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“Someone else to be friends with!”
Olivia jumped up from where she and Bryant were playing on the floor and ran to the door. I rushed to follow her because who knew what stranger she would let inside.
“Olivia! Stop!”
My daughter usually listened to me right away, but it seemed the excitement was getting to her as she only ran faster. She got to the door before me. The little girl already knew how to open doors, so she greeted whoever was out there. She was out the door and giggling with whoever was on the other side.
“I’m so sorry, she’s just excited.” I finally caught up, and the breath was kicked out of my lungs when I saw Scarlett waiting with a bag.
“Hi, Noah.”
Olivia had a tight grip on Scarlett’s leg, yelling with excitement. I could hear Darren and Bryant coming up behind me — making the situation even more claustrophobic.
“Scarlett. I wasn’t expecting you.”
She shrugged. “Yeah, yeah. Kind of an unplanned trip.”
Scarlett switched between looking at me and humoring Olivia, who was literally a ball of happiness. She has always loved her aunt, so I wasn’t surprised that she was freaking out so much. I was having a freak out myself but was managing to keep it internal.
“Is everything okay?” Darren asked from behind me.
Reluctantly, I opened the door, so we could all see one another.
Olivia finally let go of Scarlett’s leg and went back over to Bryant. She was talking a mile a minute, explaining who Scarlett was to him.
“Scarlett! Hey, how are you?”
The greeting between Darren and Scarlett was a lot less weird. I doubted they talked regularly, but it could be the fact that they socialize more often than I chose to when she was living here. In fact, she was friends with his wife. Two years of minimal trips past the bounds of our land was a long time to be isolated.
“I’m not too great actually. It’s why I’m here.”
Looking at my sister-in-law was so strange. She was a lot like her older sister, but also extremely different. I had so many feelings wrapped up in my marriage to Kylie and then her unexpected death. I knew I projected a lot onto Scarlett that she didn’t deserve, but sometimes I couldn’t help it when I looked into her blue eyes.
“Oh, I hope it’s not too serious,” Darren said to her as I stood in my own little haze.
“I mean, it’s nothing new. My dad and stuff.”
I knew all about it. After Kylie’s death, Glenn didn’t take it well. He started drinking heavily, and a lot of his care fell onto Scarlett. I made sure they had enough money, but I kept myself removed from the situation. Seeing how much it has affected her makes me feel a little guilty, but I was still only ever thinking of keeping Olivia safe.
“Do you need something? You could have called,” I argued.
Her gaze at me was a bit cold. “You don’t really answer.”
That wasn’t a lie, but I did listen to voicemails. I would have done something if Scarlett sounded like she really needed me, or I’d like to think I would.
“I’m here now.” Scarlett’s eyes darted down to the ground, her feet shuffling. “I was hoping I could stay here. I don’t really have anywhere else to go, so…”
Having my sister-in-law here was a bad idea. I wanted to offer to put her up in a hotel wherever she wanted, but I didn’t want to make things more awkward in front of Darren.
“Yeah, that’s fine,” I managed to spit out. One or two days would be okay, then we could work something better out.
“Awesome, thanks!”
Scarlett pushed past me to get into the house. I was sure she was trying to get herself settled before I changed my mind. She left her bags by the front and started bounding towards the playroom in a way that made it impossible to not look at her full breasts.
“I’ll go make sure the kids are alright.”
I hadn’t even noticed they left.
With Scarlett away, leaving me alone with Darren, he gave me a look I had seen many times. He wanted to tell me something but wasn’t sure how to word it.
“I didn’t know she was coming.”
“I know, I know,” he held his hands up in defense. “Are you okay with that? Scarlett staying here?”
“Of course. That’s why I said yes.”
“Of course.”
Darren was confusing me because his worry seemed to be morphing into amusement. I wasn’t sure what was amusing. Maybe it was something Scarlett did. She had a way of making people happy. Olivia was always smiling whenever she played with her, and I could admit, even though I was a righteous depressing bastard after Kylie passed away, Scarlett managed to get a smile or two out of me during that first year.
