AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Mom lifted her brows and said, “Have fun with that.”
I merely laughed and concentrated on getting Little belted into her booster seat I had set up for her in the back.
I’d been a month shy of turning sixteen when she’d been born. She’d come along seven years after Hayes had been gone, and not a day went by that I wasn’t thankful for the Shirley Temple-looking nugget of joy. She’d been like a little ray of sunshine after years of darkness for our family.
“So who’re we playing today?” I asked Brey as soon as I was behind the wheel and restarting the engine.
“The Bear Cubs,” she answered impatiently before asking, “Can you hurry? Coach’ll bench me if I’m late, and I’m supposed to start today.”
“Really?” Eyebrows shooting up in mock shock as I pulled us away from the curb, I said, “Well, in that case...”
I gunned the engine, just to make her happy.
From the back, Little squealed in joy and lifted her hands as if she was on a roller coaster, and the eleven-year-old in the passenger seat finally gifted me with her first smile of the day.
“Don’t the Bear Cubs have that bully who pushed you down and called you a horse face the last time you played them?”
Her jaw tightened as she stared straight ahead. “Yes, they do.”
“You ready to take her down in this game?” I asked.
Reaching up to tighten her ponytail, Brey nodded with fire in her eyes. “Oh, yeah.”
“That’s my girl,” I congratulated her with a grin and held out a fist for her to bump.
While from the back, Little asked, “What’s a horse face?”
“It’s a mean thing you call someone when you think they’re ugly.”
Little gasped. “But Brey ain’t ugly.”
“Iknow,” I said with a nod. “That girl was a liarandmean. Can you believe there are actually people like that in the world?”
“It makes no sense,” Little agreed with a disappointed shake of the head, repeating a quote our mom liked to use.
With a snicker, I glanced across the cab of the truck toward Brey, who glanced back. And together, the two of us broke out laughing.
* * *
So my middlesister was much happier and calmer by the time we made it to her soccer tournament.
And even though everyone else had already arrived by the time we got there, she was still a couple of minutes early.
Jogging off to meet up with her team, she waved goodbye, and I called, “Good luck,” before I turned my attention to Little.
“Alright, kiddo. Looks like it’s just you and me now. Want to ride on my shoulders?”
“Yeah!”
That was one of her favorite pastimes, and I knew there would be no bleacher for us to sit on for the hour-or-so-long game, so I hoisted her up, and off we went to find a place to stand with the rest of the spectators.
If I’d had enough foresight, I would’ve brought some camping chairs like most of the other parents had. But we made do.
Little wanted down about as soon as we posted ourselves along the sidelines so she could run amok, which gave my neck and shoulders a break, but it didn’t take long for her to come racing back to me, wanting a hot dog.
The game had just started and Brey had the ball, so I set a hand on Little’s head until the play was over.
Then I cheered my support before crouching down to Little’s level and unzipping the top of her unicorn backpack to fish inside. “How about we see what Mom packed in your bag?”
