Max had plates, silverware and napkins laid out, so I added margarine and syrup. Kia sat down wearing a bemused look as Angus delivered the pancakes.
“Do you need something?” she asked him.
I laughed.
Angus shook his head. “I used to cook more before things got so...good with Del. In fact we used to eat dinner together whenever we could.”
“You know that’s kinda weird, right?” But it didn’t stop her from digging into the food.
“What is?” Max asked.
“Building a little surrogate family when people are only together to make rent and may move along as soon as the lease runs out.”
Okay, it was weird for me to be the one fielding this since I wasn’t typically superemotional, but... “That may be true, but if we get to be friends instead of just roommates, then I can count on you. And vice versa. Even after you go your own way, I’ll still come when you call. I’d do the same for Nadia, she’s downstairs now, and I don’t see her as much as I did when she was in my room, but when she left, it didn’t change anything.”
“And if Lauren needed me,” Angus put in, “I’d be on the first plane to Kansas.”
From behind my hand, I corrected, “Nebraska.”
“Lack of geographic accuracy doesn’t negate my point.”
“Sustained,” Max said.
Angus grabbed his spoon and started singing Diana Ross, “I’m Gonna Make You Love Me,” while I harmonized on backup. Max couldn’t carry a tune in a bag, but he chimed in on the chorus after hearing us run through it a couple times.
“Okay, I’m starting to get it.” Kia glanced between us, her smile warm if slightly bewildered. “How much time do I have to put in? Because I already don’t sleep a whole lot.”
“This is enough,” I answered.
“What is?”
“Hanging out on Sunday morning, goofing with us and eating pancakes.”
She grinned. “It’s a tough job but somebody’s gotta do it. Angus, these are fab, seriously. Everything is. The last time I ate this well, it was in a restaurant.”
Beaming at her, he said, “Flattery will definitely get you fed more often.”
“Why doesn’t that work for me?” Max wondered aloud.
“Because you’re a pig who refuses to do the dishes on time, drinks from the carton and leaves wet towels on our bathroom floor.”
“Are you gonna let him talk to me that way?” Max nudged me with his knee under the table, rubbing his leg against mine.
“But...that’s all true. So...uhm. Wow, Angus, you sure are painfully honest. Stop it right now, seriously. Max is a fragile flower who needs lying kindness to bloom. Or something.”
Kia asked, “Are you sure you two are really a couple? I mean, I noticed your bed was empty last night and all but if I’d fucked with Duncan like that—”
“Duncan was a douche canoe,” Angus cut in. “The polar opposite of a dreamboat.”
I nodded. “Never met the guy, but from everything you’ve said, I tend to agree. Sounds like he didn’t have much sense of humor, either.”
She sighed, her fork hovering in midair. “The stories I could tell. I can’t believe I wasted two years on him.”
“Why did you?” Max wanted to know.
“At first, it was the status,” she admitted.
“Huh?” That wasn’t what I expected to hear.
“He was fine, drove an expensive car. And when I walked in at his side, I felt like somebody. With Duncan, there were never any lines, no club we couldn’t get into. He didn’t think anything of hopping in the private plane and flying us somewhere for the weekend.”
Wow. Racking my brain, I couldn’t remember much about her ex, except that he came from a conservative family in the Bible belt. And obviously he had money, based on what she was saying. “Yeah, I can see how that would be appealing at first.”
Max made a game-show buzzer sound. “Wrong answer. Your not-at-all rich boyfriend reminds you how much cooler it is to earn things.”
God, it seemed like he might never get tired of claiming ownership like that, and to be honest, it gave me a happy little thrill, too. The sweetness rushed over me until I could barely think, so I just reached for his hand under the table while offering a half smile. Kia cleaned her plate quietly, obviously pensive, and Angus was good at reading the mood. I suspected we all understood that she had more to say.
“Eventually, though...” I prompted.
“I got sick of his entitlement, the way he was raised to believe the world revolved around him and never questioned it. In his mind, I should’ve been happy just being with him, like an accessory. He treated my dreams like nothing, like it’s vanity that I’m busting ass to get into med school. And let’s not even get started on the way he tried to vet my friends.”
“Sounds like you’re still pretty pissed off at him,” Angus said.
“I guess I am. Little boys have no place in my life, and he wasted so much of my time. Though there were moments I thought maybe he’d grow up fast enough to make it right.”
“I’m not making excuses for him, but it can be hard to break away from family expectations,” I said quietly. “I did it, but every time I go home, I hear about how far I am from where my parents want me to be, all the ways I’m letting them down. And what’s worse is, they’re not trying to be assholes. It always comes couched in genuine concern.”
Kia tilted her head. “My mama’s not like that. My dad, either. They’re both crazy proud of how well I’m doing. Sophomore year, I almost flunked out from skipping school so much. I didn’t think there was any way I’d get to college, so why even try? But my mama put me in a volunteer program at the hospital, trying to show me how many people had it worse than me.”
“And that’s when you realized you wanted to be a doctor?” Max asked.
She grinned, slightly sheepish. “Hells no. I was mad for six months. I had to deliver and read mail, feed people who couldn’t hold a spoon, and I wasn’t even getting paid.”
“So what was your big defining moment?” Angus wondered aloud.
She’d told me about her older brother, but I was curious what she’d say now, plus he’d asked Kia, not me. So I kept quiet.
“When I was a kid, my older brother was shot. Died on the operating table. That’s part of why I started skipping school. Darrell was smart, you know? He would’ve had a bright future.”