Page 68 of Totally Fanatic

“You’re a big strong boy but I don’t think even you could pull it on that.”

“Can I please have it?”

She shrugs. “Sure, if you want it.”

“I do. I can buy it off you.”

“No, no, no. You already spent double the time here today helping me out than the Bunnies task paid you for. It’s yours, but please don’t try to pull it on your bike. Do you have a friend with a car? I already sold the wagon or you could have used it.”

“My sister has a car. Thank you, you have no idea how cool this is.”

“You sound just like Walt.” She chuckles. “He’d be happy knowing it went to a nice young man like you.”

***

I call my sister Mouse to come help me move the smoker. She was on board right away, even if my dating Tim put a kink in her plans to use me as the example of how her new app will work. My brother Buck has already finished creating the app itself, andit’s in beta testing or something with a few of her friends. I think it’s a great idea. I just want my spare ticket to go to people who missed out on seats regardless of if she thinks I will hit it off with them, and now that she knows I’m with Tim, she’s stopped trying to set me up at games.

“This thing is huge,” she says as I latch the safety chain and check the trailer is properly connected to her car.

“It’s a five-hundred-gallon smoker, totally large enough for Tim’s food truck.”

“I thought he wasn’t doing that until after he stopped playing ball?”

“He says that, but he loves cooking, and he just lights up whenever he talks about the truck, and while I never want to think of the day he can no longer play baseball, I thought if I helped him he could start the truck before then. It’s his dream, you know?”

“And what is your dream, baby brother?”

I’ve never really put much thought into what I wanted to do with my life, like some huge grand plan, not really. I wanted what I had growing up. I wanted to find someone to love me the way my father loved my mother. A partner that was also a best friend. And my cats. I love that I was lucky enough to have my four boys find me.

“I just want a happy life like Mom and Dad have. You know, with love, friendship and fun. And to be surrounded by cats.”

“Yes! What did you call it? Feline Good Cat rescue, right?”

“I forgot I named it that. Wow, I was like twelve when I came up with that. How did you remember?”

“I shared a room with you. It was on drawings all over the walls. You know, you could do that if you wanted to.”

“I don’t think I can afford an enormous compound filled with cats on my income.”

“Not yet, but you have a huge social media following and you foster kittens and people and places donate to things like that, too, so you could start small and see where it goes.”

“You’re right. Heaps of people messaged me asking about adoptions when I posted a picture of the kittens with the boys. I guess I could take in a couple more at a time while I find them their forever homes.”

“I’ll ask Buck to get started on your logo. He’s home for the weekend, and I’m fairly sure Mom and Dad still have your drawings up in the attic.”

“Thanks, Mouse.”

“You’re always telling everyone else they can do whatever they believe in, you need to start believing in you, baby brother, because all those things you want, you can totally have.”

“I think with Tim in my life, you might actually be right,” I tell her, and she smiles.

“Where is Tim going to put this thing? He lives in a loft, doesn’t he?”

Shit. I didn’t think of that.

“Umm, that’s a good question.”

I grab out my phone and check my contacts for a name of someone who might be able to store this thing. I can’t take it to Tim’s just to drop it off and leave it as his problem to sort out. If he had the food truck already, we could park it attached in the street that runs along the back of his apartment block, but it can’t just sit there alone.

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