Page 23 of The Fall
“Looks like somebody missed you,” Blair says, nudging me with his elbow.
Hayes groans. “She’ll doanythingif I say Torey says it’s super cool. Like eating green beans. Super cool, right, Torey?”
How did this happen? “Right. Green beans are the best.”
Lily wriggles. I get her on her feet, and then Lily does what any little girl would do: she pulls out a Nerf gun hidden on a kitchen chair and fires a dart at my chest. “Gotcha!”
She’s on the move fast, barreling away, holding her Nerf gun high over her head in both hands and belting out a scream. She’s a toddler war party of one.
Hayes lets out the long-suffering exhale of a man who’s been here many times before and reaches across the kitchen counter for another Nerf gun that he hands to me. This one is identical to the one Lily’s brandishing, bright blue and orange with a menacing-looking orange tip. “You know the drill.”
I do?
Three successive stings on my shoulder jolt me out of my daze. I whip around, spy Lily peeking around the end of the living room sofa. She squeals, fires another dart at me, and then scampers deeper into the house.
“Go get her.” Blair gives me a gentle push.
The house is a blur as I chase after Lily. Everything is familiar and not. I duck around a potted palm. Hayes’s house is stored somewhere deep in my muscle memory, even though I can’t remember rushing through these rooms with a Nerf gun in my hand. I have, though. That much is clear. I can practically map the thunder of her tiny feet. I know immediately where she is, where she’s going to run next.
It’s disconcerting, this sense of familiarity without any actual memory. I round a corner, knowing I’m about to face a hallway, spare bedrooms, Hayes’s home gym.
A flash of movement to my left. I pivot, fire off a dart that narrowly misses Lily streaking across the front hall.
Her laughter peals through the downstairs. I chase her through a sun-drenched dining room. The furniture blurs, déjà vu in three dimensions. Nerf darts fly.
There’s a shortcut here, a way I can cut her off. I crawl around the table, waiting, listening for the pitter-patter of her bare feet. Closer… closer…
There. “Gotcha!” I crow, rolling out from under the table and firing off a volley of foam darts. They pepper her back as she shrieks before she spins and runs the other way.
We trade shots and near misses in and out of the downstairs rooms. Family photos on the walls catch my eye—Hayes and his wife, Lily as a baby, the Mutineers on the ice and off, and there, unexpectedly, Blair and me. Our arms are around each other and we’re grinning at the camera. We look like we’re alone. I haven’t seen any photos of us looking couple-y around anyone else. I still wonder—are we or aren’t we out?
Lily’s battle shriek sounds from behind me. I whirl and end up face-to-face with my pint-sized adversary.
“Truce?” she offers, lowering her weapon.
“Truce,” I agree.
Of course, there’s no truce. As soon as I lower my Nerf, she blasts me.
Lily’s fast, but I’m faster. I catch her in the living room, swoop her up into my arms, and tickle her until she’s breathless.
After that, she seems to decide that her victory is complete and the Nerf war has ended. She drops her gun and takes my hand. “Come on, Mom said we could swim before dinner.”
I let myself be led. The glass sliders to the patio are already open, and she marches me out into the warm Florida evening.
The backyard is beautiful, with a pool, a dock over the canal, and a grill set up near the water. Soft waves lap against the pilings. Music plays, and laughter skirts on the fading twilight. Everything glitters, lit up with strings of twinkling lights and the last of the setting sun. The pool reflects shades of orange and peach and tangled lilac.
Hayes and Erin are at the grill, and Blair is lounging close by in a deck chair, deep in conversation with Hayes. Blair’s gaze meets mine, and he breaks into a huge smile. Hayes looks over his shoulder, spots me, and smothers a grin.
“All right, munchkin,” Hayes calls to Lily. “One quick dip before we eat. And no splashing the adults this time!”
Lily stops to slide her swim floaties onto her arms, then jumps into the shallow end of the pool. I slip off my flip-flops and stand at the pool’s edge, kicking my feet in the water. Lily breaks the surface and searches immediately for her audience. Found, she splashes over to me.
“Torey, watch this!” She kicks her tiny feet furiously, dog-paddling across the shallow end, splashing the backs of Hayes’s legs. Blair, wisely, scoots clear of the blast radius.
“Lily!” Hayes brandishes his grill spatula at her.
She laughs and laughs.
