“Yup!” I answered for both of us. “But you have to sleep super good and take care of your sister, all right?”
“I’m protecting her from the monsters,” he announced as he puffed out his skinny chest. “They’re scared of my roar.”
“We’re all scared of your roar.” Colby nodded seriously. “It’s so loud!”
He opened his mouth.
I covered it quickly. “Remember, Sister’s sleeping.”
“Oh, sorry, forgot.” He gave me a sly grin. Lies, all the lies. Damn, I loved this kid.
“Bed,” Colby said in a stern voice. “And dream of chocolate.”
“Like chocolate fountains?” he asked. “And chocolate bathtubs?” He giggled at his own joke.
“Yes,” I said as I tucked him back in and kissed him on the forehead.
Colby kissed both kids as well.
Ben yawned. “’K, happy chocolate dreams!”
“Happy chocolate dreams,” Colby whispered.
“Happy chocolate dreams,” I echoed.
And then we were back in the hall.
The mood shifted from loving and teasing to tense as hell.
“See ya in the morning.” I gave her an awkward pat on the shoulder. “And try not to burn the pancakes.”
“Says the man who burned the waffles last Sunday when the Hawks were playing?”
“The game was on,” I pointed out, still annoyed that she’d spent nearly every Sunday with us since she and Monica bonded during childhood. Family day was just that. For family. And yet Colby was always there. Always.
“Uh-huh.” She shrugged and winked. “See you in the morning.”
“Yup.” I turned around and absolutely did not look back over my shoulder to see if she was watching me, just like I didn’t lie in bed for the next hour tossing and turning and wondering what had set us off on opposing sides in the first place. I mean, apart from the mess of her life, which drove me completely batshit crazy, it’s not that she wasn’t likable, or nice.
Part of me wondered if the issue was that I’d been responsible for Monica since our parents died. And up until she’d met Colby, the two of us had been enough. We were family. Our only family. And family meant everything to me. But then came Colby, and then Brooks and Monica got together and had a family of their own. Where did that leave me?
I wanted what Brooks and Monica had. I’d always wanted it. A normal life where I came home to my wife and kids. Stability. A dog. All the things Colby sneered at with her stupid jet-setting who-knows-where-life-will-take-me attitude.
I turned on my side and stared at the wall.
She was probably on her phone like always, wishing she were somewhere else, when there was nowhere else I would rather be.