The Ransome Brothers

by Rachel Schurig

He makes a face. “Cash finished off the fruit loops before he left to go get you guys.”

  “Of course he did.”

  Reed lets me eat in silence for a while. He isn’t too bad, my oldest brother. I mean, he can totally act like an asshole, but he’s never as bad as Cash (no one is as bad as Cash). And he’s actually decent to talk to, when something is bothering me. Which is why I don’t immediately get defensive when he looks up after a few minutes. “So. How was the party?”

  I shrug. “Pretty stupid. Everyone was all shy and giggling because there were boys and girls there. Like we don’t all see each other at school?”

  He chuckles. “People get weird about boy-girl parties in junior high. They’ll grow out of it.”

  I nod, chewing my food. I can tell he’s still watching me.

  “Was Daisy flirting with someone else?”

  “No.”

  He’s quiet for another long moment and I think maybe he’s going to drop it. But then he sets his spoon down and I groan. He totally looks like he’s gearing up for a classic Reed Ransome lecture. He surprises me a little when he asks a question instead. “What happened, Daltrey?”

  I blow out a breath. “You’re not going to tell Cash?”

  He rolls his eyes. “Come on. I’m not a total dick.”

  I laugh, feeling a little better. “We played that stupid seven minutes in heaven game.” He nods, eyes on me. “I could tell Daisy didn’t want to go in there with anyone, so when it was my turn I made sure I got her name. Figured we could just talk or whatever.”

  Reed’s face shifts and I get the feeling he’s trying not to let his surprise show. “And that’s what you did? Just talked?”

  I dip my head down. I can’t believe I’m actually going to tell him this. But I know I’m too jumbled up about it to just go to bed right now. Besides, Reed actually has some experience with girls. He just doesn’t brag about it as much as Cash.

  “I kissed her.”

  He’s quiet for so long I finally look up. He’s grinning, totally trying not to laugh, and I make a huffing noise, pushing back from the table. “I don’t know why I bothered,” I mutter.

  “Hang on,” he says, gesturing for me to sit. “I’m not making fun of you. I’m just…reacting.”

  I bury my head in my hands, groaning, and he does laugh then.

  “Dalt, of course this was going to happen sometime. You guys are getting older now and—”

  “Please tell me you’re not going to give me the talk right now, man.”

  He laughs again. “I’m not, don’t worry. I’m just saying, it’s not completely surprising that the two of you are getting together.”

  “Hang on,” I say, lifting my head as something like panic courses through me. “We’re not getting together.”

  He looks confused. “But you kissed her.”

  “Because she felt bad,” I say. “She didn’t think any of the boys wanted to kiss her.”

  “So you proved her wrong.”

  I’m relieved he gets it. “Exactly.”

  “And it was just a friendly kiss?”

  I think about the way she had felt, about the electricity that shot through me when our mouths met, about the little moan she’d made when I touched her lips with my tongue. Then Reed is laughing again and I glare at him.

  “Obviously not completely friendly,” he says. “You should see your face.”

  “Are you going to give me a hard time or are you going to tell me what the hell I should do?” I yell, surprising myself with how loud I am. His eyebrows go up.

  “What do you want to do?”

  “I don’t know…I mean…shoot.” I rub my forehead and he takes pity on me.

  “You like her, Daltrey. I mean, come on. We all know it. That’s not something to be embarrassed about.”

  “She’s my best friend.”

  “You don’t think she likes you back?”

  I think of the way she had been outside while we waited for Cash, me thinking she was uncomfortable when in fact she was completely unaffected. “I don’t know.”

  He frowns a little. “Does that bother you?”

  “I don’t freaking know, Reed.”

  He holds up his hands. “Okay, okay.” He watches me for a long moment. “You know what I think?”

  “What?”

  “I think you’re only thirteen. You’ve got plenty of time to worry about this kind of thing.” At my expression he smiles, looking even more like our Dad than he normally does. “Everything feels like a huge deal when you’re thirteen, Dalt. It’s easier when you grow up a little. You don’t stress so much about every little thing.”

  I’m not so sure about that. Reed sure seems stressed out a lot of the time.

  “Look, you and Daisy are solid,” he says. “You have your whole lives to turn into something else, if that’s what you guys want.” He shrugs. “If I were you, I wouldn’t mess with that friendship, not this soon.”

  “But…eventually…you think eventually I should…” I swallow. “You know. Mess with it?”

  I can tell he’s trying not to laugh again and I appreciate how even he manages to keep his face. “I think at some point you’re going to want to be more than her friend. And that’s fine. I just don’t see any reason to rush it. Enjoy being kids for a while.” I scowl and he holds up his hands again. “Sorry. Enjoy being teenagers for a while. You’ve got your whole life to worry about drama.”

  I chew on my bottom lip. What he’s saying makes sense. “Yeah.”

  There’s a honk from the street outside and Reed stands. “That’s my ride. You okay?”

  I nod, not meeting his eyes. It isn’t very often I talk about girls with any of my brothers, not seriously anyway, and I’m already feeling pretty uncomfortable about it. “Yeah.”

  “Good.” He takes his bowl to the sink before turning back to me. “You heard me about practice tomorrow?”

  “Eleven.”

  He gives me a stern look. “No more throwing punches. You know Dad will be pissed if you hurt your hand and can’t play.”

  I laugh, feeling a little better. This is much more our speed. “Where is Dad?”

  “Work,” Reed says, grabbing his jacket from the back of his chair. “See you tomorrow.”

  “Yeah.” I swallow a few times. “Thanks, Reed.”

  He pauses at my chair, ruffling his hand over my hair. I duck. I hate it when he messes with my hair. “Just give it some time, Dalt. Daisy’s not going anywhere.”

  As if to prove his point, the phone rings. He reaches for it, laughing when he hears who it is. “Speak of the devil,” he mutters, handing it to me. Even though I know he’s going to give me shit for it, I can’t manage to wipe the smile off my face as I take the receiver from him. “Hey, Daisy.”

  Reed makes a kissy face at me as he leaves the kitchen. Like I said, he might not be as bad as Cash, but he’s still one of my idiot brothers. And it’s way too much to hope for that he won’t tease me at least a little.

  Daltrey

  It’s so nice spending this time with you, Daltrey.”

  I look up from my phone to see all three of my brothers and Levi frowning at me across the lunch table. “You’ve been looking at your phone for the past ten minutes,” Lennon continues.

  “Can you really not handle being away from Daisy for an hour?” Reed asks.

  I raise an eyebrow at him. “Says the guy who’s coming to meet our wedding planner and dozens of vendors just because Paige will be there.”

  He takes a sip of his beer. “For your information, I’ve sacrificed a huge amount of my free time with Paige because of this wedding. It’s all she ever talks about anymore. It’s either see her when she’s doing something planning related or not see her at all.”

  “Are you seriously guilt tripping me about my wedding?” I ask.

  “You’re both babies,” Cash says, his mouth still half-full. “I survived months of long distance with Sam.”

  “And you were completely
stoic and not at all a whiney bitch about it,” Lennon says.

  Cash points his fork at him. “Says the guy flying out to see Haylee for six hours between our shows this week.”

  Lennon groans, resting his forehead flat on the table. “This tour is going to suck.”

  Levi laughs. “You’re all pathetic about the women in your lives and none of you has any room to rag on the others, okay?”

  We all stare at him. “Hey, Reed,” Cash says, his voice casual. “Remember that time in Europe when Levi got drunk and called Karen in your room?”

  “As it turns out, I do remember.”

  “I believe he cried, didn’t he?”

  “Definitely cried,” Reed says. “Told her he missed her ‘too much to breathe.’”

  Levi only laughs, completely unembarrassed. “I refuse to apologize for that. Have you ever seen Karen? She’s the hottest woman on the planet.”

  Lennon groans again, his head back on the table. “I miss Haylee.”

  “All right, that’s enough of this,” Cash says, pulling Lennon back up. “This is supposed to be guys’ lunch. You’re all acting like wusses and we are not wusses. We are manly rock stars—except for Levi—and we need to act like it. Eat our steaks like men. Drink our beer like men.” Levi flips him off and Cash turns to me. “Starting with you. Put the phone away.”

  I sigh in frustration. “Daisy is trying on wedding dresses right now and she refuses to send me any pics.”

  “Dude, you’re not supposed to see the dress before the wedding,” Cash says. “Even I know that.”

  I roll my eyes. “This is me and Daisy. We don’t exactly stick to the rules when it comes to this kind of thing.”

  “True,” Lennon says. “But you should still probably stop bugging her about the dress. She’s with her girls. This is like, a special moment.”

  Reed reaches over and plucks my phone from my hand. “Agreed. Paige has been talking about this pretty much non-stop.”

  “Karen, too,” Levi says. “Apparently they’re all really excited about dress shopping.”

  “I’m the one she’s marrying and I don’t get any input,” I mutter, but I don’t press it any more. If Daisy wants me to be surprised about the dress, that’s fine. She’s been pretty quiet about the rest of the wedding planning—I’m actually getting the feeling she isn’t really into it, and that’s worrying me more than I’d like to admit. But, like Paige and Karen, she’s been excited to go dress shopping, so there’s no way I’m going to do anything to ruin the day for her. Then again, her excitement about the day might have something to do with the fact that we have a nanny for the whole afternoon. She mentioned several times how excited she was for a break from diaper changing. I had to agree with her.

  “So, Cash,” Lennon says, changing the subject. “Make any headway on convincing Sam about the gender yet?”

  Cash groans. “No, and I’m going crazy.” He turns to Reed and me. “We had the ultrasound and Sam refused to let the doctor tell us what we’re having. She wants it to be a surprise.”

  “We were surprised with Rose,” I tell him. “It was fun.”

  “Well it’s driving me nuts,” Cash grumbles. “The doctor wrote it down and sealed it in an envelope so we’d have it if she changes her mind. And it’s just sitting there in her dresser, taunting me. Every time I’m in that room I debate whether I can open it and reseal it without her finding out.”

  “Don’t do that,” Lennon warns. “She’ll kill you.”

  Cash just scowls and Reed grins. “What, you dying to go pick out baby clothes or something?”

  “Like you didn’t spend two hundred bucks on clothes for Rose,” he shoots back.

  “I thought we decided this was a manly lunch?” Levi asks. “How is discussing baby clothes any better than discussing your girlfriends?”

  “Good point,” Lennon says. “Another round of beers?”

  Once we have fresh glasses, Levi clears his throat. “We should probably talk about the special.”

  We all groan. “I hate those damn cameras,” Reed mutters.

  “Really?” Levi asks, his eyes wide in mock-surprise. “I never would have guessed. You always seem so happy to see them.” Reed flips him off and Levi continues. “Since we’re cutting back on rehearsals next week, it would probably be a good idea to schedule some interviews.”

  “We’re cutting back on rehearsals?” Lennon asks, looking eager.

  “Well, you’re pretty well into the shows now,” Levi says. “Will suggested you only rehearse on off-days.”

  “Our father suggested that?” Cash asks, skeptical. I don’t blame him. Dad isn’t exactly known for lightening up on us.

  Levi shrugs. “He says the whole point of the residency is to give you guys time to relax a little more.”

  “But he wants us giving interviews to the documentary crew,” Reed says. “Doesn’t really sound like relaxing to me.”

  Levi rolls his eyes. “That was my suggestion. Figured you’d want to get the interviews off your plate.”

  “That’s fine,” Cash says, watching Reed like he thinks he’s going to argue. “I’d definitely like to be done with them sooner than later.”

  “I’ll set some up.”

  Cash’s phone rings, and he glances at the screen, smiling, before lifting it to his ear. “Sam.”

  “Why does he get to talk to his girl during guy’s lunch?” I ask, shooting Reed a glare. “You didn’t take his phone.”

  “Because he’s a lot stronger than you,” Reed says, messing up my hair. I smack his hand and he laughs. Across the table, Cash is frowning at whatever Sam is saying.

  “No, I can leave now,” he says, reaching for his wallet. “I think you’re right…yeah. Okay. Be home in a bit.”

  He shoves his phone back in his pocket, still frowning.

  “What’s wrong?” Levi asks.

  “Wyatt,” he mutters, shaking his head. He looks frustrated. “He got in trouble at soccer practice. The coach asked Sam to come get him.”

  “Wyatt got in trouble?” I ask, more than a little surprised. Though he sometimes tries to act tough like Cash, the kid is basically an angel.

  “He’s been having a rough time,” Cash says, pulling some bills from his wallet.

  “Adjusting to the move, you think?” Reed asks. Wyatt and Sam had moved down here just in the past week.

  Cash scowls. “I don’t know. Even back in Washington he was getting mouthy with his grandparents and his teachers the last month or so. And he has a major attitude at home.” He runs a hand through his hair. “I don’t get it. He’s always been such a good kid. I had to send him to his room twice this week for being disrespectful to Sam. I’ve never heard him talk to her like that.”

  “It’s a lot of changes for him,” Lennon points out. “It might just take some time.”

  Cash sighs. “I know. But getting in trouble at soccer? He freaking loves soccer. And this new coach doesn’t even know him yet.” Cash shakes his head. “Anyway, I better get home. Sam sounded really stressed.”

  Since it’s just about time for me and Reed to head out to pick up the girls, our lunch breaks up after that. “You wanna come with us?” I ask Lennon and Levi.

  “To meet wedding vendors?” Lennon asks. “Yeah, I’m going to pass on that.” He grins at Levi. “Call of Duty?”

  Levi fist-bumps him. “Call of Duty.”

  I follow Reed out to his car, feeling a little jealous that Lennon and Levi get to go play video games all afternoon while I go to look at flower arrangements, or whatever else Paige and the wedding planner put together for us to see.

  But you get to marry Daisy, I remind myself, grinning a little as I get into the passenger seat.

  “Where are we picking them up?” Reed asks, looking at his phone.

  “The dress shop,” I tell him, reading off the address for him to put into the GPS.

  “I sure as hell hope they’re ready to leave when we get there,” Reed mutters. “I have
a feeling this isn’t the kind of place we’re going to want to wait around in.”

  I look over at him as he pulls out into traffic. “So how did Paige convince you to come do this today?”

  He looks a little sheepish. “It’s been pointed out to me by various people that I’ve kind of been a dick lately.” I snort at that and he reaches over the console to punch my leg. “Yeah, well. I figured that kind of extended to Paige, too.” He frowns. “In fact, it was probably the worst with Paige. So I decided it wouldn’t kill me to do something she wanted to on my day off.”

  “Aw, Reed. That’s so sweet.”

  “Fuck off.”

  I laugh, looking out the window at the heavy traffic. It still feels a little weird, to be out here. Everything about LA is so different from my life with Daisy in Tennessee. The noise, the traffic, the crowds, the sprawl. I had started to get used to the quiet of our remote little farm in the hills.

  “Do you remember much of this?” I ask Reed. I had been so young when we left California. “From when we were kids?”

  He shrugs. “I remember it being warm. That was a hard thing about moving to Ohio for me. Getting used to winter.” He glances over at me. “Do you remember it?”

  I shake my head. “Not really. I remember the house, I guess.” I remember Mom, but I don’t say that.

  Reed is quiet for a long time. “Feels like a different life,” he finally mutters.

  “Yeah.”

  I want to say more, to apologize again for writing to her, maybe. Or try to get him to talk about Dad. But he surprises me by bringing it up himself.

  “What you said that night, about how things were different for you because you had Daisy…” he trails off a little. His voice is heavy, like it’s hard for him to say it. “That made a lot of sense. I never really thought of it that way.”

  I look back to my window, seeing her face in my mind, the way it had been back then, when we were little. “I was lucky.”

  “You are lucky,” he says, his voice more normal, kind of light. “You got that woman to agree to marry you.”

  I laugh at that. Then Reed frowns. “How did you do it?” he asks. At my confused expression he clarifies. “Ask Daisy to marry you, I mean. I just realized that you never told us.” The frown deepens to a scowl. “Dad interrupted you.”