Page 127 of Things Left Unsaid

“I’m quite likable. Just not with people my age.”

“That’s because you tell them they’re idiots.”

“People don’t seem to mind it when they’re older.”

“They think you’re being facetious,” I drawl, amused. Though I swiftly narrow my eyes at him. “You haven’t called her an idiot, have you?”

“No.” He huffs as if I insulted him. “She’s not dumb. Not like her asshole brothers. I can’t wait until I don’t have to see them at school anymore.”

“Forgot you hated them.”

The hilarious part, of course, is that Calder’s as much of a little shit as Callan is.

The more time I spend with the triplets, the more I realize that these two are too alike for their own good.

“Zee has great taste. She doesn’t particularly like them either. Just puts up with them. Though shedoeslove them. It’s kinda how we feel about Cole.”

I yank on his tuque again. “I should invite them over here.”

“What?! God, no. You can’t invite them to my home. They’re horrendous. They burp and fart and talk about pussies all day. They’re so boring?—”

“They sound like teenage boys to me.”Youincluded, but you just watch pussies all day. “They’re not bullying you, are they?”

“No.”

“You lying to me?”

“I’d tell you.”

I’m not so sure if he would but, in this instance, I believe him.

“If I invite them in the name of family unity, I won’t expect you to leave your room,” I attempt to appease.

“Aren’t I family?” he blusters.

“You’re the one who doesn’t want me to invite them! They’re her kid brothers, Callan.”

“You paid their debts. I saw the bank transfer. Isn’t that enough?”

“Sparing them from penury isn’t an olive branch.”

He snorts. “You clearly haven’t been poor before.”

“And you have?”

“No. Anyway,Grand-mère?—”

“Grand-who now?” I sputter.

“—doesn’t seem like the kind of person who’d appreciate you butting in. You’re probably expected to foot the bills and to cover her taxes and that’s the extent of your duty until she either dies or you get Zee pregnant. Which will never happen if you don’t woo her.”

“Woo her?” I repeat.

“Yeah.” He burrows his nose so far beneath his scarf that he’s mostly eyes. “You know, like, to make her fall in love with you.”

“Who said I want her to fall in love with me?”

That has him popping out of his scarf like a mole waiting to be whacked.

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