Silas took a step toward me. “Do you really think you should?—”
“Yup.” I made my escape. He was right at my heels, probably to catch me if I fainted.
“Help!” Holden hooted, his feet in the air and his head a few inches off the ground. “I can’t…get up.” He kept raising his head, trying to flip himself back up, but he was laughing too hard to actually rotate the machine. Anna was worthless—her head between her legs, gasping for air.
Silas snort-laughed as he walked around me. “Dude. You’re such a dingus.”
He grabbed Holden by the wrist and pulled him up enough that his feet swung back down to the floor. I giggled. I don’t know why, but when the brothers called each other names, it always cracked me up.
Holden unclipped the foot latches, took one step onto the floor, and fell against Silas’s knees like he was drunk. He rolled onto his back and moaned, lying on Silas’s feet.
Silas stared down at him, nostrils flaring, his chest shaking with silent laughter. “What is wrong with you?”
“Uncle Si, you gotta try this thing,” Anna tugged on his arm.
“So I can turn green like Holdie? No thanks.”
She pressed her hands in a prayer pose, made her eyessuper wide, and poked out her bottom lip. “Please, for me, your only niece.”
I fell for her Bambi eyes all the time. Silas must’ve been immune. He palmed her face like a basketball. I had not expected that. A laugh bubbled up in my throat.
Anna got him back by licking his palm.
He reciprocated by wiping his slobbery hand down the front of her face. This was the side of Silas I liked—where he opened up a little and had a good time. Why couldn’t he ever do that with me?
Holden staggered to his feet, groaning. Which made me laugh harder.
Anna came up to me with that same sad puppy dog face. “You’ll do it, won’t you Aunt Lemon?” She tugged me toward the device. “C’mon. This thing is your favorite.”
“Uh.” I didn’t want to be a party pooper, but if I flipped upside down, I might pass out.
Silas stepped forward. “It might help my back.” He rubbed his lower spine. “It’s been tweaked ever since Maisy tried to buck me off that one time.” Maisy was one of the horses at their ranch. I doubted she’d ever bucked anyone off. She was the sweetest horse there. I was pretty sure Silas was saving me. Aww. My resolve to hate him softened.
Nope. Don’t fall for it. He completely ghosted you, Lemon. Cut you out like a bruise on a peach.
“Aww, yeah.” Holden squeezed Silas’s shoulders. “That’s what I’m talking about.”
Silas stepped up into the footholds. Holden started latching his left foot and Silas swatted him away.
“Dude. I got it.” When he was done getting his feet situated, he leaned over and the inversion table flipped too fast. Midway back, I realized we’d forgotten to adjust for his height. But it was too late. With the combined tension problem, Silas’s head slammed into the ground with a thunk.
I clapped my hand over my mouth. That sounded really painful. He swore and tried to sit up, grabbing the top of his head. Anna and Holden doubled over each other, laughing. Fat lotta help they were.
“Oh my gosh,” I ran forward and pushed his feet down, shooting his head up, again too fast. The stupid tension! His face went from beet red to ghost white in less than a second. His eyes did a weird roll, but then went back into place. That couldn’t be good. While I undid the foot straps, he kept moaning.
“Oh, man.” Holden wheezed between laughs. “You shoulda seen yourself.”
I held Silas’s hands as he stepped off the foot holds. I didn’t want to let go because he was sheet white. But he yanked his hands out of mine as soon as his feet were on the floor. Then he bent over with hands on his thighs and…
Puked all over the carpeted floor.
Awesome. Just fantastic.
Holden and Anna were flopped over each other, gasping for air. Didn’t even care that Silas probably had a concussion or that I now had a disgusting mess to clean up.
“You both suck.” Silas stayed bent over, which was probably for the best.
They laughed harder, but Anna had the wits to hand him a tissue from the counter so he could wipe his mouth.
