"And that's my sister Breanna. She lives up north with her husband. And that's my brother Aaron. He lives in Iowa but he's coming home next week for Grandma's birthday party. She's going to be 81."
Tyler Schuyler stared at the large gilt framed photographed that dominated the small foyer of Jenny Sanderson's house. Jenny was Tyler's date for the Policemen's Retirement Ball, a fact his mother wasn't too thrilled by. Jenny's dad worked as a maintenance man at Schuyler Industries and her mom was a nurse's aide at Schuyler Square's sole retirement home. Needless to say, the Sanderson family didn't quite make the grade as far as Mavis was concerned. "Who's that?" Tyler asked, pointing at the fourth figure in the photograph.
Jenny rolled her eyes. "That would be my other sister, Natasha. She's the black sheep of the family."
"What did she do?"
Jenny lowered her voice. "She's a Republican. She only visits on major holidays and birthdays which is probably good thing. The last time she was here Daddy snapped at her and called her selfish. Natasha was so upset that she left before we had our dessert."
Tyler shook his head while envy surged through him. There really were normal families out there. There were families who spent holidays and birthdays together and who considered having differing political views to be a big deal. He could only imagine what Jenny would think of the members of his family--his father who drank scotch with his cornflakes and sometimes on his cornflakes, his mother who might be fooling around with another man and who might not be, his brother who had basically abandoned the family, Tiffany, his cousin who solved all of her problems with a bag of corn chips and then there was himself, Tyler Arthur Schuyler, 24-years old and clueless about what he wanted to do with the rest of his life. How he'd love to have a family like Jenny's. Maybe then he wouldn't be so lost.
"Are you ready?" Jenny asked. "I can't wait to go. I've never been to the country club before."
"It's really no big deal," Tyler assured her.
"That's easy for you to say. You've been going there your entire life. Believe me, it's a big deal for me. Thank you for inviting me."
Jenny was so sweet. That was why Tyler liked her. It didn't hurt that she was gorgeous too with blonde hair, green eyes and a fantastic body. It would be nice to marry someone like Jenny. Then he'd get to go to all of her family events too.
"Are you kids leaving?" Jenny's father came into the hall. He was wearing a sleeveless T-shirt and popping open a beer. Tyler knew his mother would call Jenny's dad "low brow" but Tyler liked him. Mr. Sanderson actually looked at him when he spoke to him, unlike his own dad.
"We're just about to leave," Jenny said.
"You look beautiful, sweetheart," Mr. Sanderson said. "And you look nice too, Tyler."
Tyler's cell phone vibrated in his pocket. He'd wait until they were in the car to look at it. One of his many pet peeves was people who were always looking at their cell phones in the middle of conversations. Tiffany did that all the time. Come to think of it, his whole family had been doing it the last time they had dinner together. He couldn't imagine the Sandersons ever texting at the table.
Tyler checked his phone five minutes later. That was odd. It was from Tiffany. Why would she text him? As far as he knew, she had barricaded herself in her bedroom with the entire collection of Sex in the City and a large pizza from Dominoes. Well, whatever Tiffany wanted it could wait until he got home. He was on a date, for crying out loud. The first date he'd been on in ages and he wanted it to be perfect. Besides, knowing Tiffany she probably wanted him to spy on her mother and Officer Van Husen again. She could forget that. Tiffany didn't seem to be able to grasp that his mom and dad's marriage was perfectly OK and was going to last until death did they part.
Tyler just didn't realize that death had already done that.
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