Page 1 of Sunflower

Chapter One

Joey

“HeyDad,alittlehelp, please?”

It was two days before Christmas, and Dad had decided that he simplyhadto have the biggest bouquet of sunflowers he could possibly find to gift to his new girlfriend, Erin.

Well, I saynew, but they’d been seeing each other for at least six months as far as I knew, so it wasn’tnewnew. Were there different levels of newness when it came to girlfriends? Were they like cheese? Did they get better with age? Or turn moldy at the first sign of trouble?

Maybe it depended on the type of cheese.

Or maybe I was just hungry.

Whatever.

Dad had dragged me to the local florist on what was supposed to be a quick pickup, but instead had turned into a three-hour slog through last-minute shoppers hunting for a bargain to buy a gift for their loved ones. I didn’t understand why he’d demanded I come with him until we spent the good part of an hour huntingfor a parking spot that felt about the same distance away from the florist as our house was, babbling excitedly in my ear the entire time.

Seriously, we should have just walked there. Probably would’ve been way quicker. Either way, he would’ve been able to chatter at me, which I suspect was his intention all along.

After finding a spot, he led me through the throngs of people pressing in on us from all sides, all so he could get Erin some flowers. It wasn’t until we elbowed our way into the florist, and I saw the largest display of sunflowers I’d ever seen in my life, that I realized I wasn’t just there for moral support and an ear to talk to. He actuallydidneed an extra pair of hands to pick up some flowers.

And now, another couple of hours later, he’d left me in the driveway trying to wrangle those same damn flowers out of the backseat while he went to unlock the front door, promising his swift return.

At least, that’s what he’d said he was doing. He’d disappeared inside, no doubt checking for Erin. Cursing his very existence, I finally got free of the car and awkwardly hobbled across to the front door, shouting at him to hold the door for me, all in the hope that he would take the hint to come and help me with this gigantic mess of golden fluff that impeded my sight so much that I had to swing them to the side to see where I was going.

Honestly. Why would anyone buy such enormous flowers, anyway? They were just going to die in a few days’ time, and all that he’d have left to show for it was a massive cost line on his bank statement.

Did women even like getting flowers this big? I had my doubts. Maybe they only enjoyed them because they didn’t have to lug them around like the five-hundred-pound weight they currently felt like in my arms.

He so owed me for this. I’d better get the latest PlayStation for a Christmas present this year or there’d be hell to pay.

Leaving the car door open, I let Erin and Dad’s excited voices guide me towards the house. I blindly shuffled up the steps to the front door, then bent my knees enough to clear the flowers from the top of the door.

“Dad?” I called out again, hoping he’d pick up the hint of annoyance in my voice. They werehisflowers after all, not mine. He should be the one to break his back by bringing them inside.

“Oh, Joey! Come and meet Callum,” said Dad, somewhere in front of me and slightly to the right.

I stopped in my tracks. Callum. Erin’s son. He was here already? I didn’t think he was due in from wherever it was he went to college until tomorrow. Something about last-minute submissions or something. I didn’t know, and I didn’t really care. I’d never met the guy and had only heard about him through Erin. It sounded like he was okay, but how far could I trust what his own mother said about him? Probably about as far as I could throw these goddamn flowers. Which wasn’t far. They were fucking heavy.

This Christmas was supposed to be the first time all four of us would be together in the same spot. Dad had met Callum a couple of times over the past six months when he and Erin had traveled to the other side of the country to visit him, but I’d been too busy at school both times they’d gone and stayed home instead, much to the annoyance of our neighbor Mrs. Brown, who had been charged with keeping an eye on me to make sure I didn’t burn the house down while they were gone.

I may have been fifteen, but I wasn’tthatbad. I could reheat a frozen dinner like no-one else. It was a specialty of mine. Microwaveable frozen dinners, ice cream, and chocolate were the undisputed stuff of champions. Don’t let anyone tell you any differently, including my dad. Who needs vegetables anyway?

I was intrigued to see what Callum was like in person, but I wasn’t prepared to meet himnow. He was supposed to arrive tomorrow, not today. I was supposed to have one more day to get myself used to the idea of someone new in my personal space. It had taken a bit to get used to Erin spending so much time in our house, but even though she now spent nearly every waking minute here, she still technically lived in her own one-bedroom flat.

Callum, however, would be staying with Dad and me while he was in town. Dad and Erin had both agreed that it would be easier seeing as we had a spare room that we could put him in.

Logically, I understood the decision, but my brain needed time to prepare for his invasion into our everyday home life, even if itwasonly going to be for a few days. Callum, arriving a day earlier than I expected, had thrown my mental preparedness out, and now I felt like I was on the back foot, both figuratively and literally.

I gripped the sunflowers in my hand to stop the wave of nervous energy thrumming through my veins, willing myself to calm the fuck down. He was Erin’s son, not a stranger. She’d vouched for him, as had Dad. There was nothing wrong with him staying under the same roof as me for a few nights.

Just a few nights.

I could totally handle that.

Even if ithadtaken weeks for me to get used to Erin being around.

Fuck.

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