Stella and Gary laughed, Stella’s eyes just as glossy when she met my gaze.
“But don’t you move again.” She pointed at Stella.
“I won’t be moving anytime soon. I’m good in Brooklyn.”
She was good here, in this house. But I was getting way ahead of myself. As much as I was all in, and I hoped Stella was too, this new us was still…new. New enough not to make all the plans my mind was running to.
After I pushed that out of my head, my breakfast table was like old times. Gary teasing Stella, Stella playfully snipping at me for laughing with her brother. Their mother stayed quiet, observing with a tiny smile, like everything was perfect in her world.
In that moment, I knew the exact feeling.
“You really can’t have caffeine?” Gary asked Stella as he poured the real coffee I’d made into a mug. “You said you were cleared.”
“Yeah, but confusions make people dizzy,” Bennie said before she downed her chocolate milk.
“Concussions,” I corrected her.
“Yeah, that’s what I said. That’s why Daddy had to give her a shower.”
Shit.
Gary’s eyebrows hit his hairline, while her mother’s eyes widened.
“He gave her a shower?” he asked Bennie slowly.
“Yes,” she said. “That’s why he slept in her bed last night because he needed to watch her. He told me he was going to sleep on the chair, so I brought her my cat plushie to make her feel better. But Daddy was in the bed with her and it looked too crowded, so I kept it.”
I glanced over at Stella, her face as pale and frozen as Iwas sure mine was. I hadn’t thought to lock Stella’s bedroom door like I had the bathroom. That was something I had to make sure of if Bennie was going on night walks upstairs now.
“I woke up early because I had a lot of water last night and I really had to pee, and the bathroom door was locked. Daddy let me in even though he was still wet and said Stella needed help in case she got dizzy. Can I play in my room now?”
“Yes,” Stella and I both answered.
A charged silence fell over the table as my daughter stomped up the stairs. Mrs. Parker looked between us with a concerned frown pulling at her mouth, while Gary glared at me as if he wanted to rip me apart.
“Outside.” The chair screeched on the kitchen tile as he stood. “Now.”
“Gary, stop,” Stella said, pushing off the chair and stepping in front of him. “This is Lee, not some random guy you think you have to scare off. I’m not in high school anymore and don’t need your protection. What I do and with whom is none of your business.”
“Yes. It’s Lee,” was all he replied, his voice low and angry.
“It’s fine, Stell,” I said, holding Gary’s furious gaze over her shoulder. “We can go in the yard,” I said, walking to the back door and sliding it open.
Gary stormed past me, not looking at me until he leaned against the side of the house.
“Sit,” I told him, motioning to the lawn chairs.
“No, I’ll stand.” He stalked up to me, shaking his head as a humorless laugh rumbled out of his chest.
“Do you want to punch me now and get it over with?”
His gaze drifted inside before coming back to me.
“I love you like a brother, but that’s my sister in there.”
“I know that. Believe me.”
“She deserves better than being a fucking cliché.”
