Hiding My Heart

Chapter 43

"Oh," Was all he said finishing up buttoning up his shirt and sitting at the table where our mom had already set it for three people. 

I sit across from him just as mom finishes up the last piece of toast and places them on the table along with the eggs and bacon. I smile at her as she sits at the head of the table, Brayden and I on either side of her. 

"Thank you mom, this means a lot to me." I say sincerely. And it does, it reminds me of the old days before Joey left. She would always make our favorite breakfast food on our birthdays, she was a wonderful cook.  

"You're welcome Dee, it felt weird cooking again." She says quietly deep in thought. 

"Well I'm sure it will taste great, just like the old days." I say without thinking and I see Brayden wince making me regret my words. 

I clear my throat and start piling food on my plate, taking a bite of the bacon and smiling. It was perfect. 

"Dig in Brayden." I say pouring syrup on my French toast. 

He's hesitant at first before grabbing a little bit of everything. "It actually feels good not having to wake up so early to cook for you." He teases me relaxing after he takes his first bite. 

I can see it in his eyes that he too notices that it's just as good as before, though he wouldn't admit it. 

I smile at him and nod. "What are you doing today Brayden?" mom asks quietly looking at him with a soft expression. She has some bags under her eyes from restless sleep the night before.  

I watch him tense a little at first before relaxing once more. "Work," Is all he says and I sigh feeling my mood drop slightly.  

Seeing my sad expression, pain crosses over his face as he looks between me and my mom. Her head is bowed after his answer, knowing that that is all she is going to get out of him. 

"I want to know what the hell is going on here." He finally says dropping his fork. 

"Brayden!" I gasp as he narrows his eyes at me and my mom. "No, I need to know what the hell happened that made her change. Why she changed and swore off alcohol. I have ignored the situation all week thinking that she will go back to locking herself in her room with a bottle of vodka." He says hard. "After you left something happened, something changed and all the sudden she's going back to being mom. Your talking to her like the past ten years never happened." He accused. 

I sigh and gently place my fork on my plate. Well I wanted to fix things right? I just didn't think it would start off like this. 

"Your right, she has changed after I came back. In fact the reason I left was because of her. She wanted to talk to me and I wasn't ready to hear her out." I say telling the half truth, I did want to leave because I wasn't ready to talk to her. "I really thought things through Brayden while I was away. I don't expect you to understand my decision but she needs us right now. I promised her I would help her get better. She wants to move on from Joey and the past but she can't do it herself. She needs help Brayden and I'm not going to abandon her and make her do it by herself. You know I can't." I say softly. 

"When I came back I sat down with her and we had a long talk. I was skeptical of her change too but you weren't there when she grabbed all of the bottles of alcohol and helped me flush them down the toilet. You weren't there to see how bad she wanted to change. She wants to be here for us Brayden." 

He shakes his head in disbelief. "You can't be serious, why should I believe that-" 

"Because I'm your sister, because you love her just as much as I do but you don't want to believe that. Because even as you deny sticking around here it isn't just for me but it's for mom. You're just as afraid as I am to leave her alone. You want to help her just as much as I do. But you're too prideful and scared to let her get close again." I say hard. I knew I was right about everything I just said; as much as he denies it I know I'm right.