jaylar
Briefly, before his marriage to Julie, Everett had met Paul and John. He didn’t like them. As Julie claimed to be ‘close’ to her brothers, he said nothing.
He was glad they didn’t come to the wedding. They exuded this sneering sneaky aura, he didn’t like.
When Julie’s brothers came to visit, he would be polite, spend a short time, than leave, going to the gym. Going anywhere they weren’t.
Sometimes Everett was fortunate. They’d be gone when he returned. But other times, they were still there. He’d come in, pass a few sentences, claim to be tired and go to bed.
He expected his wife to ask them to leave and join her husband. This did not happen.
Julie, oblivious, would remain babbling in the living room. There was a sense Everett felt, but slapped away, that is, her half brothers remained, and kept her there to ‘prove’ they were more important to her than he was.
After the second time it happened, Everett the impression was confirmed. The next day he made a benign mention that she ought to have come to bed with him and had P & J leave.
It seemed knee jerk to Everett that if your sister’s husband is tired and says he is going to bed, you leave. You don’t try to stay as long as possible to prove she rather be with you.
Julie, confronted, became defensive. She responded as if her brothers had taken care of her all her life. Everett knew this was untrue.
He defined Paul and John as ‘toxic’ and was going to exclude them from his life.
