Page 25 of Snap Shot

“Landon!” Mom scolds in a tired tone, rubbing her forehead with a hand.

Del uses an imaginary crank to lift her middle finger. “Don't need to. You're doing it enough to cover all of us.”

“Argh!” I charge closer, ready to get her in a headlock. “You're such a—”

“MOMMMMYYYYY!” Gunn's squeaky voice cries out.

We all turn to the yard, where Sadie frowns and vehemently denies wrongdoing as her baby brother lies face down in the grass, kicking his legs. Takes after her mother.

Grunting into a fist, my sister then points two fingers to her eyes and then to me with her middle finger. “This isn't over.”

“Eat shit,” I mutter through my teeth, sticking my leg out to trip her as she marches by. She stumbles over her feet and glares back at me.

“Iheardthat!” Mom kicks my calf from her reclined position on the couch and I fall back to the cushions with a wince. “You're worse than theactualchildren.”

“She started it!”

“I really don't fucking care, Landon. You two need to cool it.”

Dad purses his lips and sucks in a breath. Mom cursing is a big deal.

I cross my arms and pout. “It's not true! I told you it wasn't true.”

“We know.” My father pats me on the shoulder from behind the couch. “You're not a serial dater, never have been. Lane’s riling you up. The attention's not going away as fast as you thought, hey?”

I rest my head back. “Not at all. Cooke hired a lawyer and…” I didn't make the best first impression.“Do you remember Indi?”

My parents trade glances and clueless shoulder shakes.

“The girl who played goalie one year on the Lightning?”

“Ohhhh, I remember hearing about that.” Mom taps her cheek with a finger. “What made you think of her?”

I huff out a dry chuckle. “She's my new lawyer.”

“No shit!” Dad nods. “Small world.”

“Right? I thought we were friends back then, but she…I don't know. She acted like I wronged her or something.”

“What do you mean?” He corners the couch and sandwiches me between him and Mom.

“I met with her and was excited to have someone I knew on my side. She made it seem like we never knew each other. I kinda snapped.”

“Son,” Dad says with a shake of his head. “Lawyers are never your friends.”

Mom peeks over her coffee. “Is she a good lawyer?”

“Supposedly one of the best.”

Her eyebrow perks. “Then you should probably apologize.”

“Yeah.” I sigh. Probably. Definitely.

Mom squeezes my shoulder. “We all have our bad days.”

Don't I know it?

“Apologizing wouldn’t be the worst thing.”

---