Page 29 of Winning Brynn

"Yeah," I say through a grin. "She told me. Celine Dion went on a murderous rampage with a parsnip."

"She hasn't had that one in a while. Though, usually, it's Mariah Carey trying to kill her." He snorts, and God forgive me, but I laugh too.

It doesn't last long, though. Despite how ridiculous her nightmares may be, I can't help but feel a twinge of concern for her. In hindsight, they're funny—hilarious, actually—but I saw how terrified she was while it was happening, and that's not nice for anyone to experience, especially not regularly.

And the fact that she has stopped taking her medication because she has started looking after Salem isn’t sitting well with me either.

"Why does she have them?" I ask.

Alex shrugs. "She has an overactive imagination."

"But like, why? Because it doesn't make sense to me that a woman who acts like a unicorn on E would have chronic night terrors."

He rubs the back of his neck thoughtfully then rounds me with a look that is so earnest I can't help but match it with one of my own. “I’ve always kinda thought that since she is sunshine throughout the day, the rain has to fall at night.”

“Wow, man.” I laugh to ease the tension in my chest. “That’s some poetic shit. You been smoking the funny stuff?”

“Not during the soccer season. I’m trying to make the World Cup team,” he says while aggressively drying his dick with a towel. “But I’ve been listening to a mindfulness podcast recently, and I’m learning a lot.”

“Clearly.”

I turn my back on him, leaving him to continue scrubbing at his groin, but I can't stop thinking about how the Brynn I know doesn't match up to the Brynn whose sleep is so fraught with fear. She's confident almost to the point of being obnoxious, blasé, and air-headed. And sure, a person with all those traits can also have nightmares. It's just that I’ve never taken a moment to think that she might have more layers to her than the ones I can see. Though, arguably, having a dream about out-singing the queen of power ballads at her own song fits everything I've always thought of Brynn and is, actually, borderline narcissistic.

But I digress.

My point is, I may not know everything there is to know about Brynn Wolfe.

Because even without the nightmares, the version of her I've seen with my daughter contradicts every assumption of her that I've made. She's been attentive, warm, and gentle. She's so good with Salem, in fact, that I struggle to believe she doesn't have more previous childcare experience than just volunteering at a kindergarten one time in school.

And it leads me to the highly irritating realization that I may have been wrong about her.

It isn't often I admit that I could be wrong about something. But I'm starting to think that this time, I may not have much of a choice.

Text thread between Leo and Alex

Leo:Hey, man. You up?

Alex:It's two-thirty in the morning on a Wednesday. What the fuck do you want?

Leo:Brynn is having a nightmare again.

Leo:I don't know what to do.

Alex:Not much you can do, bro. Just wait until it passes, I guess.

Leo:Should I sit with her? She seemed to calm down when I held her last night.

Leo:...

Leo:You still there?

Alex:Sorry, just trying not to freak out that you held my sister.

Leo:Jesus Christ.

Alex:It feels predatory.

Leo:She didn't even know I was there.

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