Page 20 of Houston, We Have a Problem
“That’s the one.” In fact, O’Donohue came back to the clubhouse after his smoke break sporting a broken nose, which left me wondering what he did during his break. I’m tempted to get maintenance to pull up the security cameras so I can watch. Whoever did that deserves a medal and my profound gratitude because I’ve wanted to punch that guy from the second he told a lewd joke his first day with the team.
It’s probably time to change the subject before I start getting ideas to make that footage go viral. Ideas that include telling Tamlin Park whatever she needs to know to crush his precarious standing to a pulp so I don’t have to deal with his nonsense any longer. She would love that. And maybe it would keep her away from me.
I ask the first thing that comes to mind, catching myself off guard with the question. “What’s the deal with you and Jordan anyway?” Apparently Iambrave enough.
Brook turns bright red, and though she tries her best to look innocent, my sister has never been good at hiding her feelings. “There’s no deal,” she says with an exaggerated shrug. “We’ve just been hanging out.”
“You’ve always hated Jordan,” I point out. It was a source of frustration for me all throughout high school because I could never figure out why she was the one person in the world who didn’t like my best friend. I didn’t know it was even possible to dislike Jordan, but anytime he was around, Brook was sure to be somewhere else unless Jordan found a way to force her to stay. I’m pretty convinced he kept hiding her stuff in my room so she would come looking for it and get roped into some sort of debate with him. If not having lengthy yet heated discussions with my best friend, she was devising some devious prank to pull on him. She’s crafty when she’s out for revenge, and I got targeted just as much as he did even though he was always the instigator.
The two of them were exhausting.
Sighing, Brook curls her blanket tighter around herself like it might protect her from this conversation. “I never hated him. And he’s mellowed out since high school, so he’s a lot less annoying.”
“Otherwise known as you want to date him now?”
She chokes and grabs the remote, mumbling something I don’t even try to decipher. I honestly can’t tell if she’s horrified by the idea of dating Jordan or freaked out by those words coming out of my mouth. Her reaction isn’t all that helpful, so I suppose I should drop the subject for now. As long as they eventually tell me if something is happening between them, I’ll get over the weirdness of it. I just don’t want them to leave me in the dark. I have few enough people in my life as it is.
“What movie are we watching?” I ask, and Brook immediately relaxes.
We used to do these movie nights all the time, especially when Brook and I were in middle school. It was a weekly ritual that got us through our dad’s downward spiral that started when Mom died and stretched on for the next several years until he ended up in prison for domestic abuse related to drug addiction. Brook and I never really knew him much because he and mom divorced when we were toddlers, but he was our only surviving relative when Mom died so the state wanted to keep him in our lives.
I wish they hadn’t. We didn’t need our biological father, but we got to watch him sink further and further into addiction and depression while Chad played the roles of Mom and Dad and took care of us. At least until Micah’s dad, Lloyd, was able to take us in after our dad went to prison.
I know Brook has gone to visit our dad a couple of times—heaven knows why—but I could go the rest of my life without him.
“Hou, did you hear me?”
I blink, and it’s like all the lights turn on around me as I take my first full breath in who knows how long. I turn to Brook, who furrows her brow.
“You were thinking about him, weren’t you?”
I nod. I hate that he’s tainted these movie nights, but especially lately, I seem to think about our dad a lot more than I used to. I’m pretty sure his sentence is up soon, which makes me itchy. He didn’t start off a wreck, but he hit a point where his life fell apart. I’m terrified everything is going to change for me as soon as I no longer have baseball to keep me occupied. What’s going to startmydownward spiral?
“When was the last time you went to see him?”
I glance at Brook but can’t stand to maintain eye contact. “When was the last time we were forced to go?”
“Really? Not even once since high school?”
I shake my head as her soft words settle in my gut, feeling an awful lot like guilt. “Why would I? It’s not like he was ever our dad.”
“Maybe not, but he’s gotten better. A lot of therapy and self-reflection.”
“Good for him.”
Brook watches me for a moment, and then she rubs my arm before grabbing the remote and pulling upThe Sandlot.
I frown. “You hate this movie.”
“But you don’t. It sounds like you need tonight more than I do.”
Sometimes I really hate that she’s a way better sister than I am a brother, but I’m trying. Maybe one of these days I’ll find a way to measure up instead of turning out like my deadbeat dad. “Thanks, Blondie. We can watch one of those dumb period dramas next time.”
She rolls her eyes right before she smacks me full in the face with her pillow.Ow. Seriously, how is she so strong? “They’re sophisticated.”
“They’re boring,” I argue.
“Just because you don’t have a romantic bone in your body.”
