Page 14 of Love Her

Chapter 7

Connor

Technically it’s winter for a couple more months. Technically. Someone should tell Mother Nature that because it’s more like walking through Death Valley at the height of summer in Taylor’s backyard. I shed my shirt hours ago, the sun high in the sky, beating down on my skin. I can feel the burn and regret not applying the offered sunscreen.

“Connor, you are going to be in a lot of pain tomorrow,” Scarlett warns. She doesn’t know the half of it. My back aches on a regular day and doing all this work is only aggravating things.

“Nick is worth it,” I say, attaching the swing to the wooden beam on the massive playset Taylor insisted on building. As a kid I never had anything like this. We spent our playtime at the park on the public playsets and even those weren’t as nice as this. Swings, a slide, mini fort, and even a picnic table setup; it has a little of everything.

“Eventually. I tried telling Taylor we should wait until he’s at least talking before we put something like this up.” Scarlett nibbles on her bottom lip in worry.

Once the swing is hooked in, I walk toward my friend, placing my hands on her arms.

“It’s a cool setup and he can use the swing now and his Uncle Connor will come over for some male bonding in the fort. Have no fear.”

She smiles at me, releasing a breath. “It’s not ridiculous? I mean, I think it’s cool, but Nick is more interested in sticking smashed bananas up his nose than going down a slide.”

I can’t argue with her there. I watched him try to eat a plastic hot dog yesterday. I think we should be more concerned with his relationship with food than building a playset. Scarlett offers me a bottle of water, the condensation dripping onto my chest as I lift it to my lips. One sip and then I dump the rest over my head, the coolness a relief to my hot skin.

“Where’s your worse half?” I joke.

Giggling, she smacks my arm and says, “Inside. Ashton called about a few invoices and he needed to hop on the computer. I can’t believe you let him con you into doing this.”

“It’s no big deal. What else was I going to do today? Play video games? I’m cool. Besides, there was a promise of a steak later.”

Our conversation is interrupted by my cell phone. Pulling the device from my pocket, I look at the screen and smile. “I’m going to take this then clean up the mess.” Scarlett nods and walks toward the house as I slide the answer button.

“Hey, Mom.”

“Sweetie guess what?” Her news must be huge because I don’t recall ever hearing her hit that high of a note. My ears are still ringing but her excitement is obvious, which instantly makes me happy.

“Chicken butt?” I can practically hear her eyes roll through the phone line.

“I’ll just ignore that and tell you, because you will never guess.”

“Then why are you asking me to guess? I’ve never understood that question. I mean, should I try? Maybe you won Lotto or found a million dollars on the porch.”

Mumbling a string of words not meant for my ears reminds me of being a kid and she would pray to the Lord for her son to not be such a dumbass. Unfortunately, most of those prayers went unanswered. Or ignored. Sometimes I think they were ignored so I had to learn my lessons the hard way.

“Meg is engaged!” Her shout leads to a cough and then another.

“Say what?” My baby sister cannot be engaged. She’s not even dating anyone. Or at least that’s what she tells me when I ask. Actually, I haven’t asked in months. Has it been that long since I’ve spoken to her? “I didn’t know she was seeing anyone.”

“You know your sister. Meg keeps things pretty close to the vest until she’s ready. I met him last week. Nice young man and obviously adores her.”

“I’ll be the one to decide that,” I grumble as I kick an empty box from the playset toward the pile of garbage.

Meg has always been a private person, not sharing plans or goals until a firm plan is in place. I suppose much of that is because by the time she was old enough to really set those goals, my mom was raising us alone and life was just different. We didn’t have a ton of money and the prospect of college and a career wasn’t guaranteed. An engagement isn’t the same. This is life-altering. Surely my mom is mistaken. Maybe she and this guy are discussing marriage in the future and not actually engaged.

“I’ll call her later and congratulate her.”

“Honey, be kind when you do. She’s happy with Alfred.”

Alfred.Well, if ever there was a name that screamed stability, that may be the one. Any concern I had, slowly dissipates as I promise to call my sister and be kind. When I disconnect the call, my mind is all over the place with what’s happening at home. Maybe I need to go back. I’m stronger than I give myself credit. Just because living there and running with a bad crowd was a slippery slope in my younger years doesn’t mean it will be now.

For the next half hour or so, I push through the discomfort from the heat and clean up the trash in the backyard. As soon as I break down the last box and toss it in the back of Taylor’s truck, he approaches from the backyard. Of course he waits until I finish. Knowing him, he was watching me from the window.

“I was just coming out to help you.”

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