Page 80 of Contempt

Just … all the different things.

Renzo felt like shifting on the spot. He just needed to move. Down the hallway, Diego looked to be in the same situation. The way the kid twisted his hands into balls at his side, and rocked from foot to foot as the silence stretched on.

It was funny, he thought.

They were the same.

And yet, they weren’t.

“Talk,” Rose muttered beside him. “Say something, Ren.”

“Hey, buddy,” Renzo finally said.

Fuck.

Buddy?

Really?

The kid wasn’t four anymore, he was almost nine. Was buddy even a thing he liked to be called anymore? Did he have a fucking nickname? Was he hanging out with the right kids? Did he feel a need to refuse to conform to every single thing authority told him to like Renzo did?

Those were things he didn’t know.

Things he needed to know.

Diego gave Renzo a small smile. “I missed you, Ren.”

“Yeah?”

His little brother nodded.

All right, then.

“You’re gonna stay for dinner, right?” Diego asked. “Like Lucia is, too?”

Renzo shot Rose a look.

Well, there was the other guest, he supposed.

Rose shrugged. “Don’t be an asshole.”

Really, that’s what his sister thought he was going to do?

Whatever.

He put his attention back to Diego. “Could I get a hug?”

Renzo didn’t miss the way that Diego hesitated, but he didn’t blame the kid, either. He bet this was a little overwhelming, and all. Rose hadn’t told their little brother that Renzo was coming tonight—rightfully so, considering—so he suspected Diego was having all kinds of feelings about this that he was keeping locked up tight.

He could have them, too.

Renzo would wait them out.

Finally, Diego nodded. “Yeah, a hug would be cool.”

Renzo laughed.

Good enough for me.