Page 82 of The Way We Score

Hesitating, I add the last bit.

I want to be there for her. I want to show her I’ve changed.

It doesn’t take long for my oldest brother, also a single dad, to reply.

Jack

I’ll do everything I can, and G? Congrats, man. I always thought you two made a great couple. It’s why I never busted your ass for sneaking her into your bed in HS.

I’d like to have seen you try.

He doesn’t respond, and I exhale a chuckle. He did his best to wrangle four wild siblings after our parents passed. We all loved and respected him for it, especially me, but when it came to Liv, for better and for worse, nobody could tell me a thing.

17

Olivia

Henny Lane sits on her nest almost completely flat. Her breast is plucked almost bare, and she looks slightly deranged, like she’ll attack anyone who tries to touch the common, ole non-fertilized egg she’s trying to hatch.

Poor, crazy bird. I’m sure it’s the hormones (again), but I actually feel empathy for this mentally ill creature. I want to keep her safe.

“It’s okay, Hen.” I speak in a low, even tone. “I know how it feels to be growing a baby. I’m growing one of my own right now.”

Reaching out, I place a small cup of food on the edge of her roost. It’s attached to the side, so it can’t be tipped over, along with a cup of water.

Mom said Henny stays on her nest for hours at a time, only leaving for a few minutes each day to eat and leave a large, stinky poop.

The poop part has me a little worried. My nausea is back,and the prescription Dr. Beck gave me seems to have stopped working. Or my body has gotten used to it. Either way, I don’t like how large the swells of nausea have become, and I can’t seem to find the trigger.

Something tells me a big, stinky chicken poop might be it.

Glancing at the clock, I expect Garrett any minute.

“It’s so nice to have you home.” Mom walks out to where I’ve finished checking on her chickens.

“It’s so nice to have you moving around again. Are you sure you want to have a hip replacement so soon? You’ve just gotten your mobility back.”

“I might as well get it over with.” She shrugs. “It hasn’t been that long since I needed a walker.”

“It’s been almost four months.” Despite what she says, I suspect this might be another ploy to bring me home, but have I got a surprise for her.

As much as I hate to reward her for lying, her trick to keep me here for Dylan’s wedding played a pivotal role in making a dream I didn’t think was possible come true.

I’m going to be a mother. She’s going to be a grandmother, and the father is a person we both care for very much, even if it’s really,reallycomplicated.

“Well, anyway, I’ve had this ache in my hip and he said hip replacement surgery is as common now as heart surgery.”

“Another very serious procedure,” I note under my breath.

She waves a hand over her head, going back to the house. “I’m just happy you’re here. Now what is all this important conversation we have to have right now? I’m missing my Dungeons and Dragons session at the senior center, and I’m the elf bard who plays bagpipes and wields a bow and arrow.”

“I don’t know what any of that means.”

“We have to get out of an alternate dimension of our homeland, Olivia! I can’t just blow off a session. People are counting on me.”

“I have something important I need to tell you, and I didn’tknow you were on a senior-citizens DnD team. I thought Dungeons and Dragons was for kids.”

Her eyes narrow in disapproval. “Olivia Bankston, I didn’t raise you to be ageist. DnD is a creative way to keep your brain active.”

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