My brother sat at my kitchen table, stuffing pancakes in his mouth so fast that if the lemon was trying to tell him something it wasn't talking quick enough. He only paused to give Barbara a bite. I scolded him, but he insisted dogs loved pancakes. "And she deserves a little bite don't you Barbie? Huh? Don't you?" I'd never heard my brother use a baby voice before. My life just kept getting weirder.

"So I hear Dad wants to move in."

"Word travels fast. Who told you that?"

"Dad, himself. I told him he could stay with me." My little brother didn't look so little in the moment. He looked like a person with insurance and responsibilities. Like he might actually remember to go to the dentist twice a year. It was disconcerting, since I think I missed my last dentist appointment.

"But he can't, right? He has to stay in-state?"

Eric shrugged. "I think there's ways around that. If it's his only option."

"But it's not his only option. There's me."

"There's Abby." Eric was really insistent on giving me some outs. Something about his generosity emboldened me.

"I'll just take him." It sounded so easy, so clear with Eric sitting across from me. His pale blue eyes mirroring mine. Abby's were much darker blue, but Eric's? He and I had our dad's eyes. "It makes the most sense."

My brother's smile was sad. "Nore, I love you sis, but mentally? I mean..." He was trying so hard not to offend me, I had to laugh. It reminded me how very much I'd changed. Just several weeks ago his kindness would have sent me into a rage. I still wanted to watch him squirm just a bit though, so I sat, stone-faced and watched him try again, "Can you say the m word yet? Or... what about cooking?! Have you cooked anything?"

A laugh bubbled in my cheeks like champagne and popped out. "Stop! You're so awkward! Ohmygosh, stop! I can say "mom" and... I swept a hand over his plate, "I made those pancakes, FYI. From scratch."

My brother gave me an impressed nod. "Okay, okay. Good argument. But still. I don't want to put this on you if you aren't ready."

"I don't want to put it on me if I'm not ready either. But how long could he possibly be here? Eventually he'll get a job and move out, right?" My sentence ended on a desperate note that I didn't intend.

"Right! Right, right, right." And Eric's words took on a faux optimism that I'm sure he didn't intend.

"Super! Then it's settled." Was this all it was going to take for me to welcome my ex-con dad with whom I had a very conflicted relationship to come live with me? A three-minute conversation with my baby brother? It seemed so. I wondered what the shadows would say. If they'd be proud. I sort of hoped one might show up to hash it out with me, but it had been a long time since Millie. I was starting to get the feeling my shadowy visitors were done with me. Which was a good thing, I guess. Like a graduation or something. Without the pomp and circumstance.

"So? How's the lawyer? And what are you doing here anyway?!" I gave him a light punch. He got up and started rummaging in my cupboards. He held up a glass triumphantly and helped himself to some milk. "Eric? How's the lawyer and what are you doing here anyway?" I lowered my voice. Something was up.

"Meh. I don't think the lawyer's for me after all. And I had the weekend off, so I came to see my sisters! What's weird about that?" Seemingly nothing, but I know Eric and his five o'clock shadow was closer to seven o'clock and nobody pounds pancakes like that unless something is wrong. I waited patiently while he drank his milk, then less patiently while he refilled his plate.

"Alright. Spill. What's going on with you?"

"I just found out some stuff about Meg. Dealbreaker stuff. That's all."

"Meg?"

"Megan. The lawyer."

"What kind of dealbreaker stuff?" I was prepared to swat him if it was something like she wears a bite plate at night. He stalled by putting another bite in his mouth. A full mouth has never stopped him from talking before. Something must have really freaked him out.

When he realized I wasn't going to let it go, he set his fork down. "It turns out when I went to her parents' for dinner, it wasn't her real dad that I met."

"Okay... who was it?"

"Her step-dad."

"I'm not following. Why is that a big deal?"

"Because!" He shoved away from the table and scratched his scruffy face, "She wasn't honest with me! She let me think that was her dad!" Before I could ask another question, he whipped around to me. "And just guess where her real dad is. One guess!"

"Um..."

"In prison!" He yelled. My mouth was barely forming the "w" of my next question when he was moving on. "Prison! She didn't tell me that. Even when I told her about dad, she failed to mention the little detail that her dad is also in prison. Drug-related charges." He slumped in his chair, so deflated, you'd think he was the one with drug-related charges.

"Wellll...." Who cares? Seemed like an insensitive question.

"I can't be with somebody who also has a parentin prison, Nora." He stabbed a bite of pancake, and left the fork standingstraight up in it. "How messed up would our kids be? They need to have onenormal, stable set of grandparents. They just do."