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I rolled my eyes. “Yeah he will, Mommy.”
“You don’t believe.”
I didn’t like how she said that.
“I believe you. But Wyatt…Wyatt always wants to beat me.”
“That’s because he looks up to you. He loves you. Don’t doubt me, Mio bel leoncino, I have plans for the both you, and how do my plans go?”
“Your way.” She made the best plans. Daddy even said so.
“So I mean it. You’ll be the boss one day, and Wyatt will be there fighting alongside you…you just have to play your part right.”
“What’s my part?” I asked, trying to figure it out.
She stared at me seriously…like when I was in trouble. “You have to promise, no matter what he says or does, no matter how badly he might hurt him…you’ll never give up on him. You’ll never let him fight alone.”
“What if he doesn’t want to be on my side?”
“You use your big brother powers and knock some sense into him until he gets back in line.” She smiled a little bit. That felt like a lot of work to me. “Being the oldest is a hard job, Ethan. You’ll get blamed for everything. You’ll sometimes feel alone, like the whole world is stepping on your neck, but if you don’t give up, if you don’t give into the pain, you’ll see. Your brother and sister will be there when you need them. So promise me that you won’t give up any of them.”
“I promise, Mommy,” I said, the scary look in her eyes disappeared, and she kissed my forehead as she stood up from my bed. “I’ll go make soup.”
“You’re making it?” I asked, my face bunching up.
She crossed her arms. “What’s wrong with my soup?”
“It tastes like feet.”
I didn’t say that. We both looked to the door where Wyatt stood.
“Excuse me?” Mom asked him.
“Your soup tastes like feet, Mommy.” He shrugged his shoulders at her as he came over to my bed. “That’s just gonna make him sicker, so I brought some from Nana!”
He lifted the lid for me to see.
I looked at him. His hair was getting so long he could tuck it behind ears now.
“You’re supposed to go fishing with Dad?”
“I was, but somebody got sick!” he said and then just pointed in my face.
“So, you could have still gone—”
“I can’t beat you if you’re not there,” he snapped at me, opening the tray and giving me the bottom bowl. I looked over to my mom, but she was already at the door. She gave me wink before stepping outside. Just like she said, he didn’t go without me.
Wyatt got up on his knees to pour the soup for me. “It’s the or...h…ora…zo...”
“Italian orzo spinach soup,” I pronounced it for him as he glared at me.
“Whatever, it’s your favorite soup, so here. Eat it and get better already,” he snapped and handed me the spoon, too.
I took the spoon, looking at his hair again. “You need a haircut.”
He reached up and grabbed his hair. “I don’t know how to cut it.”
“What?” I asked him. He moved and sat beside me, looking at my head like I was bug or something. “What?”
