Page 90 of Unsteady

“Oliver. I’m Sadie’s brother.”

My mom nods, still smiling brightly. “I’ve heard a lot about you. My husband says you’re a really,reallygood hockey player.”

He blushes under her attention, rubbing a hand over the back of his neck and nodding. My mom doesn’t reach for him, but I see her hesitate with her hand raised like she wants to. Maybe she can see what I see, that he’s a bit like Bennett, tense and desperate for space—at least physically.

“And who are you, love?” She gentles her voice even further, stepping up to look at Liam who’s ducked his head back into my neck while his little fingers play with the hem of my shirt.

He doesn’t speak, just continuing to glance up at her like he doesn’t want to look away.

“Jesus.” Oliver sighs, rolling his eyes while his cheeks blush like he’s slightly embarrassed by his brother’s hesitancy. “You can tell her.”

“Liam,” he finally murmurs, slinking from beneath my chin just barely. But I know, if I look at him, I’ll see the same stars in his eyes from before, like she’s a magic fairy that’s come to grant his every wish.

“Liam.” She savors his name. “You are a cutie. Let’s go inside now and have some cookies, yeah? I haven’t made them yet but you can help if you want.”

“Really?” His eyes go wide. “With chocolate chips?” He jumps from my arms, wriggling until I finally let him down.

Liam takes her outstretched hand, but only after checking back over his shoulder for a nod from Oliver.

Oliver hangs back, just behind me as Mom and Liam step forward. I wait for the kid, settling into a slow pace as my mom takes the long way through the garden and into the house.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, and I check to see a text from Rora—several crazy, but happy-looking emojis followed by an all-caps text that she would make sure Sadie got rest.

You should make an effort to be here,I’d chided her, the first day we spoke. The memory of my words makes me trip in my steps. Oliver looks at me for a moment and the guilt hits harder.

Selfish, entitled asshole.

I can feel it again now, that voice that left me alone whenever Sadie’s entire presence muted it. The dark thing that lives in my skin ever since the day I hit the ice. The day I woke up to gauze all over my face and my body, still having trouble breathing, and feeling angry.

The anger only faded, until it was just emptiness and then I missed the anger.

Now, it’s only self-hatred left.

But I’m learning the tools for it. I’m also learning that I might need better tools when it comes to handling Sadie Gray.

“Is your dad normally like that?”

Oliver tenses for a moment, but avoids my eyes while he nods.

“Your mom?”

It’s hard to talk around the knot in my throat, but I try to clear it, try to keep my wits through this landmine of a conversation.

“Sadie and I have a mom, but she…” He shrugs. “She didn’t want us. So we stayed with my dad when she left.”

We walk a few more steps, just up to the door. He stays just outside of the open door, the smell of cookie dough and sugar slowly beginning to permeate the air, and his expression is one of anxiety mixed with fear.

But I’m patient. I’ll be patient with him just how I will be with Sadie.

“Are we staying here long?”

“As long as you want,” slips from my mouth before I can think twice.

Oliver nods though, accepting it. “Well, you should tell Rora. Maybe she can make sissy get some sleep—she never gets any sleep.”

“Because of your dad?”

I’ve stepped into one of the landmines when his stance turns defensive, eyes sharp.

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