Just like a brother

 When Jade got the call from her cousin Rudy that he was in town, she was so happy. She hadn't seen him since middle school. It was such a whirlwind. She thought he'd be on the West coast for good, but it seemed he was trying to find work here. 

"Like what kind of work?" Ari wanted to know right away.

"I didn't ask?" She was just happy to hear from him. All she could think about was having her family here for Thanksgiving. It was always about Ari and Mona. 

"What?"

She knew he was just thinking about dinner since he said he would make the turkey so his sister wouldn't have to.

Before they could talk about it Rudy showed up with his suitcase. Again, Ari was not so happy, but he was cordial.

Although, the two did have a spat in the bathroom about the situation. After all, Jade reminded him how many weeks they put up with Justin who wasn't even Ari's real brother. This was Jade's cousin.

"Is everything OK in there?" Rudy had asked outside the bathroom door.

Jade rushed in for a hug and smiled at her dear cousin, "Of course, it is."

Ari wasn't exactly smiling, but he wasn't seething either, he hurried to the guestroom that had a load of summer clothes on it that they hadn't found the time to put away as of yet. While he worked on the guestroom, Jade poured her cousin a cup of coffee.

"So..so how you been?" She kept smiling.

"Well, it hasn't been easy."

It seemed the tall young man, hadn't found stable work. He'd been a janitor, even if he had a degree in creating computer games. "Those kind of jobs just aren't out there."

He'd done a little maintenance work, but California was expensive and he didn't really like Las Vegas.

"Well, it gets cold here in the winter and it's humid in the summer," she warned.

"Got it," he chuckled.

"Well, you can stay here through the holidays, hopefully, something will come up, and you'll be on your own,"

He nodded as if it was he hoped for the best, "Are you sure it's no trouble?" He said he'd appreciate it and pay her back.

"Maybe Ari can help," Jade told him he worked in a hospital.

"A hospital?" Rudy chuckled again. "You married a doctor?"

"Not exactly," Jade was even lipped then. "But still, maybe he can help you."