Page 64 of Summer Holiday Lifeline

“You’re not our parent.”

Ouch. And yet again, he wasn’t wrong. He was so close to not needing a parent. Close, but not there yet. And Shelly, obviously, was nowhere near that.

“Like it or not, Jet, I’m going to be her parent for more of her childhood than her mother got to be. And I want to do that right. I wasn’t doing it at all well back in Calgary with no one to support me.”

Jet had sunk back into the couch at an angle that Myles could no longer see his face. He could, however, see his jaw work.

“It wouldn’t have been fair of me to keep leaning on you like I was.”

“I can handle her.” He picked with a thumbnail at the edge of his phone case. “I know how to deal with her.”

Something in Jet’s voice caused Myles to push back further into the couch, root himself better, plant his feet harder in the moment. “I know. You’re awesome with her. She loves you to pieces, and I know you love her. I appreciate everything you do for her, but you’re her brother. Her wellbeing isn’t down to just you, and that’s as it should be. I signed on for this. Literally. You didn’t. While I appreciate your help, you still have your own path to worry about too, and I want you to do that.”

Jet’s throat worked. He jabbed the heel of one hand into his eye.

Myles recognized the gesture. Natalie, as compassionate as she was, never liked to show weakness. She almost never cried in front of Myles. Not when they had been kids, barely at all when their mother had died, and not ever when she’d been sick. She’d passed that stoicism on to her eldest child, and Myles had no better idea how to break through it with Jet than he’d ever had with Nat.

“She isn’t Steven’s problem, either,” Jet snapped.

“No. But he has experience neither of us do. It can’t hurt to pay attention to that, can it?”

“She’s our kid!” Jet pushed himself upright, but kept his back to Myles.

“Jet.” Myles spread one hand over Jet’s taut back.

That Jet didn’t pull away or shrug him off told Myles more than anything Jet might have said out loud. “She’s your sister, not your kid.”

“You know what I mean.”

Myles was afraid he did know, and he didn’t like the implication for Jet. “You do know that no matter what, you and Shelly are my top priority, right?”

“Sure.” But he didn’t sound much like he believed it. Not really.

“Steven’s been helping me figure her out, that’s all.”

“No. You like him.”

“Well, yes. But not more than I like you and Shelly.”

Jet snorted. “Whatever. Don’t worry about it. Shells always has me. Always. I’ll never abandon her.”

“Like I abandoned your mother.”

Jet ignored that statement, clinging to his point like a barbed barnacle. “She needs me.”

“Yes. She does. But you also need to take time to figure out your own life. That’s why I think taking some of Steven’s advice is good for all of us.”

“What advice?”

“His idea of giving us both some free time from her is a good one.”

He did remove himself, ever so slightly, from Myles’s touch at that. “How you plan to do that?”

“On Monday, why don’t you come with me to check out the YMCA? They have a summer day camp I think we can enroll her in. You can check out the programs too. You never know. You might find something that looks interesting.”

Jet swung around to stare at him. “Do I look like a jock to you?”

Myles grinned. “You look like a stiff breeze might blow you over.”