Page 73 of Other Side Of Never
That day, the sun beat down mercilessly and the line-ups for drinks and ice cream were ridiculous.We’d already been waiting for twenty minutes when Alan tugged on my sleeve.
“Bridge, can we go on the paddle boats?”
Keith’s face lit up with interest, the first he’d shown since we’d arrived.
I shaded my eyes against the sun and looked in the direction they were pointing.“Are you tall enough?We can go after we get ice cream.”I dipped down to talk to Jakey.“Do you want to go on the paddle boats?”
He shook his head, stepping slightly behind me.
Keith snorted.“We’re old enough to go on our own, Bridge.”
I hesitated, then looked at Alan, the younger of the two.“You’ll behave?Follow the rules?”
Keith put his brother in a headlock.“We’ll be fine.”
As he started down the path to the paddleboats, Alan’s neck under his arm, I called after them, “Be good!Listen!”
Keith waved a hand over his head in a dismissive manner that reminded me far too much of his father.
Biting my lip, I looked down at Jakey.“You want to go watch them?”
He smiled and nodded his head, swinging my hand back and forth between us.
We were edging closer to the front of the line.Could I trust those two to behave for ten minutes without me?
Once again, I shaded my eyes with my hand.As soon as I spied Keith and Alan standing sedately, or as sedately as those two could get, in line, my shoulders relaxed.
“Your big brothers are a bit crazy sometimes, hm?”
“Sometimes.”He paused.“Sometimes they’re nice and let me play with them.”
My eyebrows went up.“Yeah?That’s good, what do you play?”
Jakey told me about the video games they played as I ordered, none of which sounded appropriate for a seven-year-old boy, but I held my tongue.
And took my eye off the ball.
I whipped my head around at the sound of high-pitched, furious shouting.
The woman at the paddleboats was gesturing and waving at the water.I followed her line of sight to find Keith and Alan in two separate paddleboats.”
Kian’s voice brought me back to the present.“Oh no,” Kian breathed, rubbing a big hand over my back.“Tell me they didn’t turn it into a game of bumper cars.”
“They did.”
He chuckled.
“It’s not funny,” I snapped, pushing his chest back.“The park called security on them and the woman in charge of the paddleboats was screaming at me.I ran to the side and ordered the boys to come to the dock.”My teeth chattered.“They just laughed and everything escalated so quickly.Jakey was always sensitive.The chaos was too much for him and he hid.”
“You couldn’t find him,” Kian surmised, loosening his hold on me.
I shook my head.“I couldn’t find him.”My hands began to shake.I gripped his arms.“I thought someone had taken him.”
Kian wrapped his arms around me tightly.“I’m sorry your ex made you doubt yourself.You would have been a wonderful mother to them.I know because I see how you are with Isaiah.They were lucky to have you.”
“They jumped off and swam for the dock when they realized Jakey was missing.”
“Aw, fuck,” Kian muttered.
