“Think so, huh?”
“I think I have a good shot.” He brushed my lips. “See you tonight. Love you.”
“Love you too,” I said, standing by the door while I watched him head to his truck.
I’d been riding high for the past three weeks since the gala. I’d fully moved in to Lee’s room, my original bedroom now only used as a movie room for Bennie and me. She’d never questioned where I slept at night or seemed to care if Lee and I kissed or hugged in front of her. Our dynamic had become a wonderful normal.
The Bats had been holding first place for the past couple of weeks. It was too soon to anticipate a postseason, and we hadn’t discussed where I’d go after the last game.
I wanted to stay, and I was pretty sure Lee didn’t want me to go, but sleeping in his bed and officially moving in were two very different things. We were in a great place, but we hadn’t had a conversation if this house, with him, wasmypermanent place.
“Can we watch these today?” Bennie asked, holding up a shopping bag. “They’re the old homemade movies Aunt Deb gave to me when we stayed with Grams. I don’t have any homework, and I can even stay up a little late.”
“You still start school at the same time, kiddo,” I said, taking the bag. “But it’s early enough to watch a couple of movies.”
“Yes! Come on,” she said, taking my hand and pulling me up the stairs. “Wait until you see me as a baby. I wassocute.”
I burst out laughing.
“That doesn’t surprise me at all,” I said as she jumped on my bed—or my old bed, I guessed—and crossed her legs under her.
“Play this one first. We were at the beach.”
I took the DVD out of her hand and slid it into the player. After a few minutes, Bennie’s face came on-screen. She wore a pink bucket hat with an elastic band under her chin as she dug her hands into the sand.
She was so adorable, my chest pinched. She had the same wide blue eyes, lighting up the dirtier her hands became. Lee came in from offscreen, laughing as he wiped her muddy fingers. I laughed until Katie came into view.
When I saw her next to her daughter, Bennie’s strong resemblance to her came through, even more pronounced now that Bennie was older. Katie dug her hands into the bucket of wet sand and spread it on Lee’s cheek. He gave her a playful scowl, all the love in his eyes for his wife making my stomach burn.
I’d seen Lee with Katie plenty of times. Jealousy would burn hot in the pit of my stomach, but I’d work hard not to show it. Looking at them now, the jealousy was still there but not as prominent.
Instead, a weird burst of shame mixed in with the usual envy. Katie should still be here with the two people she loved most, and I had stepped in for her with both of them. I hadn’t stolen them, but while watching them bethe family they were always supposed to be, I felt like a thief.
“You’re in this one!” Bennie said, running up to the TV to switch out the video. “This is when Daddy married my mom.”
Her parents weren’t “Mommy and Daddy” to her. They were Daddy and the lady who was her mom. Katie hadn’t had the privilege of living in her daughter’s memories like my father was in mine.
“Look, it’s you!” She beamed back at me. “That’s your brother, right?”
A smile drifted across my face at my brother’s terrible attempt to dance. He’d never danced at weddings other than the obligatory slow songs with my mother and his wife at his own.
“Yes, that’s Gary.”
“Who was your date? Aunt Deb and Grams were talking about how most of the cousins married their dates from Daddy’s wedding.”
“I didn’t have one, so I hung out with my brother that night.”
Gary had already been with Libby at the time, but I couldn’t remember why she hadn’t come. The camera spanned the crowd on the dance floor as I whispered something to my brother and headed off-camera. His gaze stuck in my direction, a deep frown pulling at his mouth for a long minute until he finally followed me.
My annoying, wonderful brother.
I grabbed my phone and shot him a text.
Stella
Why didn’t Libby come with you to Lee’s wedding?
Gary
