Max had only taken one bite of his cake when she looked over at him and their silent argument resumed. She fought dirty, pulled out the puppy dog eyes to remind him of her illness. Foot-in-mouth syndrome was dangerous around Kevin.
Max gave in. “So Kevin,” he began, sounding a bit nervous, “what happened with that girl?”
Her little brother went into defense mode again. There were three reactions one needed to look out for when it came to Kevin and Max, three small gestures which signaled they were about to lose their shit. Balled fists, clenched jaw, and clasping their hands behind their heads. It was a clear warning to back the fuck off.
As soon as the question left Max’s lips, Kevin’s fingers curled in and his jaw was so tight, it was ticking. He stood up and that pretty much represented the end of the conversation. “I don’t want to talk about her…ever.”
There was a lot of aggression in that statement. He took his bowl of brown ice-cream and walked to the girls on the other side of the dining room. “Hey, girls,” he said, kneeling down in front of them. “Why don’t we go watch a movie?”
“Yeah,” Makayla chirped.
“What do you wanna watch?” Mackenzie asked.
“How about…Wreck-it Ralph?” Kevin responded.
“Uncle Kevin, you hate Vanelope,” Madison said. “You say she talks too much.”
Kevin released a shaky breath, one filled with longing and loss. “I might have had a slight change of heart.”
All three girls climbed onto him and he carried them out without saying another word.
“Good talk,” Max said though Kevin wasn’t there to hear it.
“Well, that went well.” Jordan muttered. “Something definitely happened with that girl.” She found it strange how Kevin reacted to Max and with that thought she realized thatMax didn’t have one nail in his log. Very strange. “Hey, how come Kevin never snaps at you? If that were me, he would have bit my head off, but all you get isI don’t wanna talk about her.”
“Because I’m his favorite.”
“Yeah, I doubt that.”
Kevin came rushing back into the dining room a few minutes later and went straight to the window overlooking the front yard. “Fuck!”
“What’s wrong, Bink?” Jordan asked.
“Nothing,” he replied irritably. “She’s just bat-shit fucking crazy.”
He left the room just as fast and she heard the front door slam shut.
Jordan was totally confused now and looked over at Max hoping he could offer some explanation. “What’s going on?”
“It’s her!” He stood up and hurried to the window. “Get up! Get up! It’s her. The girl he doesn’t wanna talk about.”
“How do you know?”
“She’s the one who’s bat-shit crazy.”
She didn’t know how Max knew that, but she stood up and got to the window just in time to see Kevin barreling down the snow-covered driveway. “I told you to stay away from me!” he shouted.
The girl, who Jordan assumed was Jasmin, seemed to want to avoid this confrontation and was walking back to her car as fast as her short legs could carry her. They couldn’t hear any of the conversation from inside, but whatever Kevin said made her stop in the middle of the street and turn to face him.
“She’s dressed like an eskimo,” Jordan commented.
“I don’t think she’s from around here,” Max said without looking at her. “She has a weird accent. Maybe she’s not used to the weather.” They fell silent, watching what looked like a heatedargument. Max let out a small groan. “Oh, God. Kevin’s gonna say something awful.”
“What are you two doing?” Her mother’s voice startled Jordan, making her feel like they’d been caught doing something wrong. “Are you two spying on your brother? Get away from that window!”
Jordan glanced back to look at her. “Momma, when I was making out with Billy Mason in the backyard and Kevin and Perry were spying on me from the tree-house, you didn’t say anything.”
“That’s because you shouldn’t have been making out with Billy Mason in the backyard. Now leave your brother alone.”
