The Perfect Family Read Online Free PDF Page B

get his head on straight. By the time he got to practice, he’d fall right into the role of Tom. He thought of what Luke said about performances and realized how little people knew about each other.
    And he wondered what was going on in Luke Crane’s head.

Chapter Three
     
    Wearing a jet-black tux with a blue cummerbund to match Heather’s dress, Brian stood in the doorway to Jamie’s room and leaned against the jamb. His brother’s space smelled like incense. Brian noted the framed pictures on the bookcase, in front of tons of books on the shelves. One whole row was of Greek mythology, which his mother used to read to them when they were little and Jamie still dug. On the bed was a spread their dad had brought back from Mexico. Now their dog Buck slept on it, snoring like hell. The stuff in Jamie’s room wasn’t to Brian’s taste. His own was full of trophies and sports posters—with the slugger Willie Mays in the place of honor—but hey, Brian had always accepted Jamie for who he was.
    Yet he had to be big brother sometimes so, as Jamie yanked on the tie he was trying to fix, Brian said, “You can be such a dweeb.”
    Jamie dropped his hands. “Who the hell invented these? I just got the hang of a bow tie, now guys are wearing ascots. It’s nuts. This whole prom thing is.”
    Brian crossed to Jamie and stood before him. “Here, let me do it.” He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Heather says I got magic fingers.”
    Brian wrestled with the soft green material of Jamie’s tie. Tonight was the Valentine’s Ball and everybody went to it, including his prom-phobic brother. “What are you doin’ afterward?” he asked Jamie.
    “Coming back here with the kids from the play. We rented all three installments of The Lord of the Rings. ”
    “Jamie, Jamie, Jamie. Have I taught you nothing? After the prom is not a time for movies.”
    Jamie rolled his eyes.
    “There you go.”
    “Thanks.” Jamie faced the mirror. “Where you going after?”
    Following suit, Brian stood next to him in the glass. Even in appearance they were different: one dark, one light; one muscular, one slender but solid. “ We’re going to the lake.”
    “No surprise there.” Jamie snorted. “Don’t have to ask what you’ll be doing.”
    Brian waited a second. “Can I ask you a question?”
    Jamie shrugged.
    “Why aren’t you taking somebody you like to the dance?”
    “I like Julianne.”
    “No, I mean a girl you’d make out with.”
    “Nobody’s on the radar screen yet.”
    “Never has been, Jame.”
    Jamie went to his desk, got his wallet and checked inside. “Whatever.” He slanted his brother a glance. “We’re not all sex-crazed maniacs like you.”
    “I love Heather. I’m not in it for the sex.”
    “Yeah, I know.” Jamie’s tone turned serious.
    “Though it’s a perk.”
    Brian shared a lot with Jamie. They’d had their first cigarettes together. He’d told Jamie when he and Heather finally got horizontal. And they both hated the same French teacher. But some stuff he didn’t tell his brother, like the pot he had stashed under his bed. He wondered what Jamie wasn’t telling him.
    “Did you know Grandma Lorenzo wanted to come tonight so she could see us all dressed up?” Jamie asked. “Aunt Sara was going to go to Cornwall to get her, but Grandma got sick.”
    “Which is good luck for us.”
    One of their similarities was their dislike of their maternal grandmother. Because she’d had such a tough time growing up, his own mom drilled into them the importance of family. Brian believed nothing would ever come between him and his brother.
    “I’m glad Grandma Lucy and Grandpa BJ are here tonight, though,” Jamie said. “They enjoy these things.”
    “Yeah, and they’ll slip us a twenty before we leave.”
    “Definitely a bonus.” Jamie stuffed his wallet in his back pocket. “I guess I’m all set.”
    “Lookin’ good, bro.”
    “Back at ya.”
    “Come on, Buck,” Jamie called to