Belonging Read Free Page B

as far as the eye could
see.
    It was early spring, and the grass had
been growing like crazy. Every other week I was out with the riding
lawnmower, trying to keep it down. There was a significant
firebreak around the property, a wide, dry creek bed separating the
grassy hills from the minimalistic landscaping that ringed the
house. It still made me nervous, though. If a wildfire broke out,
what exactly would this man do? This wasn’t just a house, it was
his whole world.
    No one else seemed terribly concerned
about this, but I was, so I spent a lot of extra time on the
landscaping. I’d recently begun trimming dead branches from the
trees closest to the house. I wasn’t much of a gardener though, and
wondered how Tillane would react if I asked to bring along my
brother Vincent, who had a natural affinity for that kind of
thing.
    From my vantage point up in an oak
tree, I could see Zan in his den. His back was to me and a movie
was playing on the big TV mounted to the wall. He was facing away
from the screen though, sitting on his brown leather couch and
staring at the closed double doors leading to the kitchen. He was
probably waiting until he knew I was gone before he came out and
made himself some lunch.
    I felt sorry for him, except for the
part where he was choosing to be completely obstinate. Deciding I
was the enemy didn’t make a lick of sense. It wasn’t as though I
was purposefully trying to replace Christian.
    Still though, my heart broke a little
as I watched him sitting there all by himself. It was always like
that for him, day after day of that sameness and loneliness. I had
absolutely no idea how he could stand it.
     
    *****
     
    Progress on the trees was slow. By
late afternoon, I was exhausted and decided that was all I could do
for one day. I went to the toolshed and put the handsaw away, then
washed up in a utility sink in the garage. The structure was built
for three cars, but held only one: a dusty, long-forgotten vintage
Jaguar convertible with four flat tires. The car was a thing of
beauty. What a waste.
    When I went inside the house and
knocked on the door to the den, Zan swung it open and stared at me.
“Do you care if I bring my brother to help me with the
landscaping?” I asked him.
    “Why are you doing all of
that?”
    “To keep your ass from burning down if
there’s a wildfire.”
    “There’s never been a wildfire here,”
he said.
    “Well, in case Mother Nature didn’t
get the ‘no wildfires here’ memo, I thought I’d go ahead and take
care of some of that shit.”
    He stared at me for a long moment, a
muscle working in his jaw as he ground his teeth. Finally he said,
“Tell me about your brother.”
    “Tell you what?”
    “Anything.”
    “Well, let’s see. Vincent’s a
newlywed, he’s married to a sweet guy named Trevor and they have an
adopted son named Josh. Christian was at their wedding, you can ask
him about my brother if you want. Vinnie’s been studying landscape
architecture and wants to start a business, but for now, he just
does work for our family. He’s really smart, too, and good at
fixing things. If you have any projects around here that you’ve
been wanting to get done, he could take care of them for
you.”
    Zan mulled that over, then said,
“Bring him,” before closing the door in my face.
    I sighed and muttered, “Good talk,”
before turning and leaving him to his solitude.

Chapter
Two
     
    “What’d you bring us, Uncle
Johnnie?”
    I’d gone home to shower before heading
to my brother Mikey’s house and had put on a clean t-shirt and
jeans. As I hung a garment bag with a change of clothes for later
inside the hall closet, away from sticky little fingers, I asked,
“Who says I brought you anything?” I turned to my nephew Markie and
ruffled his dark hair.
    The six-year-old knit his brows. “You
always bring us something, and you always pretend you didn’t,” he
told me flatly.
    “Sounds like I’ve become predictable,
I’d better