Page 16 of Give Me Forever

She didn't reply.

"You've inherited the Maxwell sneaky gene. I'm proud of you."

She gave me a cautious smile. "You are?"

"Obviously. It took us years to hone that, and you’re a natural."

Her smile grew. "Then it means you'll take me to buy some makeup?"

"How about we don't give your dad a reason to skin me alive?"

She winced. "He wouldn't do that."

"No, that's a figure of speech, Paisley." A damn graphic one. Why had I even used it? I wasn't used to being around kids, but I was going to learn and do better from now on.

"Dad says you’re staying for longer this time."

"Yeah."

"So you're not going to leave again?"

"I'm not sure," I admitted.

"We all miss you, you know, and Gran and Great-Gran most of all. Actually, I think everyone misses you, but they’re the only ones who say it out loud. The rest feel like their balls will drop off or something if they admit it."

My eyes widened. "Excuse me?"

She cringed. "Whoops. Don't tell anyone I said that. They still don't know how much I can swear."

"How can you even swear like that?" I spluttered.

"I picked it up."

"From where?"

"Everywhere: school, everyone's conversations when you think I'm not listening."

"Exactly how much are you eavesdropping?" I asked.

"A lot, especially because everyone seems to think I’m still too small to pick up on things. But I know stuff. Girls at my school have boyfriends already."

I looked over my shoulder. "Does your dad know that?"

"No, because he's my dad," she said as if this was the most obnoxious question she'd ever heard. "And no one else does either, but I figured you're the youngest brother. And the coolest."

"Yes," I said tentatively, suspicious of where this conversation was going.

"So, that means you're closest to my age."

By about two decades.I nodded her on.

"You can give me advice."

"On what?"

She rolled her eyes. "Boys."

I was so out of my depth, I didn't have a name for it.

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