6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six

Brandon was good as his word, doing extra chores that evening and going to bed without a fight. Gabriel sat with Catnip and petted her while he enjoyed the quiet once the boys were asleep.

“Catnip, you are the only one I can tell this, but I think I have a crush on my boss. Stupid, right?”

Catnip didn’t so much as look up at him. Gabriel couldn’t blame the cat.

“He’s really handsome, but that isn’t what is so great about him. He’s sweet and motivated, and he helps people. I mean, how great is that? Here, in this town, he came back here from California.”

Catnip purred but was otherwise quiet.

“You’re no help.”

He heard a floorboard squeak upstairs and got to his feet to pad up the stairs and see if one of the boys was up.

First, he checked on Tristan, who was most notorious for getting up each night for water. His tiny snores told Gabriel it wasn’t him. Next, he checked Brandon, who was under the covers, facing away from the bedroom door.

“Bran? You awake?”

No movement.

Attributing the noise to the house settling, he went back down the stairs and straight to the kitchen to start dumping the rest of the Thanksgiving food. No one was interested in more leftovers, and he just hoped turkey fatigue and not his cooking was the cause.

Catnip strolled in to see what was happening. “You want some turkey?”

He’d never seen their cat turn down food before, so watching Catnip stroll out of the kitchen was a first.

“Fine. Critics.”

The last of the leftovers meant only one thing. The weekend meant decorating for Christmas.

On Friday, he would pull out the boxes and go through them, assuring the spiders didn’t infiltrate. If he saw one, Tristan would run and never look back.

The next day at work, he was going through the same landscapes when Steve came into his office to take out the last few boxes that had been stored there. “How you doing?”

“Alan said she’d likely only pick one if she picked any from my first batch. I’m getting my next choices ready.”

“Karen Mallory, man, she’s tough, but she’s good. She’s breaking glass ceilings few people knew were there.”

The more Gabriel heard about her, the more he liked her. “My mom once told me that women were given a supreme directive to work harder than men because men had to have their egos stroked constantly. She said we were conditioned over centuries to handle families so that when it was their turn to take the lead in the world, they would have all the skills they needed.”

Instead of picking up one of the boxes, he sat on it instead. “That’s…amazing. I’ve never heard anything like that, but, hell, it rings true. I’ll just bet she was a single mother when she said it.”

“She sure was.”

“Mine was, too. She got married again when I was fifteen. I hated the guy, my siblings did, but it was because we were…used to having her.”

Gabriel felt his chest ache over that. “I did the same. I was sixteen, though. The same age she was when she had me.”

“Damn! She was a baby.”

“We always talked about that, how we grew up together. It was true, but she…”

Steve rose and set his large hand on Gabriel’s shoulder. “I don’t know how that feels yet, and I don’t think I’ll handle it well. I’m really sorry about your mom, Gabriel.”

“Thanks. I haven’t had the time to really mourn her, and I know it sounds weird, but I’m okay with that.”

“I feel that, but it’ll come, and when it does, it’s gonna come hard.”

Before he could put much thought into that, the reason he hadn’t mourned yet came crashing back. His phone went off, and he grabbed it, seeing it was the school. “Excuse me, I have to take this.”

He answered, “This is Gabriel Ortiz.”

“Mr. Ortiz, this is Principal Ramirez at the elementary school. I’m afraid Brandon has struck a boy and will be suspended for three days.”

Gabriel fell back in his chair, but his first instinct was to defend his brother. “Was this a fight? I know there is a policy, but if it was a fight, and he was defending himself…”

“That wasn’t the case, I assure you. The other boy was coming in late because of a dentist appointment, and after his mother dropped him off, Brandon ran over to him and hit him.”

Gabriel’s eyes slid closed. “I’m sorry, Ms. Ramirez. I’ll come get him right away.”

“Thank you.”

“That didn’t sound good,” Steve said.

“It wasn’t. My brother hit some kid.”

Steve nodded and said, “Poor kid, man. Losing both his parents…I’m sure this won’t be the last time he strikes out.”

“No. I’m sure it won’t.”

Before he left the building, he ran down to let the daycare know he’d be bringing Brandon in that day and the next few. As he returned to the main level, Alan was there in the hall. “Steve told me you have to leave?”

“My brother’s acting out.”

“Take him home, Gabriel. At least for today. He needs you.”

“I don’t want to keep ditching this job for this kind of thing.”

Alan shook his head, telling him, “They come first, always, Gabriel. Your job will be here waiting for you. Don’t worry about that.”

Alan’s head was tilted a little, like Tristan did, but his wasn’t in confusion. His eyes showed his concern, and Gabriel wished more than anything he could step into his arms, and be held there, letting the world pass him by for just a little while. Instead, however, he whispered, “Thank you, Alan. You’ve been so good to me.”

“It’s not hard.”

Those words took him to the school, but they faded when he got into the principal’s office, seeing Brandon on the chair, seething. “Why’d you call him?”

“Brandon!”

“You’re not my dad!”

Ms. Ramirez’s voice was calm but stern as she told the boy, “Wait in the main office, please, Brandon, while I speak to your brother.”

He stormed out of the room, but not before throwing Gabriel a nasty look. Gabriel’s shock was evident, but Ms. Ramirez seemed to understand.

“He’s hurting, Gabriel.”

It didn’t seem all that long ago that the lady behind the desk was his fourth-grade teacher before he ascended the ladder to be the head of the school. He sat in the chair Brandon had been using and said, “I know. I don’t know what to do except for what the therapists told me, and I’m doing them.”

“Is he still going?”

“He refuses. He barely spoke to them while he was going. I thought the first one maybe he didn’t like her, so I took him to a male therapist, and it was the same.”

“They’re trying to pull emotions out of him that he’s not ready to express. I’d think you, of all people, would understand.”

Gabriel’s eyes narrowed as his mind spun in search of her meaning. “Excuse me?”

She laughed, but it wasn’t derisive. It was much more motherly like she was talking to a small child. “Gabriel, when you were in my class, your mother started dating someone. You were so angry that you got into three fights in one week.”

Gabriel didn’t remember at first, but then, like fog dissipating on the horizon, the memory became clear. “I cannot believe I forgot that.”

“I spoke to your mother at length about it. She felt terribly guilty, though she shouldn’t have been.”

“But this isn’t that, right? This is losing our mom and his dad.”

“Of course it is, Gabriel. But it’s also more. Why don’t you speak to him alone? Let him tell you, if he can, what’s bothering him.”

Gabriel couldn’t imagine what she meant, but she’d always been good to him. The first time he’d taken the boys to school after the deaths of their parents, she’d brought him into her office and assured him the boys would be looked after well, and if he needed it, he could always come to her.

“Ms. Ramirez…I don’t want to screw this up.”

“You are your mother’s son, Gabriel. I never saw a stronger woman in my life. You’ll do fine. The fact you’re so worried about screwing up convinces me further that you’ll do fine.”

“Then I’ll be the best parent ever. I’m in a constant state of worry.”

“That’s what makes parenting, Gabriel. We worry. We fret. We love.”

He got Brandon and took him home, as Alan suggested. He was still so angry that he didn’t dare risk taking him to daycare.

Once inside the house, Brandon started to head right to the stairs, and Gabriel knew he wanted to go into his room and lock out the world. It’s exactly what he would have done.

“Brandon, come sit, and that’s not a request.”

Brandon spun around, seething, his eyes in slits. “You can’t tell me what to do!”

“Yes, I can,” he said calmly. “I’m your guardian, and your brother. Come and sit or you won’t have screen time for a month.”

Those eyes stopped being slits, and turned into beach balls, fairly popping from his head.

But it worked. He fell back on the couch, crossing his arms over his chest, refusing to so much as look at Gabriel.

Gabriel sat on the wooden coffee table, remembering how his mother had done the same when he was in trouble. The memory hurt him, as he wished he could take back every harsh word he’d ever said to her.

“Brandon, I…I don’t even know where to start. You know that hitting isn’t allowed, not at school, not here at home.”

“I don’t care!”

“What could that boy have done that made you want to hit him?”

Fidgeting, he cast his eyes to the side of Gabriel and said nothing.

The boy being dropped off by his mother. That had to be it. Jealousy that another boy still had his mother, and Brandon had lost his own.

“I miss her too, Brandon.”

“You don’t care,” he screamed at Gabriel.

“What do you mean? I miss her, and I’m here, taking care of you because I love you! You’re my brother!”

“Until you get with some pervy faggot and let me and Tristan go to some fucking orphanage!”

Before Gabriel could even sort that statement, Brandon was up and running to his room, slamming the door behind him once he got there.

Gabriel got up slowly, calming his temper as well as his mind. He didn’t rush up the stairs, but also didn’t move overly slow. Each step brought him closer to the room, and facing his brother and his sorrow.

It hurt. Knowing he was failing his brother hurt. All he wanted to do for Brandon was hold him, make things better, but Brandon didn’t need that. He needed more, needed to know he couldn’t take out his hurt and anger on others.

He opened the door and stepped into the room to find Brandon lying face down on the bed. Sitting on the edge, he whispered, “I’m sorry, Brandon. I know how hard it’s been.”

“Get out,” he shouted, but it was muffled in the pillow.

“I’m not going anywhere. Not now, not ever. I know I’m not your dad, I’m not mom, but I love you. I’m never going to leave you.”

He finally turned to his side, and Gabriel saw he hadn’t shed a tear. “You are all into that perv guy! You’re gonna leave us for him!”

“Who?”

Turning back to face his pillow, he accused, “You know. You were talking to Catnip about it!”

It hit him then. The previous night, Gabriel was talking to the stupid cat about Alan. “God, Brandon, I was just…being silly. And not once did I say I was leaving you because…because I might have some silly crush on someone who has been really nice to me.”

Finally, Brandon showed his face again. “You swear?”

“Brandon, you’re my brother. I love you and Tristan more than anything in the whole world. You two come first for me, like you did for mom and your dad. I’m not leaving you. You’ll leave, eventually, going to school or work and moving away, and that’s okay. It’s what is supposed to happen. But for now, you’re stuck with me.”

“What if you die?”

Gabriel pulled him up into his arms, even though he weakly fought him over it, and held him. “I am pretty young, and I don’t drive fast or recklessly. Sure, it could happen, I won’t lie to you, Brandon, but I will do my best not to die and leave you and Tristan.”

He gave up his struggle, but he was still tense. He’d hugged and loved on Tristan, kissing his forehead each night before bed, hugging him before school, but Brandon hadn’t wanted shows of love that way.

Not being ready for it, Brandon was in charge of when and where affection would come. That was what the therapists said, but Gabriel realized at that moment that they didn’t know everything. Maybe he should have pushed a little, to show as well as tell Brandon he was loved.

And he was. As he held his little brother, that little boy that had screamed bloody murder when his mom first handed him to Gabriel after she brought him home, he knew he treasured him.

They were his family now. The two baby boys that had given his mother such joy. “Brandon, I love you, buddy. I’m never, ever leaving you.”

Brandon wiggled out of his arms, but he managed to sit on the bed next to Gabriel. “So, who is this guy?”

Embarrassed Brandon had overheard, he wasn’t quite sure what to say. Then, he thought, why not the truth? “If you don’t tell Tristan…it’s Santa.”

Brandon looked up at him, a smile widening on his face. “Santa?”

“From the mall. You knew he wasn’t the real Santa.”

“There is no Santa.”

“So jaded for one so young, Brandon.”

He only shrugged. “And?”

“And, well, he gave me that card, and I tell you guys not to accept things from strangers, and that is true. I didn’t call him until I looked him up for a to see if he was real, or really if the job was real. When I got it, I realized how it had been perfect timing, and he’s a really nice person. I guess I have a crush on him. But that is between us.”

“Who am I gonna tell?”

“You will be at the daycare there tomorrow when I’m working. Don’t tell anyone there. It would be really embarrassing for me. You don’t want me to embarrass you, like hugging you goodbye when I drop you at school, right?”

“Right.”

“So don’t embarrass me. Deal?”

“Sure. Is he rich?”

“God, Brandon, what a question.”

He laughed a little and then shocked Gabriel almost to the floor. “Sorry about today. It just pisses me off that other kids still have their mom.”

“Yeah. I know, but you know something? I lost mine, too. So did Tristan. We’re all in this together. If you want to talk or holler or scream or whatever, I’m right here.”

“Yeah. I know.”

“Let’s go grab some food, and then you can help me drag up the Christmas stuff from the basement.”

“Okay.”