Train Wreck

twenty five

Benji POV

"Lisssssssss......" the long groan I let out was painful but all I could manage after eating half my weight in Chinese food.

She laughed, then reached across the table and ruffled my hair. I always loved when my sister did that. "Oh, Beep. Were your eyes bigger than your stomach? Maybe it's time for a nap on this nice day?"

I got excited at her idea, especially when I looked past my sister to our yard where she already had the sprinkler going.

This house has amazing nap spots.

Our deck has really comfy lounge chairs, plus there's a huge tree that would be perfect if I get too warm.  I knew Greg and his nurse, Kenny, planned to stay in the shade under the patio umbrella.  Kenny was really nice and took good care of Greg.  It made me happy that he had a cool new nurse that was so careful and knew just how to make sure he got healthy food without making him miserable.

"I may have to join you for a few. That last serving of the spicy Shrimp that Kenny recommended was incredible but ugghhh...." Remington leaned way back in his seat next to Lissy and put his hands on his stomach.  I saw Greg chuckle at how his son was relaxing and shake his head which made me a little bit sad.

I miss my dad sometimes, and it's hard to remember that Greg is really sick, but I want to make sure I'm not sad all the time.  Lissy and I try to make sure we work through stuff the right way so we can process the hard stuff but also have room for happiness.

My sister laughed at him and shook her head, "The pair of you are a mess." She looked at Kenny and Greg, "What about you two? Did you overdo things for lunch?"

Kenny smiled, "Well, I may have gone a bit too far but I think I'm good. I appreciate you all letting me join you and relax. Usually I'm on duty for my whole shift and don't get to enjoy a nice meal."

"Well, plan on more of these," Greg sat back and stretched his legs out, probably trying to get more comfortable just like me. I noticed he sat the same way as Remington but then looked at myself and saw I was doing the same thing, too.

Must just be a guy thing when you eat too much, I guess.

I stood up and started grabbing plates so I could help Lissy clean up. I knew she'd be okay with me going to relax but it would be nice to help a little bit. Once I got the first load in the kitchen I saw Greg was wheeling inside with more so I grabbed the stack from him.

He grinned, "Thanks, son!" then gave me a funny look.

I snorted, "Okay, Boomer," then went back into the kitchen to rinse plates before loading the dishwasher. Greg wheeled back outside as Alice and Remington brought in more plates along with the paper bag our food came in that was full of plastic containers we could hand wash and use as tupperware.  

Remi started helping wash the containers while my sister dried which made me smile.  They just easily fell into their jobs like both of them knew exactly what to do.  She didn't even have to ask him for help, he just jumped right in. 

It made me smile, especially since I knew that's how it would always be with them.

Maybe one day they'll get married and have kids so I'll be an uncle and get to have nieces and nephews who help me troll their mom and dad.  That would be really fun.

"I'll get these in a bit, Beep. Go ahead and relax!" Lissy smiled and gave me a hug so I shrugged, washing my hands a minute before grabbing a stack of fresh beach towels from the laundry room.

Remington stretched his arms up a minute and I saw my sister watch him closely. She was wearing one of mommy's old rompers that I knew was their favorite. I loved when she wore mommy's old clothes. We kept so much when our parents died so I wore daddy's shirts all the time and kept some of his suits in my closet.