CARINA POV
There's a theory that simply counting to three can give you all the motivation you need in order to complete something that makes you uncomfortable. There are guys who will count to three subconsciously before kissing a girl for the first time. Counting is everything, at my mamma's funeral, I spent the entire ceremony counting the bricks behind the priest. There were 246 bricks, 246 small distractions from real life. Counting, that's what I've done throughout the night.
I could revise the list of everything on our table, the number of carrots, bread slices, layers of lasagne. If I had a full view of the table, I could probably count the crumbs.
"...So, because my dad worked in the army as a...." Jasmine had stolen the night; she'd created a TED talk inspired by her own experiences. She'd eaten all of these different delicacies, she'd lived in all of these different countries – lists of things and for the life of me, my counting didn't work. I couldn't concentrate on the amount of time she'd said the words 'travel', 'stories', 'inspirations.
"Wow, that's awesome" Maya almost sarcastically said, she'd sat next to me the whole night and had been my biggest support. Nathan had been sitting on the end of the table (my side), Jasmine was opposite me, which left Andrew opposite Maya.
"But then I ran into this hero. A man of dreams, he saved me from an almost car crash on main street. It happened right outside a fire station, and no one tried to help me. Maybe I should sue them." Jasmine changes the conversation, away from her travels.
"Station 19?" Maya asked, hearing the name of her old workplace, pulls me out of my bored trance.
"That's the exact place. Babe, could you write that down or hand me my purse. I know you work in firefighting, but you're probably not at a high enough level to process a complaint of such magnitude" Jasmine belittles Maya. It's not the first time, and it won't be the last.
"I suppose, a firefighter like me couldn't handle complaints. Can I ask if the door shutters were open or closed on the fire station?" Maya asks, I look over to Nathan to see his eyes move back and forward between the woman, as if he was watching an active game of tennis.
"Both shutters were closing" Jasmine confidently says, she throws back the rest of her whiskey glass and grimaces at the flavour.
"Did you see any vehicles?" Maya asks and Jasmine shakes her head.
"If there were no vehicles, there wouldn't a firefighter there. The firefighter on desk duty would have called it in but they wouldn't have left their position" Maya explains, during this conversation, her whole body had moved forward against the table.
"I suppose you're right. I guess that just proves how backwards the system is. I mean, did you get offered to move up from being Captain or did they just assume that you'd want to be in a teaching position. They probably just saw you as a woman and wanted you to teach, so sexist" Jasmine rants. It's a weird statement, and for the first time Andrew catches on.
"Maya chose to be in a teaching role. She's been promised chief, and she will be in roughly 5 months. It was her choice and she's perfect at it." Andrew calmly states, Jasmine looked shocked.
"I'm sorry Andrea but I need to say something. I can deal with the constant stories about the experiences you've had, about how you'd spent the night in a tribe that practices cannibalism, I'm even okay with you constantly slating of our jobs. But I really can't deal with you being in this house and targeting hate towards my wife." I angrily state, again Jasmine's mouth falls open, her lips move as she tries to say something.
I observe Andrea as I wait for any reaction. I'm guessing he wasn't quite expecting tonight to go the way it has.
"I think it's time we leave" My brother stands up and pulls the chair out from under Jasmine causing her to stumble backwards slightly.
I followed them to the door, and I opened the door, they hurried out of the door. I watched as they slammed their car doors and reversed out of our drive. I closed the front door and walked back to the dining room; the table was empty but there was noise from the kitchen.
"They're gone." I happily state, amused by the way Nathan and Maya had found a rhythm while doing the washing up. She washed and he dried, they both hummed a song I didn't quite recognise.
"That's good, I hope he's started to realise that she isn't great." Maya says back, not bothering to turn around. A knock at the door pulls my attention away, furrowing my eyebrows I question of my brother and Jasmine had forgotten something. Instead I open the door to Maya's brother.
"Hi Carina, I wanted to share some important information. Is Maya around?" Mason asks, he rocks on his feet, a giant smile adorned across his face once he sees me nod. I call for Maya, hearing the pads of her feet hitting the hardwood floors.
"Mason, how are you?" Maya asks, surprised to see her brother.
"I'm very happy. I'm here to tell you that I'm engaged. She's perfect and you wouldn't believe the things she's done in her life. She'd recently come back from an exhibition in the Amazon and that's after she travelled the world as a pilot" Mason excitedly shared, a moment of silence filled the open space as Maya stuttered.
"Wow, she sounds great. What's her name?" I ask, almost begging for it to be anything but Jasmine.
"Jasmine" Mason exclaims, my eyes widen as I look between the siblings.
"Oh, Jesus Christ. What are the chances" Nathan exclaimed as he ran past us and out the door. He stopped and waved for mere seconds before running down the street.
"I hope she's making you happy. Are Isabella and Alex in the car?" I change the subject, knowing that neither of us are ready to tell Mason the truth.
"They're both asleep but I think they desperately wanted to come home. Is that alright?" He asks, seemingly fine with the change in conversation.
MAYA POV
How has my brother fallen in love with the same woman as Andrew. It would be laughable, hell I could have sadly chuckled at the name reveal. The only laughable thing currently would be having the brothers learn the information in front of Jasmine, to see her squirm under the watchful eye of our family.
Carrying Alex and Isabella in was easy, they're still at the age where they feel as light as paper. When I picked Alex up, he'd wrapped his hands around my neck and almost tiredly whimpered out 'night mommy', the same happened with Isabella. How could they know it was me if they were that tired?
Once Isabella had fallen even deeper into sleep, I found myself with my arms wrapped around my wife. We softly kissed each other, willing for a distraction from the big dilemma that had been thrown our way.
How do we tell our brothers that they could be dating the same woman?
