Page 114 of Unsteady

“Who are you supposed to be?” I ask, ignoring her question completely. Because it’s ridiculous—where else would I be but with her?

Sadie smirks, but it’s Liam who shouts, “A Wookiee!” as he leaps for me.

I grab him, follow Sadie into the house, then shut and lock the door behind me. This is the furthest I’ve been into her home, which is small and cold. It feels like there isn’t any heat on—and maybe there isn’t.

There’s a set of stairs that look a little worse for wear. Directly to the right is a small, blue tiled kitchen with cookies in a pan on the stovetop, which explains the sugary smell. To my left, I spot Oliver perched on a stained floral couch, a lamp on the side table and the flickering TV the only lights on.

“Hey, bud.”

“Koteskiy.” He nods, before shifting his attention back to the screen.

My eyebrows shoot to my hairline. Sadie covers her mouth to keep the laugh from bursting, turning towards the kitchen. I follow with Liam still on my hip as he tells me about trick-or-treating in the “rich people neighborhood” and that Sadie won’t let him have any more candy tonight.

I reach for a cookie off the tray, but Liam slaps my hands and screeches, “We have to sing first!”

“Sing what?”

“Happy birthday!”

“Is it your birthday, bud?” My eyes dance as I look between him and a blushing Sadie.

He laughs, bright and loud, like I’ve told some ridiculous joke. “No, it’s sissy’s. She’s… um…” He leans into his sister and loudly whispers, “How old are you again?”

“Twenty-two.”

“Twenty-two,” he shouts to me immediately.

My heart drops, eyebrows furrowing as I look at her again. “I… I had no idea.”

Sadie shakes her head and crosses her arms. “Obviously, because I didn’t tell you, hotshot.” She shoves a sugar cookie into her mouth before Liam can stop her, smiling wickedly at him as she chews.

It might be ridiculous, but I’m slightly hurt that she didn’t tell me.

Liam climbs down from my arms and demands that I get his brother so they can sing and Sadie can make her birthday wish. I take a cookie, imprinted with a little orange pumpkin, and head back into the living room.

I lean over the back of the couch, seeingHalloween 3play over the TV with that same stupid song that plagued my nightmares as a kid.

“How was your game?” I ask Oliver, remembering he had one this afternoon.

He doesn’t look at me. “We won.”

“Score anything?” I smirk, jostling his shoulder. He shifts to stand, coming around the back of the couch and stopping in front of me, closer than he’s ever been to me. Hell, closer than I’ve seen him get to anyone besides Sadie.

He scratches the back of his neck, before dropping his voice to whisper.

“My therapist said Sadie has trauma with her birthday because when she was my age something happened with our mom.” He shrugs. “I always thought it was because dad gets really,reallydrunk on holidays. On Christmas, he’s sad. On Halloween, he’s usually angry. But, I don’t know.”

I look at him for a long time, stomach sick, souring the leftover taste of the cookie still on my tongue.

“But, that’s probably why she didn’t tell you. And… I don’t want you to be mad at her.”

I try to swallow past the lump forming in my throat.

“I’m not mad at Sadie,” I tell him quietly. There’s a hesitancy to his stance, every line of his face, like he wants to say more but he doesn't know how. So, I take a guess. “I’m not gonna leave her, Oliver. Never, okay? She may ask me to go one day, but I willneverleave her. Not her, or your brother oryou. Tell me you understand that.”

His cheeks blush as he angles his eyes down to the ground. “I understand.”

“Good,” I say, and for a moment I feel like crying. I want to wrap this kid in my arms, because his shoulders look heavy with the weight he carries—but I know he’s a bit like Bennett, he doesn’t really like touch.

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