Even now, part of me wants to believe her, that I’m here for some reason.
But the rest of me? It calls bullshit.
“Hey, brother!” my best friend Tom calls, jumping out of his truck at the airport pickup line as I toss my bags into the back.
Tom and I have been tight since we were kids. Being adopted, I always wanted a brother, and he’s the closest thing I’ve ever hadto the real deal, even if we look nothing alike. He’s got brown eyes and hair that’s dark as midnight. My eyes are some jade-green color with light brown hair. He’s big, but at 6’4”, there still aren’t many people I have to look up at.
My family used to spend summers here at the lake. I was always dragging us into trouble, and Tom, who definitely knew better, never let me do it alone. When he lost his parents in high school, I stayed with him and his sister for a month, just to make sure he didn’t fall apart and to catch him in case he did.
“You and me against the world.”
It’s corny as hell, but it’s our unofficial motto, and the truth. He’s the reason I know I’m not completely alone, even if I still feel that way half the damn time. Maybe now that I’m here, things won’t suck as much. I’m hopeful, but not optimistic.
Tom yanks me into a bear hug. “Missed you, buddy. How was the flight?”
“The plane went up. It went down. Nobody died.” I shrug while he ruffles Ellie’s ears.
“That’s great. Glad we’re keeping our standards high,” he laughs before really looking at me. “Dude, what’s with the—”
“Oh my God, Levi!” Callie shrieks, hopping out of the passenger seat and launching herself at me, wrapping me into one of her big hugs. “Tom, you’d better warn your officers. If they get calls about Bigfoot roaming the streets, it’s just Levi.” She reaches up and pulls on my overgrown beard. If it were anyone else, they wouldn’t have even tried.
“Okay, enough of that.” I swat her hand away.
“Hey, I think that was almost a smile,” she says, smirking in that way she always has. She crouches to pet Ellie, who barely reacts, as usual. “You’re going to scare my kid looking like that. I’m making you an appointment, like right now.”
I’m about to protest, but before I get a chance to say anything, she’s already hopping into the backseat of the truck, phone to her ear. I can overhear her booking what I’m assuming is an appointment for me at a barber shop.
Tom places a hand on my shoulder. “Don’t,” he says gently, knowing I’m two seconds from telling Callie not to bother. His face takes on a more serious disposition before he continues. “It’s her way of taking care of you,” he sighs, giving me the same look that everyone else has been giving me these last few months. The one I’ve grown to hate. “She knows this isn’t something she can fix. None of us can. But she needs to feel like she can do something.”
He glances toward her through the window, and the expression on his face says it all. My best friend finally got the girl of his dreams. The one he’s been in love with since we were kids. It took them a while to get here, and for a minute I wasn’t sure which way it’d all go, but they finally figured it out. I’m happy for him. I really am. I’m an asshole, but not the kind that doesn’t want the people he cares about to be happy.
Still... being this close to that kind of love?
Yeah. It makes something in my chest burn.
Nope. Not going there. Shut that shit down.
Callie rolls her window down. “Alright! You’re all set. You have an appointment in an hour at Shear Peaks.”
“Of course I do,” I mumble.
“Nice job, Sunshine,” Tom says, and nods to the back door. “C’mon. Someone’s been waiting to meet you.”
I circle around and open the back door to find the sweetest little vision in pink with bright blue eyes and blonde hair. Aeliana is Callie’s daughter, but the way Tom looks at her, eyes full of love and wonder, you’d never know she isn’t his. She was born the same weekend as the accident, so this is the first time I’m meeting her. Tom filled me in on the details surrounding her biological father.It’s a complicated mess of a story, but all that matters now is that Tom stepped up, he’s here for them both, and knowing him, he’s not going anywhere.
“My God, there are two of them! It’s a tiny sunshine,” I gasp, staring at the miniature Callie. A real smile tugs at my mouth. It’s small, but real. “Hey there, Sunny. I’m your Uncle Levi. Don’t believe anything they tell ya’ about me.”
I wiggle a finger toward her, and she curls her tiny hand around it. The softness of her grip knocks the air out of me. Krystal couldn’t wait to start a family. She talked about it as if it were the future we were building brick by brick. The realization that it’s one more thing we’ll never have slams into me, sharp and familiar. My jaw tightens as I try to swallow the ache, pushing it back before it devours me whole.
From the other side of the car seat, Callie’s voice pulls me back.
“Aww, Sunny? I love that nickname,” she says with a warm smile, leaning in to look at her daughter. “What do we think, Aeliana? Did Uncle Bigfoot just give you your first nickname?”
“Sunny? I like it,” Tom adds, as I climb into the passenger seat and Ellie curls up in my lap. “Almost as much as I like Uncle Bigfoot. Think we can make that stick, too?”
Tom punches my arm as he laughs. I roll my eyes and turn to the window, pretending to take in the scenery. Before the accident, I would’ve shot back some sarcastic line, kept the banter going.
Now?
