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They both nod with bright smiles on their faces, discreetly looking at me every so often.
“Oh, where are my manners?” Dad slams his open palm over his forehead.
I want to roll my eyes at him so bad, but right now, I’m too nervous to do it.
“My name is Eric Rossi, and this lady right here is my daughter, Valentina,” he announces proudly, pulling me over to him and placing both his hands over my shoulders, giving me a comforting squeeze.
“Hi, I’m Quaid, and this is my best friend Logan,” the brown-haired boy with a full metal grin splitting his face in two introduces.
Even with braces, his smile is infectious, and I can’t help my own silly grin from springing forth.
“I’m Val.”
“I said that already, kiddo,” Dad utters teasingly under his breath.
This time, I do roll my eyes.
“Nice to meet you, Val,” Logan adds, stretching his hand out for me to shake, but it’s a pointless effort, since I’m still holding onto the three boxes I took out of the truck.
Seeing the error of his ways, he rubs the back of his head again, a shy smile tugging at the corner of his lips, making him look even more endearing.
“So does your friend live far?” I ask, trying to snap out of my awkward state.
“Who? Carter? Nah. He lives right next door to you. We’ll go get him,” Quaid retorts, pulling at Logan’s elbow.
They turn around and stop in the middle of the driveway, talking a mile a minute with each other. Again, I can’t hear them, but I really wish I could, since they look like they are about to butt heads. However, whatever they were discussing so heatedly is quickly resolved, and both boys run across our yard next door in a mad dash.
“Welcome to San Antonio, kiddo. I think we just met your welcoming committee.” Dad chuckles as he takes the three boxes out of my hands.
“Nope, that doesn’t count, since you kind of forced their hand. Offering pizza and cash. You can’t bribe kids to be my friends, Dad.”
“Ah, Val. Those boys were dying for any excuse to come meet you. I just gave them the golden opportunity they were praying for,” he teases, walking past me and back into the house with his load.
I turn to get another box from the truck, when something catches my eye from the second floor window next door. At first, it looks like a shadow lurking behind dark black curtains, but then I catch a glimpse of something shiny. Like a flash of light, it’s there, and then suddenly, it isn’t.
“Weird,” I mumble, and go back to my task, anxious for Quaid and Logan to come back.
Though Dad had a lame way of introducing us, I’m still happy he did.
Sure, when I was thinking about making friends, I presumed I’d start with girls and work my way to boys. But like every other part of my life, nothing is ever as I expect, so why should making friends be any different?
It doesn’t matter.
All that matters is that Dad and I will finally be able to live like a normal family and be happy for once.
“Welcome to San Antonio, Val,” I whisper my dad’s words back to me.
I send a silent prayer to the big guy upstairs to make this home the safe haven Dad and I always dreamed about. Let this home be filled with only love and laughter.
Lord knows we’ve both shed enough tears to last us a lifetime.
Chapter 2
Then
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Logan
