Total pages in book: 157
Estimated words: 145088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145088 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 484(@300wpm)
“Oh, God. I’m so sorry. Has he passed?”
“My brother?” Hammer asked, yet more stiffly, and Cynthia rubbed her hands while staring at the floor.
“Well, he was born after you left. We didn’t seek you out, since you clearly didn’t want to be found.”
“Did you go because you thought we wouldn’t accept you—” Peter exhaled and gestured between Hammer and Dex, but Hammer shook his head.
“No.”
The silence extended, making Dex nervous, but just as he considered filling it with a compliment on the chandelier, Cynthia spoke.
“Anyway, your sexuality is no issue for us. Whatever makes you happy. And if you’re staying for dinner, you will get to meet your brother. Who has most certainly not passed.” She glanced at Dex with disapproval. “Wolfgang! Please come for dinner!” she raised her voice and led them down the stunning corridor.
“‘Wolfgang’? Do you sometimes call him Wolfie?” Dex asked with a wide grin before settling his gaze on Hammer’s concrete-stiff face. “What a pair. Wolfgang and Florian. You two sound like two medieval princes.”
“I’m no longer called that,” Hammer protested, drawing the attention of his parents.
“You’re no longer… what?” Peter asked, and Hammer plucked his driver’s license from his wallet.
“I legally changed my name,” he said, offering the card to his father, whose thick brows lowered until they were close to squashing his eyes.
“‘Hammer’? Is this a joke?”
“But… Florian is such a unique, beautiful name,” Cynthia said as if he’d done it to spite her.
Hammer sighed. “It is, but I never felt like a Florian.”
“But you feel like a Hammer?” Peter asked with a deepening frown.
Dex grabbed Hammer’s driver’s license as it was changing hands. “I can’t believe you legally changed it. That’s so cool!”
Cynthia sighed. “Right. Very cool.” She didn’t sound amused though.
Dex worried he might end up being scolded for something he didn’t understand but when they entered a dining room with white wooden panels covering the walls and antique paintings depicting vegetables and dead animals hung on each side, their hostess’ attention turned to a boy waiting for them there. He couldn’t be more than ten, but had the same dark hair as Hammer. His mouth fell open when he spotted the surprise guests.
Peter approached the large table set for three on one end. At least they sat together, like a normal family, not on opposite sides, just to make use of the whole thing. “We told you about your older brother, remember? He’s back.”
“So he’s no longer missing?” Wolfie asked, staring up at Hammer with wide gray eyes.
“Y-yes. The police found him,” Cynthia said.
"Oh, fuck! He's like a mini-you!" Dex exclaimed, to which Peter tsked with a twist to his lips.
"Language. He's ten."
"Sorry! I’m not around kids much." Dex needed to keep his mouth on a shorter leash.
Cynthia walked out in hurried steps while her husband took a bottle of wine out of a Chinese-style sideboard.
“I’m assuming you both drink?”
Dex smiled. “Yep, I’m twenty-two. He can only have one though, since he’s driving.”
Wolfie pouted. “If you drive, you shouldn’t drink at all.”
Hammer stared at the kid, as if it was a rattlesnake that fascinated him yet was too dangerous to approach. “You’re too young to know.”
“That’s what Mom says,” the resolute kid told him, entwining his hands behind him like an old man. “Maybe that is why you went missing.”
Dex scooted lower to be on Wolfie’s eye level. “Your brother didn’t go missing because of alcohol. He was abducted by aliens.”
Peter butted in, pouring drinks. “I can see you mean well, Dex, and that you are an entertainer at heart, but we don’t lie to Wolfgang about fantastical concepts.”
Oh, but it was okay to lie about Hammer being missing. Got it.
Hammer offered the kid his hand, but Wolfie didn’t take it and only greeted his brother once he got an okay from his father.
“Could you add two more covers to the table?” Peter said.
The kid got to work like a good little robot, opening the sideboard to bring out two more sets of plates matching the ones already waiting for diners. Dex was glad there were only three types of cutlery on the table, but he’d still have to follow everyone’s example if Cynthia served something tricky, like mussels, or fried armadillo.
“He’s very well-behaved,” Hammer said.
“And does well in school too,” Peter said, meeting Hammer’s gaze as he placed glasses of wine on each embroidered placemat but one. “He’s as talented as you were.”
The and look what you did with it hung in the air like a bad fart no one wanted to claim as their own.
“He’s made up for that now,” Dex said, feeling scrutinized by the child when he sat in front of his plate. “He has his own apartment and everything.”
“Everyone has a house,” the kid said. “And that’s Daddy’s chair.”
Dex got up as if he’d been shocked with a cattle prod and pulled the chair out for Peter, immediately realizing how awkward the gesture was. Fuck fuck fuck. He stepped away, intent on waiting for someone to point out his seat. He couldn’t imagine a bold guy like Hammer growing up in this house, but then again, Hammer did sometimes use fancy words.