Page 23 of Keepsake

Maybe my mother was antagonizing her so much, the girl was always defensive. But no. I could tell by the way her jaw worked, even the way she blinked too fast, that it was just Logan. Dash was right, she was intense.

Turning in my seat, I looked at Vienna and Lachlan.

“This is it. Logan is waiting.”

Vienna nodded but said nothing. Lachlan blinked.

“You have to tell me if you’re uncomfortable. So we can… you know. Do something.”

“Very inspirational, tío.” Dash patted my back. Then his eyes fixed on his sister. “Don’t break shit, don’t steal shit.” She opened her mouth to protest, but he kept going. “Tell me if something is going on before you go off the rails. Lach?”

The three-year-old blinked again. “Yeah, you’re cool.”

With that, he opened the door and left the car. Vienna tried to follow him but thank god I remembered to enable the child locks today.

“We need to get out, too!” she told me, and then tried to open the door more than one hundred times to see if anything changed in the last second.

I frowned at her. “Vienna, I’ll…”

But she kept trying to open the door, aggressively so. Like a cork popping, without notice, no rhyme or reason, Lachlan started to cry. He opened his mouth as big as I’d ever seen, and from it came a wounded cry. Like it was from the bottom of his heart, as if Vienna’s distress over the child locks was the last straw for him.

Tears spilled from his eyes, the pacifier falling on his lap. My mouth opened and closed, confused by what I should think or do.

Why was he crying?

I didn’t understand.

Why was Vienna suddenly in the middle of a rage trying to open the door?

It knocked the air out of my lungs when I realized these children didn’t come with manuals. And it wasn’t even a little bit amusing.

No.

In a horrifying, real way. They were suffering, crying in front of me, and I had no clue why.

Vienna kept trying to open the door, all her strength on the handle forcing it again and again as she grew distressed. I barely could hear it now over Lachlan wailing, his cries so loud I felt the glass windows shake.

Paralyzed in shock, I couldn’t move until the passenger door opened again, but instead of Dash, Logan’s face came to view.

“Oh my god,” she whispered over the wailing.

I turned to her, incapable of explaining what was happening. I just shook my head, hoping she could understand I was lost for words.

What did I do wrong? How did we go from driving happily to this?

“I—I’m going to take him,” she told me and closed the door again.

The banging door took me out of my stupor. I moved quickly, removing my seatbelt and swinging the door open at the same time Logan moved.

Outside, the world was normal again. I could hear the street, the people, the cars, and my own thoughts. I looked at Logan and we said nothing to each other until she took a deep breath and opened Lachlan’s door.

The wailing slapped us right in the face. At least we could all be glad he was a very healthy boy with the strong lungs he had on him.

“Hey, Lachlan. What’s up, buddy?” Logan tried her softest voice, but I didn’t think he could hear her over his own screams.

I rounded the car to stand behind Logan, my hands in my pockets like an idiot. Vienna’s eyes widened when she saw a door was opened. Without thinking twice, she threw herself on her brother, not intimidated by the yelling.

Her body on top of him made Lachlan even more upset. He kicked and waved his arms as she jumped over him unceremoniously. Logan stepped back, smart enough to get out of the way, her back bumping to my front as I held her shoulders with my hands.

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