Page 84 of Not A Chance

Once we were inside the threshold, Theo set our bags down by the entryway table. We followed the grumbling sounds of the two overgrown toddlers who masqueraded as adult men coming from the kitchen.

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

Their voices echoed all the way to the front of the house.

“What do you think they’re arguing about?” I kept my voicelow. Not that I thought they could hear me as the volume of their brotherly disagreement continued to increase. Sibling fights made me very confused. It seemed like this was fun for them? I just didn’t get it, but the ache inside me at being an only child made me wish that I could.

Theo, totally nonplussed by the heated voices, shrugged and said, “Siblings.” (As if that explained anything to an only child!) “More than that. Twins.” He jerked his thumb over his shoulder like this was just how things were.

Like me, Giz was a little put on edge with the argument happening close by. Her ears flattened as much as they could against her head to keep some of the sound out. I stroked her back over her harness, trying to soothe her. She was used to things being pretty quiet when it was just me and Theo in my apartment.

Come to think of it, when was the last time Theo slept in his own apartment?The stray thought was soon lost to a little hitch in my breath as the twins continued to argue.

He took my hand, and we made our way toward the back of the house. The Yao-Miller house wasn’t a monstrosity like my parents’ house, but they still had about six thousand square feet. We hadn’t made it to the kitchen before I heard Emery coming down from upstairs.

“Jesus! What could they be fighting about now?” she grumbled to herself. Emery had obviously been in her studio again as she smeared white paint up her arms when she pushed her sleeves up. “Shit,” she said when she realized what she had done. She held her hands slightly away from her body now that she remembered. The commotion must have interrupted her.

When she reached the bottom step, she looked up from her arms and saw me and Theo. “T! Ind! You guys are here already? I thoughtyou weren’t coming until after lunch?”

Theo wrapped his arms around my waist and gently pulled me into his side. He gave his sister the same affectionate smile that he’d aimed at Chase. “It is after lunch, Em.”

“What? Shit!” She swore again. Emery hated to seem scatterbrained, but I loved that she got so involved in her art that she lost track of time.

She moved forward and raised her arms but then realized for the second time that she was covered in paint. “Rain check on the hugs.”

“It’s so good to see you, Em.” Theo was looking at Emery like she was something precious. She was, and I loved that for her. I knew that Theo had been really trying to be more present for his siblings this past season.

A pang of homesickness hit me suddenly. I felt the same when I was tutoring kids at the community center back in Amado. Knowing that I’d helped a kid who was struggling gain some self-confidence was the best feeling in the world. God, I really missed my kids. I hoped they were doing okay with the other volunteers.

“Let’s find out what all the noise is about.” Theo kept his arm around me while Emery followed us into the kitchen.

She moved past us, careful not to get paint on our coats, and zeroed in on her brothers, who had yet to notice we’d entered the room. Their concentration was taken up by glaring at each other.

“What in the hell is going on now? Can’t I even get one hour to work without my noise-canceling headphones while you two are home?” she admonished, but her smile lessened their effect.

Sibling stuff was sometimes confusing.

“Hey! Cut it out!” Theo’s voice boomed over the bickering before it turned back into its regular deep but calm tone. “Let’s not scare Indie off before dinner, okay? You don’t know how hard it was to get her here.”

Liam, now aware that there were three more of us in the room, looked over at Theo with keen interest. “Really, T? Tell us howhardit was?” Liam and Chase cackled together.

Theo just raised his middle finger at Liam without saying anything, which only made them laugh more.

“Yeah, yeah. You’re hilarious, Li. I can’t wait until you two idiots hit thirty. Then we’ll see how hard you find it,” Theo drawled.

“Ugh. You guys are disgusting. Stop talking about your dicks.” Emery pushed a piece of hair that kept falling into her eyes back from her forehead. Luckily, most of the paint on her hands was starting to dry, so she didn’t look totally like a skunk now… just mostly.

“Um, Em.” I mimed that something was on my fingers and pointed to my head.

Her perturbed face only had the twins laughing harder. “Do you two stupid-heads even have two brain cells between you? Not everything is funny!” Her voice turned a little more shrill at the end.

“I’m going to clean up.” She turned to me, her expression smoothing from irritated to pleased. “I’m so glad you’re here, Ind. We’ll talk in a bit, yeah?”

I nodded.

Emery paused to give Gizmo a little kiss on the head on the way out of the room and got a lick inside her nostril for her trouble. “Ugh! What was that?” Her nose wrinkled in response to Gizmo’s action.

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