Her sister Bell brought over a bowl of nuts, placing them on the table where Brandon and Regina sat and rolled her eyes, smiling at Brandon. “Something tells me you’re gonna hear a few stories now.”
As if on cue, his uncle started up loudly. “Remember that time we were in Maui?” He nudged the guy next to him again, who also started laughing. “We’re on this beeeautiful beach. All blue for miles. Totally clean, right? ’Cept there’s a couple over down that way with a dog. Tell me why out of all of us my knucklehead nephew takes a swim and comes up with a turd mustache?” He wheezed so loud and long, even Brandon couldn’t help laughing, especially when he put his finger over his lip to demonstrate all animated. “Everyone’s having a good ole time on this beautiful beach,” he said barely able to get the words out he was laughing so much. “And son of a bitch if that kid is the only one who pops out of the water like this.”
He demonstrated some more.
“All right, all right,” A guy walked out the back door of the house, frowning and holding a very bald baby. “This guy.” He shook his head but smirked. “Now it’s a turd mustache?” He rolled his eyes. “I told him I saw one floating around in the water, and after all these years, it turned into me walking around with turd mustache in Maui.” Then he turned back to his uncle. “You never even saw it!”
They were all laughing now, including the lady who kept snorting on the other side of the wheezing fat man. Brandon was only glad Regina had snapped out of what might’ve turned into a sour mood after her mom’s mention of her good spirit.
“Hey, look who’s up?” Regina’s mom said, smiling at the baby in the guy’s arms. “It’s the little prince of the hour.”
Glancing back, Brandon peered at the guy who’d walked out with the baby. This was the fat man’s knucklehead nephew, who looked disturbingly familiar. Obviously, he was Regina’s brother-in-law because he walked over and kissed Bell before handing the baby to her. Regina’s niece Mandy tugged at the guy’s pants, and he picked her up. It wasn’t until Bell pointed in Brandon and Regina’s direction and said something to her husband that Brandon made the connection.
Shit.
The guy smiled then it seemed to hit him, too, as his face suddenly brightened. He laughed, walking over to them “No f**king way,” the guy said then turned to his daughter who tapped his lips with her little fingers. “I’m sorry, baby,” he said, kissing her fingertips. “Bad daddy.” He turned back to Brandon with a wide smile. “That you, Billings?”
Doing his best to hide how incredibly uncomfortable he suddenly felt, Brandon forced a smile. Regina was already smiling at him quizzically. “You know each other?” she asked.
“Yeah.” Brandon stood up, reaching to meet her brother-in-law’s already outstretched hand. “That would be me,” he confirmed. “Romero, right?”
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Romero laughed, nodding. “You and Gina? Holy shit what a small world.” His expression went a bit serious, but there was no hiding the continued smirk, the one Brandon remembered his smartass wearing all the way from grade school through high school. “She’s my baby sis now. You better be treating her right.”
Regina laughed. “I’m older than you, Romero.”
“Yeah, but much smaller.” He winked.
Just then Mandy squealed loudly and nearly jumped out of Romero’s arms, reaching her hands over his shoulder. “S and S!” she screeched, squirming for Romero to put her down.
All three of them turned as two little girls in frilly dresses, who looked to be a few years older than Mandy, walked into the backyard from the driveway, each holding onto an even younger boy’s hand. Romero lowered Mandy down to the ground, and she ran to them. As they got closer, Brandon could see the two girls Mandy now hugged were identical.
“Oh my God, is that the twins?” Regina asked.
“Yep,” Romero said, looking back at them with a smile. “Sienna and Savannah.”
“They’re so big!” Regina gasped. “Jesus, the last time I saw them they were babies.”
Brandon was still trying to make sense of what this all meant. Just because Romero had been good friends with Sofie’s brothers growing up didn’t mean he kept in touch with them still. Most people lost touch with their childhood friends. He stared at the two little girls, pretending to be as interested as Regina and trying to keep his cool. This was not so bad, he tried convincing himself. It could be worse.
“Yeah, well, that little dude with them is little Alex a.k.a. The Taz.” Romero laughed. “As in Tasmanian Devil. He’s nonstop trouble. And now he has two of them little devils,” Romero shook his head. “Alex has his hands full lemme tell you.”
What Romero had just said didn’t even register until Brandon’s eyes moved up from the kids to the guy standing behind them now, holding a baby carrier in his left hand and a tray of some kind in the other—Alex Moreno—and he was as big as ever.
Brandon watched, frozen to that spot as the petite blond woman walking in behind him in heels as big as Regina’s and carrying a baby bag asked Alex to take the baby inside. Bell walked over to greet them as everyone’s talking began to buzz in Brandon’s ears: Regina and Romero talking about Alex and his siblings and their kids, Romero’s uncles talking loudly and laughing even louder, the kids laughing and squealing, chasing each other around his and Romero’s legs, and then Regina’s words that brought everything to a screeching halt.