my mother asked as soon as I answered the phone.“Hello to you too, Mother.”“Presley, there are a lot of people I’m trying to coordinate for Christmas Eve dinner. You’re not making it easy.”I sighed. I wasn’t making it easy? She was the one who was adamant everyone arrive no later than six, and we couldn’t eat unless everyone was present. “We plan on leaving the city about noon,” I said. “So we should be to your driveway about threeish, four at the latest depending on the traffic. What time are Jesse and Ashley coming in?”“I’m not sure. He hasn’t returned my calls. You know your brother.”Did I ever. What wasn’t fair was that my mother let him slide whereas she was all over me for every little thing. His luck being the baby of the family. Her comment made me wonder, though. I had also left a couple messages for him that he hadn’t returned and to ignore both of us made me wonder if something was wrong.“Is Cooper going to stay at his dad’s or did he want to stay here?”
