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Chapter Seven
“You’re good with the kids,” Blizzard noted as I took a seat next to Rose at one of the many dinner tables.
Rose sat with Jayla on her knee, the child munching away happily on a piece of broccoli.
“My mom remarried when I was sixteen. Her and my step dad, Keith had a little boy together. I looked after him a lot even after I left school,” I explained.
Leo took the empty seat beside me, perching Macy in a little booster seat next to him and placing a plate of food in front of her. “Where’s your dad?” he asked as he attempted to get her to eat something.
I swallowed the food I was chewing before I answered, “He uh… died a couple years before that.”
He pulled his attention away from his daughter and turned his eyes to me. “I’m sorry.”
I shrugged. It was always a common response when I told people I’d lost my dad. I’d become numb to it.
“My step dad did his best, but I was a daddy’s girl.”
“Rebelled, huh?” Blizzard commented.
I nodded. “Yup. The harder I pushed, the harder he pushed back. It upset my mom a lot, so then we used to fight too.” I didn’t see my parents a lot. I went home for holidays, but they were always tense. I felt like I was always just waiting for Keith to make a comment or say something I didn’t like so I could jump all over it and cause drama. I knew it was wrong.
“Why did you fight with your step dad?” Rose asked softly.
I sighed. “I felt like by not liking him, I was protecting my dad’s memory. I thought if I let him in that I’d forget about my dad.” Even I knew that explanation sounded stupid. But after years and years of arguments, when I finally realized it was getting me nowhere, I think it was too late. Things were the way they were. There was so much tension between the two of us now, I didn’t know if it would ever go away.
“You’ll never forget him,” Leo murmured, his eyes meeting mine with an intensity that made me believe he knew exactly how I was feeling.
Suddenly, a piece of carrot went flying across the table and we all looked up in surprise. Macy sat in her booster seat scowling at the offending vegetable. “Yuck!”
“Macy,” Leo admonished.
She didn’t look at her father. Instead her eyes stayed forward, her frown growing heavier.
“Here, I’m finished. Swap with me.” I pushed my empty plate to the center of the table and stood up. Leo looked at me confused. I rolled my eyes. “Just move.”
Blizzard and Rose both chuckled.
Leo finally gave in with a huff. “You wanna try to feed the demon child, go right ahead.” He moved over to my vacant seat, pushing his plate with him.
I dropped in next to Macy. She watched me out the corner of her eye like she wasn’t about to be fooled by any trick I had up my sleeve. But she was wrong. She was smart. But I was smarter.
I pointed to another piece of carrot on her plate. “That looks good,” I commented casually.
“Yuck,” she replied.
I shuffled in closer to her, trying to ignore the three people to my side who were pretending to eat their dinner but actually watching intently. I leaned in close so I could whisper to Macy without them hearing. “Do you like to play hide and seek?”
She finally gave me her full attention. Her mouth was pursed tightly but she bobbed her head.
I cupped my hand over my mouth and whispered to her, “Did you know carrots help you see through things?”
Her eyes brightened.
“So if you eat lots of carrots, next time you play hide and seek, you’ll be able to see where everyone is hiding.” The small fib rolled off my lips like it had when my brother Sammy was little.
“And you see that broccoli?” She nodded with even more enthusiasm this time. “You eat enough broccoli and it will make you really, really, fast.” I made a zooming motion with my hand.
“Weally?” she whispered back as if we were conspiring together.
