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“Yes, but I’m going to join her first.” Showering after a flight always puts me in a better headspace because airports are disgusting.
“Go on, I’ll have the pot ready when you’re done.”
She’s humming some tune when I close the bathroom door behind me. Steam billows softly around the small room. I disrobe and step into the heat with her.
“Hi, big guy.”
“Hi.”
“Come here.” She reaches out to me, swapping positions. Her hands direct my head under the stream. I let the water wash away some of the anger I carry toward my mother while Willa washes my hair and then my body. She refuses to let me help, saying it’s her turn to spoil me, that I deserve it. But I’m not sure how. I don’t feel deserving of anything; not my life, not her, or Damian.
Not Callie.
I’m going to change all that though. No matter how long it takes, I’m going to be as generous as Damian, as caring as Willa, a reliable role model to others like Coach. A life of just skating by on my talent isn’t enough. Not anymore. Now it’s time to be the man Coach taught me I could be.
“Thank you,” I tell her when she’s finished her ministrations. “You’re one of my favorite people.”
“One of,” she asks, curling her upper lip in distress.
“Top five, for sure.”
“Five?”
“Only because you missed a spot,” I tell her, peering down at my cock.
“Only because I don’t think getting you hard before we head to your parents is the best idea.”
“You’re right,” I agree with a sigh. “It was a stall tactic.”
“Are you nervous?”
“Not nervous, no. More afraid I’m going to kill him and end up in prison,” I admit.
“That would defeat the whole purpose, Zan.”
True enough. I’ll be sure to remind myself of that throughout the day.
“Top three.”
“That’s more like it,” she says, wrapping her arms around my waist and resting her cheek on my chest.
“Give me a kiss.” She looks up at my command and meets my lips. It’s comforting and encouraging. It’s everything I need. More proof that she does know me, despite what she thinks. She always knows what I need.
From here on out, I need to focus on what she needs. And Damian, and Callie.
“Are we ready,” Damian asks sometime later after Willa has dressed up and I’ve had enough coffee to wake up fully.
“I think so,” I answer. “I have the paperwork for them to sign.”
“I have the money.” He smiles, but it’s the dangerous one normally reserved for others. I know it’s for my father’s benefit.
“Let’s get this shit done,” Willa says. “I always wanted a little sister. I can’t wait to get back to Seattle and spoil her fucking rotten.”
The drive to my parents’ home, the house I grew up in, doesn’t take long. They live on the edge of town. The first thing I notice upon parking is that it hasn’t been kept up. When I was a child, the lawn was always mowed, the gutters always clear of debris. Now the grass is long enough that the snow hasn’t covered it in areas, the paint is chipping, and judging by the slight sag in the roof, I won’t be surprised if my mother has a bucket set up somewhere inside to catch a leak.
It’s another reminder that I should have come back sooner. I’ve been off living my dreams while they’ve been living like this.
“Fuck me,” I mumble, stepping out of the rental SUV. The driveway is barely shoveled, the walkway not at all. “Be careful, Willa.”
