My gaze snapped to Kari. “Ok, who are you, and what have you done with Kari?” I teased.
“What?” She raised an eyebrow at me. “I’m not a workaholic!” she shrilled, throwing the pillow at me.
Martha started laughing. “Honey, you’re in fucking denial!”
“Whatever. I’m here—isn’t that all that matters?”
“Yes.” I put my head on her shoulder. “That is all the matters.”
“Oh!” Martha jumped up as a dog food commercial came on. “I almost forgot.” She got up and sifted through papers on her dining room table until she found a pamphlet. “Kari and I thought this might be a good way for you to get out of the house and meet new people.” She handed me a dog rescue flyer with the cutest puppies on the front of it.
“You want me to meet new people? The love of my life just stabbed me in the back. I don’t know about this.” I flipped it open to read the middle. It seemed like a wonderful organization, but with my job being as crazy as it was, where would I find the time?
Kari sat up a bit. “It’s not to meet a guy or anything. We’re just worried that you will become a hermit without James encouraging you to get out of the house from time to time. We just know how you are.”
Martha added, “Just think about it, ok?” as she took her seat next to me again. They made me promise I would consider it, and I would; helping people was my job, so why not help dogs, too?
We started to watch stupid daytime television. It was the perfect way to spend our afternoon—watching Jerry Springer, drinking wine, and realizing that at least I was better off than the poor schmuck that was just told his fiancée had actually been born a dude.
Chapter 6
Brayden
“Areyou excited to be home?” I asked as I opened the front door for Myla.
She slowly crutched her way into our home. “Excited is an understatement.” She made it the couple of feet to the loveseat in our living room and plopped down. “I just need to get used to these damn crutches.”
I brought her bag in and set it by the bottom of the stairs. “I am going to do some laundry and bring down a bunch of your stuff from upstairs.”
The living room had turned into our makeshift bedroom for the foreseeable future. Until Myla was cleared to start putting weight on her leg and was able to make it up the stairs, she and I would be calling the first floor home. I knew I was being a little overprotective, but I didn’t want her trying to do too much for herself while I was sleeping in my bed upstairs and then reverse all the progress she had already made.
“You really don’t have to do this, Bray.” She glanced around the room at the couches with sheets and pillows on them.
“Myla, we talked about this already. Just let it be.” The alarm on my phone started going off. “Shit, I have to change and head to practice. Are you sure you’re going to be ok while I am gone?”
She shot me a devilish glance. “If you do not get your ass out of that door in five minutes, I am going to kick it. Even though I only have one working leg, Darren made sure I could take care of myself for the most part. I am going to binge on all of my recorded stuff on the DVR and order a pizza.”
“Fine.” I pulled cash out of my wallet. “You can’t blame me for worrying.”
“I appreciate it, but we both need you to keep your job. One of us has to pay the damn bills.”
“Touché, sis.” With that I bolted up the stairs, changed into my sweats, and headed to practice. I was actually going to be on time for once, and I was stoked that Coach was finally going to see that I could handle my personal and professional lives in some capacity.
* * *
The days wenton in a sort of routine. Taking care of Myla and practicing with my team consumed my life. We started to get into a nice rhythm, but nothing could have prepared me for everything that had happened in such a short amount of time. It was like the earth had shifted on its axis. The weirdest part was that even though everything had changed in my life, nothing really had.
Yes, my mother was gone. Yes, Myla was no longer going to be an Olympic skater. Those things were giant, mind-altering facts that I had to grasp as my new reality.
But, my team was still the same. The mail never stopped coming. The bills still had to be paid. Laundry still had to be done. My father was still in prison for vehicular manslaughter. The world kept spinning, days kept coming and going, life went on. I had to get back into the swing of things or I might get left behind—at least that was how it felt.
Myla was getting stronger every day and her spirits were up. It was pretty much all I could ask for.
“Hungry?” I asked, carrying two plates with chicken and rice into the living room.
Myla glanced up from her Kindle and took one of the plates form me. “That smells so delicious, thanks.”
“Hey, we both gotta eat, right?” I winked at my sister before sitting down on the other couch across from her.
