You Plus Me Equals

Leo threw his back down on the small table in the large front entrance with a sigh of relief. The light creamy apricot walls with matching scones were new from the last time he was here. And there was an unrecognizable painting of weird splotches of colors hanging up as the focal point opposite the large arched front door.

Leo used his toes to pull back each shoe carefully then kicked them off to the side near where the light white closet door was closed tightly. Green painter's tape across the door and the smell of paint lingering in the air.

"Mom?"

"Leo? Is that you? I am in the kitchen, honey, don't touch the walls, they are almost drying." she called back her voice a gentle, pleasant song.

'Hmmm, she is in a good mood. I wonder why?'

Leo walked up the three steps that led into the little landing area with dark mahogany flooring and a black stone statement wall that led to the main sitting area and formal dining room, which was cleaned off and set up for dinner, with what looked like from far away the nice dinnerware.

He walked past them both and peaked around the wall that hid the kitchen, family living room and adjacent breakfast nook directly behind those two rooms.

"It smells good whatcha making?"

"Gosh, honey, how many times do I have to tell you to stop poking your nose up in weird places when I am cooking over the stove?" she exclaimed. Her voice light and breathy as she regained her composure from being startled.

"If I am poking my nose into the kitchen for the first time how would I know you are cooking over the stove and not say grabbing something from the fridge?" Leo asked pointedly. Leo leaned forward and hugged his mom wrapping his arms around her in a tight bear hug from the side while leaning his head gently down on her much lower shoulders. She lifted her one free hand and twisted awkwardly to pat him on the cheek softly.

"Oh, don't be such a smarty, it's dangerous whether I am in the fridge, over the stove or about to cut a steak, and you know it. Now be good and wash your hands, supper is almost ready." she chided and restarted stirring the soup.

"What's under the lid on that one?" Leo asked, hearing the sharp sizzling sounds from beneath the lid was making his stomach leap with anticipation.

"None of your business,"

"You know I am tall enough to just reach past you and look right?"

"I said no touching, Jeez, honestly you and Dad are always the same, little troublemakers. Keep your fingers out, now go wash up, oh and get your father from the porch for me too. God knows he is too deaf to hear me yelling at him from here."

"Sure, allocate me to try to get him to leave his playing. I just got here. Why are you making me the bad guy?"

"Oh tut, shoo, get out of my kitchen." she waved the ladle in his face.

Leo sighed in defeat and took one last longing look at the stir-fried vegetables, crispy fried sweet potato slices and the barbeque chicken.

"Yeah, okay I am going." he said sadly and waved his hand nonchalantly then headed off down the hall and up the dark mahogany stairs holding onto the old intricate railing.

The fourth stair from the top didn't creak when he stepped on it and he smiled.

'Hmm dad fixed it… That or Mom hired someone cause she got tired of waiting for him to do it.'

Leo walked gingerly down the hall one hand out, fingertips running across the familiar walls gently. His finger hit the tiny notch in the wall where he and Caspian had been forced to patch the hole in the wall by themselves after they had made the grave mistake of playing baseball indoors.

He smiled at the memory, then his face turned into a frown.

'Caspian.' He sighed unhappily and swallowed around the lump that had grown in his throat.

"Dad?" Leo called pushing the bedroom door open, sure enough across the room on the other side through the little seating area his mom had served up in their room his dad had the door to the porch wide open and was playing a tune on his guitar.

Leo could tell he was not there, that he was peacefully strumming away at a tune that was so ingrained in his memory he didn't have to think he just played.

"Dad" Leo repeated and leaned on the open door frame.

His dad opened his eyes and a pleasant smile creased his handsome features.

"Leo, you just got here, huh? Did you see the birds were quite enjoying that tune, Rob told me that my playing was a racket and scaring off the birds he has been trying to watch all week. That old goat doesn't know what he is talking about. The birds love my music."

"I know I heard."

Leo said gently, his dad stood up, reached out and patted him gently on the shoulder in his standard non verbal hello.

"Put my guitar away, then come down to the kitchen. suppers ready, I can smell it."

"I know Mom told me to remind you to wash up."

His dad let out a hearty laugh,

"Your mother is becoming a crazy goat in her old age and doing things like dressing up for dinner and inviting her cackle of old Hens to do yoga, or dancing, or whatever in the park on Sundays."

Leo smiled. "I suppose you're both are doing crazy things in your old age. You are playing music for birds and she is inviting a group of them over to exercise."

His dad's laughter bellowed loudly into the room and he slapped Leo on the back good naturedly.

"You are such a smart a.s.s."

"Yes, just like you, I suppose the apple can't really roll all that far from its roots now can it." His mom quipped as she walked into the room.

Leo s.u.c.k.e.d in a smile.

"Mom, the saying is. An apple doesn't fall too far from a tree."

"Oh, pssh, don't correct me if I say it's right, then it is. Now go get dressed for dinner."

"Get changed, why? Just to eat? What's wrong with what I am wearing?" Leo w.h.i.n.ed looking down at his red, and black rose patterned t-shirt, and his dark blue acid wash distressed jeans. Everything was good quality fashion, he looked fine, better than fine.

"You want to sit at the dinner table like that? With half your legs hanging out of the holes from your ripped up jeans? If I wanted to see nobby little chicken knees, I would ask your father to put on a skirt. Since no one wants to see that, I doubt anyone wants to see yours either."

"Honey?"

"Yes, right, I mean that is if you want to go change out of those ragged clothes, into something… Nicer."

Leo rolled his eyes "Of course mom," He smiled as she perked up immediately and shifted forward in her seat now happy as a peach while putting on a pair of earrings. Leo walked out of the room, chuckling.

His mom was always like that, telling him how to dress, what to eat, telling him he had better try hard in all his work, because a Tremblay never settles for anything but their best. But it came from a place of love, and so he really couldn't fault either of them. The pressure was overwhelming sometimes, but since he didn't have to hear Caspian's accomplishments being touted around before someone casually mentioned anything he, himself had actually done. It wasn't so bad now.

He loved Caspian, but it had been hard living under the shadow of the handsome, always loved prince of Basketball, a guy who could do no wrong. Already drafted by the time he was eighteen he was making his own money and had control of his own stuff for years. It really had come as such a shock when at twenty-four last year he was charged with theft and embezzlement and kicked out of the major leagues.

Having a famous brother was hard. Super hard at first, the black stain from the shadow he constantly felt weighted to live up to was so immense he had felt stuck. Then the news broke, all over TV's all over social media. The NBA's hot golden boy was nothing more than a scam artist.

Then there was the black shadow, looming around him, but this time, shame, whispers and accusations and through it all only Evan had stayed, only Evan's family had comforted us during that time. Now Mom and Dad had a group of people again, but it was like a heavy curtain that could never drop hung above every festivity, every gathering.

Caspian, the light of their life, the pride and joy was still their baby. But now heralding it to the world didn't go over so well. The pictures of him remained, his room was unchanged, but the balance had shifted and suddenly Leo was in the spotlight again.

An unspoken pressure to do better, try harder, prove everyone the Tremblay pride was still there.

To just prove everyone wrong, and to give back that pride to his mom and dad.

Max had startled him that day, when he had accused him of being a thief, it had really hurt back then, that automatic accusation that hung in the back of everyone's eyes. Like it wasn't farfetched, they are all cut from the same cloth after all.

The sad thing is they were not wrong. Caspian looked like the spitting image of Leo, the tiniest of details setting them apart but otherwise they could have been twins, clones the only thing to tell one from the other was that Caspian had a sharper jaw and a heady nose and was around six foot ten a whole head taller.

His father was just an aged mixture of his two boys, landing somewhere in the middle of the two of them, a large sharp nose, a heavy jawline and dark brown eyes that could become pools of midnight when he was angry. And even in his late sixties with his wiry, muscular frame he could still keep up with both of us on the backyard basketball court where he had played against us every day of our lives when we lived at home.

Everyone said Leo looked girly because he had gotten his mom's sweet heart-shaped face, small nose, and her gentle eyes. He was the shortest of the Tremblay men but still a good six inches taller than his mom, that used to be his favorite thing to spout at christmas gatherings. Leo had gotten most of his personality from his mom, and Caspian was almost a clone of his father's temperament. Proud, yet humble, a know it all with a wicked tongue and a great sense of humor. It was a personality that lived for the spotlight which was fine since his mom was normally happy to oblige. The only thing she took credit for was her boys, anything and everything was all her, and dad was smart enough to agree with her and only argue now and then about how much he really had been a part of their creation. Which if you went by his mom's telling, he really had almost nothing to do with the creation and raising of her two prides and joys.

He was spry and proud, and his mom did everything she could to keep her five foot two body the same. She always said it was so if we ever misbehaved she would always have the energy to beat us till we were smart or good and dead. Which was probably the funniest thing he had ever heard, since she had never raised her voice let alone a finger, not that she couldn't be scary. God all that sweet covered up the deadliest of glares.

She didn't have to punish you because you would punish yourself after just one look. Instead, his mom with her gentle blue, brown eyes, long dark hair and mini stature was ninety-nine percent the sweet lady she looked to be on the outside.

His family had seemed perfect, indestructible, now they were all picking up the pieces and resettling, and as someone who had been just a shadow, an echo of someone else's spotlight it felt weird to know how all eyes were on him now.

Leo opened the door to his room and sat down on the bed with a sigh. He came home often enough that nothing actually changed inside it, except for anything dirty or unsatisfactory by his mother's definition, was either neatly put away or disappeared without a word. Normally hoping he wouldn't squabble about what made its way quietly out of the house. And because he hated confrontation, it never ever came up. They were just things and organizing and reorganizing his room seemed to be something that made his mom happy.

Mom had learned ages ago not to even bother with Caspian's room as he kept it the way he wanted it, and it was never dirty so it suited her fine.

Dad had learned to do whatever made her happy which normally involved nodding his head as she rambled off all the ways she liked things, where to put them, and then in the end did it herself because you were not doing it right.

There was so much that was great about coming back here. He thought while he grabbed a pair of dark blue jeans, no holes, and a red dress shirt out of his closet and changed.

Especially his mom. They had always had this connection where she just seemed to know what he was thinking, whether or not he said it. And she did all sorts of small things that made you love her more, because she smiled and hummed, happy with what life gave her.

She was what people would have called a trophy wife; She was twelve years younger than Dad and never worked a day in her life as anything but a mother. Which according to her was a hellish enough kind of job, that she shouldn't be expected to go out and get another one.

Which was a fair point to be honest. Besides her days were filled with laughter, smiling, and whatever hobby she decided she wanted to pick up. Right now it was exercising in the park, and according to the text messages she sent him weekly, miniature dollhouses but by next time he stopped by it really could be anything.

It seemed normal, like the mistakes of last year had just washed away.

Leo walked down for dinner and was near the last four stairs when the doorbell rang, a gentle, trill of notes that resembled a song.

"I'll get it." Leo started for the door and pulled it open.