I’m surprised, obviously. But good for them. And yes, Hunter changed the group chat name after our meeting. He’s enthusiastic.
Okay, so that makes three people. Still doesn’t mean the rest of us are gonna find the money.
It does encourage me to think more about trekking out to my brother’s place. I just have to find the time between working both jobs.
On the walk to Main Street, I shift my attention to Uncle Robert. He’s my mom’s only sibling, and if you knew my mom, you’d be wary. But that’s just Mom. I’ve only met Uncle Robert a few times and he seems nice. I follow his two daughters on Instagram and they post wholesome family stuff, the likes of which my mom and my brother don’t even aspire to.
The last time I saw him was at my grandmother’s funeral last year. Just like my uncle, I didn’t know Grandma McKinney well either. She and Mom didn’t get along. Mom called her stingy when she was being nice, worse things when she wasn’t.
I regret not knowing my grandmother better. Now that I’m old enough to have learned some hard truths about my mom, I think maybe we would have gotten along and it would have been nicer to have a relationship beyond the occasional phone call and a birthday card in the mail stuffed with cash my brother could steal.
We’re meeting at Kinnara, Tuan’s Vietnamese restaurant. It’s the nicest place in Here, and the food’s great. Also, dogs are allowed on the patio, so I’ve got Princess with me.
I arrive first. Uncle Robert’s driving in from Buffalo to meet with me, and he said he’s running a few minutes late. That’s a long drive to make when we probably could have just talked over the phone, but whatever.
“Hey man.” Tuan claps me on the back, bringing a bowl of water over for Princess. “How’re things at On the Rocks?”
We shoot the shit for a bit. We use a lot of the same suppliers, and while I don’t order the food for the bar, Tuan and I have always exchanged notes. He and Hunter are close, too.
Suddenly, he gives me a funny look, glancing at something over my shoulder and then back at me. “That’s not your dad, is it?”
Tuan knows I don’t know who my dad is, but I turn around and understand the question. My uncle’s here, and since I take after my mom, I’m not surprised he can see the resemblance. I wave him over. “My uncle.”
Uncle Robert arrives at the table and I stand. He offers me a firm handshake, and I introduce him to Tuan, who excuses himself, giving Princess one last head pat.
“Who’s this?” Robert bends down to greet my dog. He’s dressed in slacks and a polo: your typical dad look. He does look like me. Full head of sandy dark hair, the same nose shape my mom and I used to have—me before I broke it in a fight in high school, my mom’s before . . . well . . .
“Princess,” I say. “Careful, she’s a?—”
Princess sticks her nose in my uncle’s crotch and he lets out a high-pitched “oof.”
“—crotch sniffer.”
“Not used to that,” he says. “My dog only comes up to my knee on her hind legs.”
“A little one,” I remark, and we take our seats.
“What’s good here?”
I throw out a couple suggestions, Tuan comes back to take our order, and the two of us sit back in our chairs.
“Do you see your mom much, Morgan?”
“She calls me every once in a while,” I say carefully.
“She lives near here, right?”
I nod and point away from the ski lodge. “Just outside of town.”
“How’s she doing?”
Well, she’s usually hanging out with bad people, when she calls she asks me for money, and she fucking enables my brother. I shrug. “You’ll have to ask her.”
Uncle Robert grunts. “Fair enough. How about you? You work at the ski lodge, right?”
I tell him about my job, and he asks a few questions. I remembered correctly; he’s an accountant. Not a lot of common ground.
“You’re a skier, then?”