a family affair

Henry was not that thrilled about a dinner party with his cousins.

"Mom, we can't do it, until the play is over." He was unloading the dishwasher while she was making a cheese sauce for the mac and cheese casserole. It was Vada's favorite dish so Henry's Mom was making it for her on opening night. Naturally, she probably wouldn't eat any until she got home. It would be cold by then.

"Right? Yes, I guess, you are right." She sounded she had lot on her mind.

"I don't even know if I want to be here." Henry shrugged.

"Well, he's your cousin. A cousin you've never met. You, have to at least meet him." His mother reminded him as she stirred in the cheddar and poured it over the cooked noodles. She added some bread crumbs and stuck the rectangular dish in the oven.

"Well..Aidan says Gage is a homophobe." Henry festered a look that he did not approve, so therefore he could not socialize with such people.

"I know what Carson said, but we have to give them a chance." His mother gave Henry a dead stare. After all, they were her brother's boys.

"How come, you never talk about your brother." Henry winced then.

"We..we weren't that close." His mother sighed as she went to wash up the dishes she'd used. "That's..that is why I thought it was so important that you and Aidan got along. I wanted you two, to know each other. Be there for each other."

It all sounded a little grim when his Mom talked about her homelife. Her father was an alcoholic. Perhaps there was even some domestic abuse. She'd never really talked about how she grew up. Henry would have never known his mom ever had such problems. She was so normal.

He hugged himself thinking maybe Carson and Gage were problems they didn't really need to have around. Even now.