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It’s too much attention. I duck my head. “Don’t mention it.” Please.
Since I’m looking at my feet, I clock him reaching for me before he makes contact. I lift my chin until I’m lost in his gaze again.
“You did something special, Bee. Take the compliment.”
All I can do is nod.
It’s a rush, but after years of being “Aiden’s lil sis,” I know better than to get my hopes up.
5
SEBASTIAN
It’s beenyears since I danced, but I still enjoy looking after my body. Running, good food, and a barber I would trust with my life. Even if working at Lady Luck doesn’t require me to maintain my abs, it’s a routine I take solace in. I like how I look, even if time and worry are starting to show a little too discernibly on my face.
For the past few years, Aiden and I have been meeting up most mornings to run. It’s exactly what I need to wake up, energize my body, and kick-start my brain. While I usually run to meet him at his place, he insisted we explore the neighborhood now that Bee and I have settled in.
“How does it feel, man? Name’s on the deed. You’re locked in.”
“It feels good. Still a little surreal. I keep waiting for the bank to call and say they made a mistake.”
“Nah, they’d rather bleed you dry for the next thirty years. I think you’re good.”
“Don’t remind me.”
The streets we pass are like a sitcom’s wet dream. Bikes in driveways, neighbors waving, a tree house. A playground, dads with strollers, the whole shebang.
There are newer builds dotted throughout, obvious as palm trees among daffodils. They look ridiculous, characterless and gray. Literally. When I’ve got the funds to update our place, I’m going to make sure to honor as much of the original design as possible, and I hope the neighborhood holds firm. It would be a shame to see all this individuality being bulldozed into cookie cutter prefab slabs of concrete.
Shit, I’m starting to sound like my grandfather.
“This what you want?” Aiden asks.
“Yeah,” I admit. “Yeah, it really is.”
“That’s cool, man.”
The path ends, and a park sprawls out in front of us. It boasts two lakes, a playground, and a whole lot of greenery. A plaque explains that there are over six hundred trees planted, and the two islands within the lakes are actually swampland that has been reclaimed and restored.
As we continue a lap around the lake, there are more families and more plaques, some detailing the birdlife or a native breed of fauna, others promoting the free yoga session held on Sunday mornings.
It’s perfect.
“And everything else? That’s good?” Aiden asks as we start back toward the house.
I don’t know what he’s fishing for, but maybe my frustration is showing because—“Mom wants Dad at her birthday.”
“She actually said that?”
“Yep. Wanted my permission to invite him first.”
“I can’t believe it. I know she’s been meeting up with him to talk, but I didn’t think they were friends.”
Neither did I. If you’d asked me to dream up the most impossible scenario to ever occur, my estranged parents becoming friends two decades after my mom and I left in the middle of the night would have been at the top of the list.
“What did you tell her?”
“Yes, obviously. I might hate the bastard, but it’s her sixtieth birthday. Who she invites really isn’t my call.”
