Page 131 of Only Between Us

“You don’t need to worry about that.” I nudge her chin, loving the dreamy look on her face and the fact that I was the one to put it there. “Is it the right one?”

Siena reaches past the dock, runs her fingers over the sailboat’s spotless surface as though confirming it’s really there. “It’s her.”

“Good.” I reach into the back pocket of my shorts and pull out a sheet of paper that I press against the swaying side of the boat. I hand her a pen. “Sign this.”

Siena stares at the sheet uncomprehendingly. Then, with an audible intake of air, she turns her wide eyes on me.

“Brooks.”

“Sign it.”

“We’re not doing this again.”

“Sign.”

“Brooks, you arenotbuying this boat.”

“Already did.” I take her hand and guide it to the line at the bottom of the ownership papers. “And I’d rather it belong to you.”

She stares in disbelief. “How?”

“I’m very persuasive when it comes to getting you what you want.” I hold her arm out, pen poised over the final page of the contract. After another shocked moment, Siena signs it. Her signature comes out choppy from the waves and maybe her shaking hand, but it still counts. I fold the page and tuck it back into my pocket. “Good. We get to sail it today, then I’ve arranged for it to get sent to Baycrest. Carla has a spot waiting at the marina.”

Unless you agree to stay here with me, boat included.

Siena splutters a half laugh, half gasp. Her cheeks are pink. Eyes wide. “Brooks, you’re insane. You’ve lost your damn mind.”

“Yes.” I shrug. “You’re only realizing this now?”

“How big is Pete now?”

Leo, my six-year-old nephew, lies flat on his back on the checkered rug spanning my parents’ living room. He stares thoughtfully at the ceiling as though contemplating the meaning of his short life.

Or maybe how it is Mom manages to get these brownies to taste so goddamn good.

I stare at the half-gone piece in my hand. Seriously, they look like just any other brownie. Though cut into squares rivaling the size of my hand, which is oversized to start with.

But how does she get them solight? Gooey. Fucking perfection.

I’ve followed her recipe to a tee multiple times, and could never replicate it.

“You saw Pete only six months ago, Lee.” My sister, Josie, spreads out on the couch I’m leaning against, her foot hanging off the edge and landing on my shoulder. She throws an arm over her eyes, the physical manifestation of my stuffed insides after the feast Mom and Dad served.

The food is still spread around us in the living room, covering thecoffee table and multiple folding side tables. The Attwoods don’t do dinner tables. Never have.

We’re thepile into the living room with plates on our lapskind. On the sofas, on the floor. Music pounding in the background and even louder voices as we talk over each other, until we eat ourselves into comas like we have today. With Josie and her husband, Colton, on the couch behind me. Me propped up on the floor next to Leo. Mom curled up on Dad’s lap in an armchair.

“Oh, Pete is huge now. Ginormous.”

Leo pops his head off the ground to stare wide-eyed at Siena, who sits on the ground across from me, legs tangling with mine.

She’s grinning at my nephew, nodding in earnest. “Huge. Like, T. rex big. The floor shakes when he moves around the house.”

“Woah,” Leo whispers. “T. rex?”

“T. rex.” Siena shifts onto her knees, crawls ominously toward Leo. Making this growling sound from inside her throat.

She’s bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked. There’s a golden glow to her skin after today’s boat ride, and a whole new set of freckles dot her face. She’s sun-kissed perfection as she wiggles her fingers threateningly over Leo, who’s already laughing hysterically even though she hasn’t laid a single tickle on him yet.

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