“Surfing?”
“Why not?” Levi asks.
“Perhaps he should learn how to swim first,” I tease. Parker does take swimming classes, and has for a while. Levi has also been teaching him at every opportunity.
“He’ll get there soon,” Levi says with a proud smile before he turns back to his bag of goodies. Next, he pulls out some dinosaur toys. Parker sees them and squeals, ditching his surfboard. He’s going through a dinosaur phase.
My heart melts as I watch the two of them interact. We are so lucky to have Levi in our lives. He really is a good man.
“And for Miss Giselle,” Levi adds with a grin. My mouth curves into a pleased smile as Levi pulls out two books that I had been dying to read.
“How did you know?” I gape. It’s a trilogy, and I’ve only read the first one. The books have been extremely popular at the library, so I haven’t checked them out, because our library only has two sets.
“Last week you spoke about that book for half an hour. Gage told me to pick them up for you,” he says as I walk over and give him a small peck on the cheek. “Thank you Levi,” I say as I run my hands over the beautiful book covers.
“Anytime, Giselle. Now, I gotta get going. I’ll see you tomorrow at our place.”
“Okay, thanks again,” I tell him. He flashes me a grin and bends down to give Parker a kiss on the head before he takes off.
“Mama! Come and play dinosaurs with me, please,” Parker calls out, raising his head for a moment before looking back down at the toys.
I walk over to him and kiss him on his chubby cheek, then get down to business. Folding my legs beneath me, I get down to his level. “I’ll be the T-Rex,” I say in a silly voice.
*****
It’s Saturday, and I’m cleaning up while Parker finishes his lunch. The doorbell rings, and I walk quickly to answer it. Looking through the peephole I see Keira, Levi’s sister. She’s an interesting character. In her early thirties, she still behaves like an out-of-control twenty-something year old. I open the door with a forced smile.
“Hey Keira.” Her blond hair is immaculately curled and her makeup expertly applied. Her boobs are pushed up and on display in a low-cut top, while her legs are covered by skin-tight jeans. Her heels are high enough for me to know I’d probably die in them.
I look down at my ripped jeans and t-shirt with a sigh.
I turn to the little boy standing by her side with a genuine smile. “Good afternoon, Justin,” I tell him, giving his blond head a kiss. “Go on in. Parker should be finished with lunch by now.” Justin runs past me, slipping his backpack off his tiny shoulder without a word. He rarely speaks, but he is getting better.
I turn to Keira. “Plans for today?” I say, trying to make conversation rather than shut the door in her face.
“Some of us have lives,” she responds bitingly. I don’t know why I bother. She gives me a little wave with her manicured claws and turns on her heel without another word. I shut the door, closing my eyes, begging for patience.
I can’t stand her. I try to, because I love Levi and Justin, but heaven knows I would rather wring her neck than play nice.
When I go back into the kitchen, I see Parker is showing Justin his new dinosaur toys. There are a lot of “oohs” and “ahs”. Besides the blond hair, Justin looks nothing like his mother. His eyes are dark and his skin pale.
“All right boys, let’s get your backpacks,” I tell them.
They cheer as they run to get their bags.
*****
“I did not say that!” I gasp, outraged.
“Yes, you did, sis.” Gage laughs. This is the worst part about hanging out with my brother; he loves to bring up embarrassing stories from the past, and trust me, he knows heaps of them. Truth be told, I looked a little different when I was younger. Well, very different. I was plump, okay, chubby, and not too much to look at. While I wasn’t really bullied, I definitely wasn’t popular. Much the opposite of my older brother.
“I did not follow Tane Miller around!” I deny. I’m lying, because I so did. These stories are the worst, the ones from our youth involving Tane. I hate having his name brought up, over and over again. All of our memories now feel tainted. I place a fake smile on my face, pretending that speaking of him doesn’t make me want to punch something. Or someone.
“Giselle, you walked the long way home every day just to spend more time with him,” Gage adds, rubbing his hand over his chin. Gage and Levi were obviously aware that I had been infatuated with their friend, but I don’t think they ever realised just how deep it went between Tane and me. They all treated me like I was way younger than them. Two years wasn’t much—at least, to me—but Tane acted like it was. There was always an emotional connection between us, a cord that tethered us together. We were friends, but I always thought it would turn into more. He had even hinted as much.
“When you turn eighteen …” He trails off, a hint of colour in his cheeks.
“What?” I ask, tilting my head to the side. I was fourteen and sitting on the hood of my parents’ car with Tane, just talking, about anything and everything.
“I’ll take you to one of those parties you’re always begging to come to,” he finally says.
I pout. “You and Gage go now! And you’re sixteen!”
“Yes,” he says patiently. “But we’re boys.”
I gasp. “That’s not fair.”