Page 87 of Here and Now
“Go ahead.”
He rushes out and Quinn looks to me. “He reminds me so much of you.”
“Me?”
“Yeah, you loved games and I freaking hated them. Gabriel is the same. All he wants is to play that one building-a-world game online or watch people on the internet do it. Which is a whole other level of confusion for me.”
I laugh softly. “Yeah, I don’t know how that became a thing. Kai likes to watch them play, almost more than I think he likes to play.”
It honestly confuses me. What is fun about watching someone build a world when you could do it yourself? What’s even more confounding is some of these people are making a fortune. While I’m just making coffee.
“Kids are weird.”
“I’m glad we weren’t like that.”
Quinn scoffs. “Dad would’ve kicked our asses right outside.”
“He didn’t need to. We wanted to be outside from the minute we woke up.”
It was a different time. I know this, but truly we longed to be outside playing with our friends. Quinn and I would scarf down our breakfast and be out the front door before we finished chewing.
Now it’s like pulling teeth to get Kai to play out back.
To be fair, there’s not much to do as an only child. I had the luxury of a brother who had no shortage of ways to find trouble.
“Well, I’m glad you came to say hi.”
He pulls me against his side. “Me too.”
We head into the open kitchen area, and my brother looks around. “Were you expecting someone?”
“Huh?” I ask, surprise in my voice.
He tilts his head toward the table. “You have three place settings.”
“Yeah,” I say quickly. “He’s a neighbor and ... umm ... Kai’s hockey coach. He was going to come by.”
Quinn, who doesn’t miss a damn thing, crosses his arms over his chest. “He?”
“It’s not what you think.”
“What do I think?”
That this is a date, which it’s not. It’s just a coincidence.
I’m such a liar. It’s totally a date.
“I’m not dating anyone. I’m not going to make the same mistakes,” I explain.
My brother steps forward, his arms dropping. “Whoa, whoa, Penelope, slow down there. Way to jump to conclusions.”
“I’m not. I’m just saying that I don’t want to relive history. I’m not going to put myself or Kai in that situation again.”
“That’s not what I was thinking. I don’t think you’re stupid orgoing to be in a worse-off situation. I think you’re brave and strong to have called me and let us get you out of the position you were in. I think you’re an incredible mother who has literally sacrificed everything just to keep Kai safe. If you want to date, you should.”
I shake my head. “And what? Where does it go? How do I explain any of it?”
He sighs. “I don’t know, but we put you in Ember Falls because it’s safe. I’ve gone over every lead, trail, anything that could lead anyone here, and it doesn’t exist. Our communications and cyber guys do constant checks and leave bad intel just in case his people were to find anything. You’re safe here, Penelope.”
