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Seven
HARPER
I’d never been to Leo’s house before. Family gatherings were held at his parents’ home or the restaurant.
I wondered why I’d garnered an invitation. Leo said it was so Evie could play on the playground and in the yard, but my traitorous heart wanted to find meaning behind it. That he was interested in me.
Why now? Nothing had changed over the years. Was it that he’d only just now noticed me? Or maybe he was finally willing to risk his parents’ disapproval.
Evie slid down the slide and tumbled onto the ground. When she cried out, we rushed to her. Leo got to her first and brushed the dirt and leaves off the scrape on her knee and lifted her.
Her eyes were filled with tears as he carried her inside. “Let’s clean this up and get you some medicine.”
I followed them into what looked like a spare bathroom. There was a blue toilet, a tub-shower combination, and a sink. He settled her down on the edge of the tub and ran the water.
“Can you grab the first aid kit from under the sink?” he asked me.
My hands trembled as I rushed to comply. No one had ever comforted Evie in this way. I’d always been the primary parent. If something like this happened when Manny was around, he’d step back and let me handle it.
Leo dabbed at her wound with a wet paper towel, and I handed him the antibacterial ointment. He blew the wound dry before applying the ointment. “There. All better.”
“It doesn’t hurt anymore,” Evie declared.
Leo visibly relaxed, his shoulders lowering as he said, “Good. I’m glad. That slide was a little faster than I anticipated. Maybe I should adjust the slope.”
“Now that Evie knows how it is, she’ll be okay.”
“It was fun,” Evie said as she slid to the floor and left the bathroom.
“She seems okay,” Leo said, as if he was reassuring himself.
I squeezed his bicep, marveling at the size of his muscles. “She is. Thanks to you.”
His brow furrowed as we followed Evie out of the bathroom. “I washed it and put on some ointment. It wasn’t a big deal.”
But it was to me. It was nice having someone to share things with. What if Evie grew closer to him and this went badly? I didn’t think I could handle that.
At least with my mom’s boyfriends, I knew they wouldn’t stick around. I had no expectations that anything would turn out differently. But with Leo, I held out hope.
We followed Evie to the kitchen.
Not ready for Evie to go down that slide again, I asked Leo, “Did you say something about a playhouse?”
“I cleaned it out this morning,” he said to me, and then to Evie, “You can tell me how you’d like it decorated.”
Evie turned to us as she opened the slider in the kitchen, her eyes wide. “You have a playhouse?”
She adored dollhouses.
“It’s a storage shed, but it looks like a house.” He led her to the other side of the yard where a storage shed sat. It looked like a miniature house with a door, shutters, and a window. “I was thinking we could add a flower box under the window and a little porch on the side.”
He opened the door for Evie, and she went inside, exploring every inch. “What do you think I should put inside?”
“A kitchen and a table and chairs,” Evie said.
“I think we could get some curtains for the window too. What do you think?”
“Yes,” Evie breathed in agreement.
