Coop:
How do you make it through your day to day without getting hit by a car?
Because I push him out of the waybefore it hits him.
Carter:
Is Willow going to make her sweet potato casserole Coop?
Coop:
I don’t know man, ask her.
Carter:
No can do, boss. She’s kinda pissed at me at the moment.
Is this leftover issues from Sunday?
Coop:
What happened on Sunday?
What the hell did you do to my sister for her to be pissed at you?
Carter:
Nothing! Maybe she’s just hormonal or something, I don’t know.
Coop:
Sounds like Willow. She’ll get over it, she always does. If you want her to make it, just text her and ask. She’s always liked you best out of the three of us.
Which is hilarious seeing as how you’re her brother.
Coop:
Yeah, well, circumstances sometimes forced me out of brother mode and into parent mode which never boded well for me.
I pause and read his message twice. After losing their mom, their dad completely checked out. It was like he lost who he was as a person and completely forgot he had two kids to raise. Coop grew up fast and did what he could tomake sure Willow had as normal of a childhood as possible. Once Ivy caught wind of what was going on and how Coop’s dad was oftentimes more drunk than sober, they all but lived at our house. Coop even opted to skip college and work right out of high school before joining the police academy all so he could stay close home while Willow finished high school so she didn’t have to be alone.
Carter sends a text after a minute or two.
Carter:
You did what you had to survive man. So both of you could survive.
Cooper:
Tis the season to stir up family trauma, lol
Trauma.
The word instantly makes me think of a certain blonde-haired therapist and the way she tips her glasses back onto the bridge of her nose. I wonder what she would think if she knew the full histories of Carter, Cooper, and I.
To surviving
I include the symbol we always gave to one another growing up to let the other know we’re okay.
