The Good Son by Carolyn Mills (best novels for teenagers .txt) 📕

expensive watch, my mouth hardened into a tight line. It didn’t look all that special, yet I knew his watch probably cost more than my car. And he’d just left it in the tackle box, like a discarded toy.

I picked up his Rolex and hurled it into the air. It flew in a long arc over the water before hitting the surface with a soft splash and sinking out of sight. Taking a deep, satisfied breath, I restarted the motor and turned the boat toward the lodge.

Ricky was sitting on the deck, drinking a Corona with four empty bottles lined up beside him. I wondered how long it would take before he remembered his watch and went looking for it.

“You know,” he said, “if Lance took care of this property, it could generate some good revenue. The location is prime. I mean, can’t you see the potential of this place?” He tipped his head back and drained his beer.

“I’m pretty sure Lance knows how to run a lodge. From what I’ve heard, he used to be really busy. He’s just done with the business now. I told you, he’s semi-retired.”

“Then why doesn’t he sell it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t want to. Why do you care, anyway?”

Ricky got up and grabbed another beer from the cooler. He tossed me one. “It’s stupid, what he’s doing. If he wanted to quit the business, he should have sold this place while it still had a customer base. Before letting the whole property go to shit.”

I didn’t answer. There was no point arguing with Ricky about real estate. I lifted the lid on the barbeque and scrubbed at the grill with a dirty brush. “Why don’t you grab the burgers?” I suggested. “Make yourself useful.” I took a long swallow of beer. I didn’t usually drink Corona, but it was Ricky’s favourite and he’d brought a lot of it.

We ate inside because there wasn’t a table on the deck. Amir had packed us a tub of potato salad, as well as an onion, a tomato, and several cheese slices to go with our burgers. Amir had been so enthusiastic about this trip and I knew he was looking forward to hearing how my special bonding weekend had gone. How could I explain to him the constant unease I felt around my brother? Or that I’d thrown Ricky’s Rolex into the lake? Why had I done that? I’d have been better off tossing Ricky into the water.

It started to rain as we were washing the dishes. First just a spattering, a few gentle drops, but then it came down in sheets. “Oh, great,” Ricky said. “I hope our crappy cabin doesn’t leak.”

“Are you done complaining?” I asked. “Because I told you this place was rustic and you said it was fine. You said that’s what you wanted. Then you bitched and moaned about the boat, which we wrecked, by the way, and now you’re complaining about the weather. Are you always this hard to please?”

Ricky opened his mouth, but I wasn’t done yet.

“You know what I think? Lauren and Erika were probably glad when they found out you’d been screwing around because it gave them just the excuse they needed to kick your sorry ass to the curb!” I wanted to tell Ricky about his precious Rolex and the sound it made hitting the water, but I bit my tongue.

“That was a pretty shitty thing to say. About Lauren and Erika.”

I ignored him.

Ricky studied me for a minute. “We’ll go out for a final fish tomorrow and we’ll catch something just before we leave, and then we’ll both have fond memories of the wonderful trip we took to Windy Pines Lodge before it was sold and bull-dozed.”

“You’re such an asshole,” I muttered, but my words sounded conciliatory instead of accusatory, and Ricky only smiled before slapping me good-naturedly on the shoulder with his sudsy hand.

IN THE MORNING, THE RAIN was still pouring so we both agreed to cut our losses and head home. I was relieved, to be honest. I kept waiting for Ricky to mention his watch, but it never came up.

We had a quick breakfast — just bagels, no eggs or bacon this time. It was as if once we’d decided to leave, we couldn’t get away fast enough. When I went to get my car, to bring it closer to the cabin, I stopped at the main house to tell Lance we were leaving and to thank him for everything, but he didn’t answer my timid knock and I didn’t want to wake him up if he was still sleeping. I decided to leave a note in our cabin instead.

It didn’t take us long to load my car. Ricky sat on the couch, messing with his phone, while I gave the sink in the bathroom a quick scrub to remove the tooth paste spit Ricky couldn’t be bothered to rinse away, then wiped down the counters and the table in the kitchen one last time.

“You almost done there, Mr. Clean?” Ricky asked.

I glanced around. “Yup. Thanks for all your help.”

After we’d been driving for fifteen minutes on the rutted road that led out to the main highway, I realized I’d forgotten to leave Lance a note. Given the weather, I doubted he would be surprised that we’d decided to leave early, but it still seemed rude not to have thanked him for everything.

Ricky was quiet on the ride home, and as soon as his phone picked up a signal, I lost him completely. Apparently, he had a million messages that needed his immediate attention. I sent Amir a quick text when we stopped for gas to let him know I’d be home earlier than expected. I didn’t call him because I didn’t want to talk about the weekend in front of Ricky.

As we pulled back onto the highway, I turned to my brother. “I’m sorry your weekend getaway sucked.” Now that it was over, I did feel kind of bad about