Page 41 of Walker

“If you were already up, why didn’t you come down sooner?”

“I figured you and Auntie Trinity would want to have some girl talk. She left right away though, and then I figured maybe you needed a few minutes to yourself.” She shrugged and then decided to help by grabbing plates out of the cabinet. “Joshie was good last night. He went right to bed for Aunt Tillie and everything.”

My daughter didn’t get along as well with my sister as she did with my friends, and it showed in how she addressed them. Tillie was Aunt Tillie. No exceptions. Flat and formal. Shaina and Trinity were her aunties.

“Did Tillie give you guys a hard time last night before Trinity got here?”

“No. She was kind of cool last night and wanted to know everything about Walker.” I raised my brows in question. “I didn’t know a whole lot, but I told her that I liked him and hoped it worked out for you guys.”

“That was nice of you.”

“He cares. He has shown us that he cares about you and your kids matter too. Some of my friends have told me horror stories about their parents’ boyfriends, girlfriends, or their step-monsters and I’m kind of thankful that Walker is the man you ended up dating first after Dad.”

“That sucks for your friends if so many of them have had bad experiences. I want you to know that you and your brother will always be my priority. If ever there comes a time when someone I date mistreats either of you, please come to me and tell me.”

“I promise, I will.”

“Good. Now, how about you go see what’s taking your brother so long to get down here? Once we eat, I want you to keep an eye on your brother for a little bit so I can get some sleep.”

My daughter smirked at me as she walked out. Yeah, I’d just inadvertently told her that I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.

After breakfast, Ariel followed me upstairs. “What’s up?” I asked as I washed my face.

“I talked to Dina again yesterday.”

Shit. Shit. Shit. “What about?”

Ariel gave me one of those ‘give me a break’ looks. “I told her to prove it.”

“To prove it?” I asked, flabbergasted.

“Yeah, I told her if she’s going to run her mouth about shit, she needs to bring the receipts.”

It took everything in me not to laugh at the way Ariel put it. “And what did she say?”

“She told me to piss off because I didn’t know what I was talking about.” Ariel sighed. “Then I told her, if she couldn’t prove anything, maybe she and her mom were liars and that they needed to watch their mouths before they ended up getting punched in them.”

I took a minute to breathe deeply as I turned to address my daughter. “Oh, Ariel. Please, do not stoop to their level and end up in trouble at school over this nonsense. Let me handle Terry and her daughter.”

“But you haven’t done anything yet.”

“Sweetheart, I’m still processing everything and haven’t decided what I’m going to do about it yet. Honestly, there really isn’t anything to do. No matter who fathered Terry’s children, it wasn’t me and I’m certainly not paying for them.”

“But he might be our brother.”

“Oh,” I huffed as all the air left my lungs. It felt like I was kicked in the gut. “I’m so sorry, baby girl. I hadn’t thought about that. Would you want a relationship with the boy if he was your brother?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. One little brother is annoying enough, but I love Joshie. Dina and Terry are awful people. What if he is my little brother too and he has to grow up with them as his only influence? Then, he might grow up to be a shitty person.”

“Language,” I corrected.

“You know what I mean.”

“I do, but honestly, we need to think about this realistically. Even if he is your brother, Terry most likely won’t allow you to have a relationship with him. It will have to wait until he is much older and able to make those decisions for himself.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah, it does.”

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