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Her twin sister, Daisy.
Multiples run in the family.
“Hey, Coach Novak,” I greet her husband while she targets the car seat in the back.
Hunter Novak steps onto the grass, followed closely by their daughter, Violet. She wears black from head-to-toe, her caramel-colored locks tumbling over one shoulder; the antithesis to Dana in nearly every way, but that hasn’t stopped them from being friends their entire lives.
“Hey, cuz,” Ben says to Violet.
She bobs her chin, barely glancing up from her phone. “Yo.”
“Hey, Connor,” Hunter says to me. I raise the ball, offering to throw it, but he waves a hand, declining the pass. Football isn’t his game. “Are we late?”
I shake my head. “Nah. Still waiting on Coach.”
“See?” Daisy says as she guides Aster out of his car seat. “I told you we weren’t late.”
“Hey, you’re family,” I say. “And family can never be late, as my mom says.”
“See?” she says to Hunter again before smiling at me. “Thank you, Connor.”
Aster detaches from her as soon as he can and races toward us on the lawn. Alex takes a knee to scoop him up onto his shoulders, filling the neighborhood with infectious laughter only a six-year-old can provide. Aster beams. A child amongst giants.
“Would you look at that?” Ben pokes Aster's belly. “Another few years and you’ll be taller than Morgan here.”
I don’t laugh.
“They used to tell me I was short, too,” Hunter says to me as they chuckle on. “It doesn’t matter as much as you’d think.”
I smile, trusting his word. Hunter Novak is one of the greatest baseball players of his generation. I can probably take his word for it. “Thanks,” I say.
“Anything I can say to convince you to tryout for baseball instead?” he asks, only slightly kidding. “We could use your speed.”
I laugh. “Sorry. Pigskin is in my blood.”
He shrugs. “Fair enough.”
“Violet!”
I instantly look at the porch. Dana is back, waving at Violet as she hops down the porch stairs. Violet abandons us and rushes toward her with open arms. They greet each other as if they haven’t seen one another in months, but I know they’ve spent almost the entire summer together along with my older sister, Courtney.
I point over my shoulder. “Dads are at the grill, Coach.”
He nods and starts that way as Daisy follows Violet inside.
“Hey, Dana,” I say.
She hangs back. I toss her the football, a light and casual throw. She startles, only for a second, before catching it with two capable hands.
“You think I’ll be scout quarterback, right?” I ask her. “My dad has three championship rings. I gotta have it in me somewhere.”
Dana considers for a moment. “Well, mine has four, so…” That cruel Kirby smirk. “If that’s the metric we’re going by, then I have a better chance than you do, Heartbreaker.”
Oof.
She throws the ball back to me. I let gravity plop it against my chest as she spins in her sandals and walks back inside, leaving her brothers to shred me with laughter.
Et tu, Dana?
