A week. Nick had been gone an entire week before finally saying two words to me. Even then, we spoke over the phone for three minutes before he refused to come home.

My boyfriend had already left town.

Runaways wasn’t the only comic scheduled to come out soon. From what I understood, Nick went to a convention to excite new readers. He had to promote the release of his first book. It was a big deal; I understood that, but he could have told me beforehand. Instead, Nick waited until he had already gone before he told me anything. He said he’d be back, which was a relief until he neglected to say when.

“I didn’t think he’d move out,” I told my brother while we walked long supermarket aisles.

“Told you it was a bad idea, didn’t I?” River remarked and tossed a box of juice pouches into our shopping cart.

“What was I supposed to do? Leave Cindy and Malcolm to live on the street?”

“They weren’t homeless.”

“They’re better with us.”

“Are you better with them?”

I wanted to push our shopping cart into my brother’s back. He wouldn’t listen, like always, but lately, River had been stuck to me. I guess he cared. Regardless of how terrible he was at showing it at times, my brother cared.

“All I’m saying is you can be a dad without bending over backward for the mom,” River added.

“Like Dad did with us?”

We turned down the snack aisle.

“There you go again, making him the villain. Parents are people too.”

Malcolm’s turn to bring snacks for the reading circle at school was in a few days. Most parents would have baked something, but I only knew how to use a grill. Cindy might have taken up the challenge, but she had been taking extra shifts at work for some reason. The challenge of finding something fun for Malcolm’s age but healthy enough for other parents to approve fell to my brother and me.

“If you ask me, you’re worried too much about Nick and Cindy. Focus on your kid. Make the best call for him,” River told me.

He was careless. Dropping anything glazed or chocolate stuffed into our basket, I could tell my older brother hadn’t read the handout Cindy and I had gotten from Malcolm’s teacher on snack guidelines.

“And what if the best call is something they don’t want?” I asked.

“You’re the man of the house, at least when I’m not around, so act like it.”

Shaking my head, I stopped the cart when we came to the two choices I knew would pass inspection.

“Cheese and crackers or peanut butter and crackers?” I said to which my brother sighed and remarked, “A year ago, I had girls, money, and more time than I knew what to do with.”

“You can always move out,” I laughed.

“And leave you to make all these life-changing decisions alone? I’d never.”

Sarcastic or not, I knew there was some truth behind River’s attitude.

“Peanut butter or cheese,” I repeated.

My brother pulled the cart further down the aisle, ignoring anything that looked remotely healthy. I could only follow along, hoping he had something better in mind. He didn’t.

“Screw the crackers. Get Little M and his class a real snack,” he suggested.

“Like what? Brownies and bourbon?”

We got brownies and chocolate milk. At check out, I knew before we had paid for anything, Cindy wouldn’t be happy. The other parents at Malcolm’s school wouldn’t be satisfied, either. Still, I let River convince me to pay for the poor choice.

However, at the last minute, just as we were about to leave, my brother surprised me. While I pushed the cart outside to the truck, he went back into the store.

Five minutes later, he walked out with cheese and crackers.

While loading everything into the back of the truck, I asked, “Why did we get the brownies?”

“You let me make a bad decision for your kid, and it would have gotten you yelled at. Next time, trust your gut,” he said and got into the passenger seat without helping me with the rest of the bags.

When I got in the truck, I asked again, “Ok, but did I have to pay for everything for you to say that?”

“I like brownies,” he said with a grin, and I punched his shoulder before we left.