Free Tiny Island Summer by Rachelle Paige

nodded. He filled up one of the delicate china teacups, grabbed a saucer, and followed his mom into the formal dining room. He’d lived nearly his entire life in the grand old house, following Mom’s instruction on proper manners and how to comport himself. Only on vacations to the lake house did the brothers get to live as informally as the rest of the world. In Duluth, they dressed for meals, ate four-course dinners with ridiculous place settings, and behaved politely in a way many people had only seen in period movies.
    “How are you feeling?” Ben began.
    She blew out a sigh. “This whole conversation is boring me. Can we please talk about something besides my health?”
    Ben stared at her blankly.
    “How about you?”
    Ben shrugged.
    “Are you having a good summer with John?”
    “So far.”
    “Why is it always like pulling teeth to get you to talk? Come on, tell me all about it.”
    “There’s not much to tell. It’s weird not to be working.”
    “I’m sorry about that.”
    “No, Mom. Please don’t. I chose to do this and actually it’s been nice.”
    “How is John?”
    “Good, running around after the next-door neighbor.”
    “What?”
    “Two women moved in next door. They’re nice. John is crazy about one. I think she’s in law school. He’ll probably kill me for telling you,” Ben said and smiled.
    “What about the other one?”
    “She’s . . . nice.”
    “What aren’t you telling me?”
    “I don’t know. She’s nice. She works for an auction house and is up in the area looking for estates to sell. She works hard. She’s pretty ambitious, to be honest.”
    “Is that a bad thing?”
    Ben shrugged.
    “I know someone else who is pretty ambitious,” she pointed out.
    “Yeah, and look where that’s led me.”
    “What? You live a nice life. You own your own home and bought it with your own money, well before the trust fund.”
    “I sold that home and I’m on sabbatical.”
    “Still.”
    “I’ve worked hard for what I have, even with all the advantages I’ve been given,” Ben acknowledged. “But sometimes it doesn’t feel like it has amounted to anything. I had to take a leave of absence to help out my family.”
    She squirmed.
    “Mom, I’m not mad at you. I’m frustrated that the company made me do that. I hate that there was no middle ground in my life. But now I feel like I’m starting to come awake a bit.”
    “And you think this girl is heading down the same road as you?”
    “I’m not sure. I think she doesn’t have the luxury of the safety net that I have, so I can understand why she’s working so hard. It’s not just that I see my younger self in her. There’s something about her.”
    “You’re interested in her?”
    “Maybe? I don’t think I can take it on right now, the responsibility of being with a girl like her. I need to unwind and have fun.”
    “It seems like you’ve been thinking about this a lot.”
    “I’ve nearly kissed her a couple of times.”
    “Oh, Ben. You shouldn’t give up or put your life on hold,” she exclaimed before bursting into a coughing fit.
    Ben leaped to his feet, pushing back the Queen Anne chair without any consideration for it or the Aubusson underneath. He rubbed his mom’s back in the circular motions she’d told him were comforting.
    “Help!” he called out at the top of his lungs.
    The nurse burst into the room and helped him pull his mom to her feet. Between the two of them, the managed to walk her down the hall to the parlor. Ben took a step back as the nurse lowered his mom into the bed in a routine that looked choreographed, or at least well rehearsed.
    “Can I help?” Ben asked the woman helplessly.
    “Get her a glass of water please.”
    Ben nodded, went to the kitchen to fetch the drink, and by the time he got back, she had stopped coughing. He handed his mom the water and sat down next to her. She took a tiny sip, turned to him, and mouthed sorry .
    Ben kissed her head in response.
    “You