“That was Kevin.” Silas pointed an accusing finger at the pit bull curled on the couch between two of his favorite women. The dog had also left the refrigerator door open overnight. He’d awoken to room-temperature beer and old ketchup. He hadn’t gotten up the energy to hit the grocery store.

“Sit down, Silas,” Blaire said in her therapist voice. She gestured toward the recliner that was buried under the debris of the Pouty Life, as Taylor and Niri dubbed it anytime one of the siblings was down after a breakup. This was Sy’s first personal foray into the Pouty Life.

He picked up the pajama pants and empty takeout bags and iPad he’d not been able to find for three days and tossed it all on the floor.

Kevin whined as if to say “You see what I’ve been dealing with?”

Both moms instinctively gave the dog comforting pats.

Mama B produced a bottle of bourbon from her Mary Poppins purse.

“I’ll get the glasses,” Blaire volunteered.

“Oh, geez.” He sighed, collapsing into the chair. Something squeaked beneath him. Kevin’s ears perked up. Silas shifted and pulled the squeaky toy hammer Maggie had given his lug of a dog out from under his ass.

Just looking at it made him feel like crap. He threw it in the direction of the hall. Kevin hurled his bulky body to the floor and raced after it. He returned, squeaking and chewing proudly. He shoved the hammer at Silas and gave a playful growl.

Silas had been tag-teamed before by the moms. They all had at some point when their lives seemed to be slipping into crisis. Some of the talks had been heavy. Like when he and Michael had been called to the couch at twelve to learn why it was safer to be white after dark than Black, why there were different rules for boys brought up as brothers, and why it was Silas’s job to use his privilege to call out the unfairness of it—especially to adults.

There had been other talks. While the dads handled the Mechanics of Sex talk for the boys, the moms had hit them all with consent, respect, and mutual gratification. When Nirina came home at twenty-two with an engagement ring and a stranger, there had been talks. When his sister Taylor dropped out of her premed program and switched to a business major, the moms had road-tripped to her school, knocked on her dorm room door at 5:00 a.m., and hashed things out over diner pancakes and coffee.