up to the door. I heard my name again. Along with 'sleeping' and 'worried'. Belle said something as well, but I couldn't pick up what they were saying. I was curious about why they were talking about me but I just shrugged and left. If it was important, I'd find out eventually. I had an inkling of what they were talking about anyway. They had both been incessant on hovering around me ever since Mom died. I don't get why though since I'm clearly fine. So what if I'm losing a little sleep?
"You eat mushrooms, right?" April asked when I got downstairs and passed the kitchen.
"Huh?" I looked up and saw her waving a portobello mushroom at me. "Yeah I do."
"Great!" She smiled widely. "I'm making portobello mushroom burgers for dinner tonight."
"You don't have to go through that much trouble..." My stomach twisted with guilt again. "I can cook for everyone. Like I used to do at home."
"Then what am I supposed to do eh?" April raised her eyebrow, her hand on her waist. "I wanted you kids to move in because I was going stir crazy with nothing to do!"
"Don't you have a deadline coming up for your book?" I asked, taking a seat at the counter. It raised a little higher than the rest of the countertop and was lined with comfy bar stools.
