Page 82 of Contempt

He hugged his brother again. “She wasn’t wrong, Diego.”

“I know,” his brother mumbled. “Missed you, Ren.”

He had missed Diego more than this kid knew.

• • •

“Go wash your hands, all right?” Rose said from the head of the table.

Diego’s smile faltered as his gaze drifted from Rose, to Renzo. “But—”

“I’ll be here,” Renzo said quickly. “We’ve got that game to play on the Xbox, right?”

“Right, okay.”

Diego still peeked over his shoulder when he disappeared around the corner like he just needed to make sure Renzo wasn’t going anywhere. To his credit, Renzo gave the kid a smile to reassure him without calling him out on it.

Once Diego had snuck from the kitchen to do his business, Renzo went back to the table. For the most part, Lucia had been quiet during the dinner. Sure, she joined in on the conversation when Diego or Rose pulled her into it, but otherwise, she didn’t say much.

Renzo didn’t think that was because of him. At least, not because of his presence. He suspected it was more likely because Lucia was trying to give him a chance to catch up with Diego as much as possible without inserting herself into it.

He appreciated that.

“Thanks,” Renzo told Rose.

His sister arched a brow. “For what?”

“Everything, I suppose.”

Lucia cleared her throat, but stayed quiet in her seat while the two siblings talked.

“You don’t have to thank me for anything, Ren,” Rose said.

Renzo disagreed. “Who else will? You stepped up, right. You shouldn’t have needed to, I guess. He wasn’t your responsibility, but I kind of threw him onto you when it was probably the last thing you needed at the time. And yet, you just kept on going—you did what you needed to do.”

Rose nodded. “Maybe I had a good teacher, huh? Did you ever consider that?”

“No, why would I?”

“No, I guess you wouldn’t,” Rose replied in a sigh. “It was always second nature for you to take care of us. You never questioned it because it was all you ever knew, right? It was how it always was for you, so you did it.”

“Of course.”

And he didn’t feel bad about it, either.

Rose shrugged. “I had an older brother who busted his ass day in and day out as I grew up to make sure I never went hungry, or cold. I learned what it meant to sacrifice because you taught me that it was okay to give up a piece of yourself for someone else if it meant they were going to be a little happier. As long as I loved someone else, then I would be loved in return. That’s the lesson you taught me, Ren.”

He shifted on his chair.

Huh.

He’d never thought of it that way.

“It shouldn’t have been our jobs anyway,” Rose said, “but we didn’t have anyone else to take care of us, Ren. Not parents worth anything, you know. So, the only person I had to learn from was you, but I’m grateful for that.”

“Yeah, I get it,” Renzo murmured. Then, he had another thought. “Does she ever come around—or him, even?”

“Mom?”