Page 4 of Sunflower

“He couldn’t when he was little,” Erin said, smiling softly. “But now that he’s older, he can. He’s been better at controlling his ability since he’s been trained. I haven’t seen him have a reaction like that in a few years.” With a worried frown, Erin turned her head towards the stairs as if she could see through the walls and ceiling to where her son had disappeared to.

“You okay, Joey?” Dad asked, capturing my attention. “I know it’s a lot to take in.”

“Understatement,” I muttered, running my trembling fingers through my shaggy hair that desperately needed a cut. “Um, if it’s okay, I’m going to go have a shower.” I scratched my scalp nervously. “I need some time to wrap my head around all…this.”

“Of course,” Dad said. “Take your time.” He looked at his watch. “We’ll sit down for dinner at seven, okay? And bring your EpiPen. There’ll be satay sauce on the table.”

Still in a daze over what had just happened, I nodded, then lifted myself off the sofa and escaped to my room, a lot slower than Callum had. I was worried about what he’d heard or seen in my head, but I was also beginning to realize that as long as Erin was in my life, there wouldn’t be a thing I could do about hiding anything from my dad.

No surprise parties when they left me home alone. Not that I’d done that up to this point, but now even theideaof hosting a forbidden party sometime in the future had been stripped away from me.

No lying. About anything. Erin had a built-in lie detector.

But as much as the idea that my thoughts weren’t mine alone anymore, it was the tiny differences between the way Callum and his mother had done their psychic thing.

Erin had demonstrated her ability with purpose, even when I was trying to give her a crazy number. It was almost like it had been a job to her. There was control over the way she’d taken my hand, the way she’dheardme. She knew what she was listening for and ignored the rest.

Callum, however… It was like he’d gripped my hand purely on instinct. There had been no control at all, no restraint. How could a person live their life with that sort of lack of control? It must be overwhelming.

And it was that thought, the idea that Callum must be drowning in the thoughts of others, that made my heart break more than the concept of mourning the loss of my own perceived mental freedom.

That being said, both Erin and Callum had shown that they needed intentional physical contact for their ability to kick in.

If there was no contact, there could be no way to read my mind. And I couldn’t lie—that made me feel a whole hell of a lot more at ease than I had been less than an hour ago.

Dinner that night was awkward.

Dad and Erin tried desperately to keep the conversational ball rolling along, but there was this tension in the air that was so thick it was almost visible.

For the most part, I tried to keep my head down to concentrate on my food and everyone else’s. Erin had made barbecued chicken skewers with various vegetables, which we’d had plenty of times before, but like Dad had warned, this time there was a small dish of satay sauce on the table for Callum. As I was allergic to peanuts, I was keeping an eye on where the dish was at all times, so I wouldn’t risk having a reaction. My EpiPen was close by, so I wasn’t terrified of dying or anything, but it was good practice for when I went out to restaurants or cafes where I couldn’t control what food was around me, when I needed to be aware of my surroundings.

Whenever I did manage to look up, though, my eyes were immediately drawn across the table to Callum’s, and without fail, he was already watching me.

Sometimes he looked curious; other times he looked guilty. A few times there was sadness. Overriding all of that, though, wasanger and annoyance. He kept his responses to questions, single words, or a variety of grunts, and a constant frown marred his beautiful face.

The easy-going, smiling, cheerful man that I’d first met earlier that day was long gone, and it was obviously all my fault.

By the end of the meal, I was a miserable and anxious mess.

As soon as he was able to, Callum left the table, muttering under his breath as he went.

My shoulders sagged as I looked to my left at where Dad was sitting.

He patted my hand that was toying with a teaspoon. “Don’t worry, Joey. He’ll come around.”

“I don’t even know what I did wrong,” I muttered sadly. “How can I fix what’s broken if I don’t know what needs fixing?”

Dad exchanged glances with Erin but said nothing, just patted my hand again.

I sighed in resignation. “May I be excused, please?” If I was going to be miserable, I could at least be miserable in the comfort of my own room.

“Of course you can, sweetie,” Erin said with a small smile. “Things will be better tomorrow. I promise.”

“Okay,” I said quietly as I pushed back from the table. “See you both in the morning.”

Erin hugged me and kissed me goodnight on the forehead before Dad said goodnight. I wandered slowly up the staircase and disappeared into my room, shutting the door quietly behind me.

A night in front of the TV watching art-house French romances and stuffing myself full of chocolate seemed the best idea in the world right now.

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