Chapter 23
Hunter keeps his promise, destroying the Panthers with three touchdown passes—all caught by Shawn, incidentally—and two end zone runs that leave the score at 35–13. And considering three of the touchdowns were scored in the last quarter, it was a closer game than it sounds. One that had Brent and me on the edge of our seats, while Lucy spent most of the game changing her Barbie’s outfit. And cheering when the TVs in the corners of the room showed her uncle’s face.
The family suite clears out slowly after the game, the people in it waiting for their husbands/boyfriends/fathers/brothers to make it out of the locker room. Brent, Lucy and I spend the time curled up on big chairs in the corner of the room, playing a bastardized version of twenty questions. While we talk, I braid Lucy’s hair, as promised.
“Favorite color?” Lucy asks, bouncing up and down in her seat. It makes doing her braid a challenge, but I do my best.
“Easy,” Brent says. “Red.”
I start to say “blue,” because I love how many variations there are of the color. But, at the last second I change it to, “Green,” though I’m not sure why.
But Lucy nods sagely. “Just like Uncle Hunter’s eyes,” she says. “I get it.”
I have nothing to say to that, especially since there’s a part of me that thinks she might be right. “What about you?” I ask instead. “What’s your favorite color?”
“Pink,” she and Brent answer at the same time.
“Okay, my turn,” he says. “Favorite movie?”
“Moana!” Lucy shouts, once again bouncing up and down.
“Ooooh, good one,” I tell her. “I think…Dirty Dancing is mine.”
Brent makes a gagging noise. “What is it about girls and love? I just don’t get it.”
“Yeah, well, I’m not going to be the one to explain it to you,” I tell him as I peel the hairband off my wrist and wrap it around the end of Lucy’s French braid. “Besides, you haven’t told us your favorite movie yet.”
“The Avengers. Or maybe Avengers: Age of Ultron. They’re both wicked cool.”
“They really are,” I agree. “And since it’s my question, I’m going to go off of your answer. Favorite superhero?”
“Oh no!” Lucy says, face frozen in horror. “You didn’t really ask that, did you?”
“I’m sorry,” I apologize, tho
ugh I’m not really sure what for. “Is that a bad question?”
“No!” Brent all but shouts.
“Yes!” Lucy cries at the exact same time. “We’ll be here forever now.”
“No, we won’t!” Brent says. “But it depends what universe you’re talking about.”
“What universe?” I’m baffled, considering I thought we were talking about our universe. Not to mention, I thought I was throwing out a pretty easy question.
“Yeah. If we’re in the DC universe, definitely Batman. But if we’re in Marvel, I’m going to say Black Panther. It used to be Ironman, because Tony Stark, obviously. But Black Panther is almost as cool even though he doesn’t have the kind of money Ironman does. So I say Black Panther. Although, if you go with the Marvel movie universe, then I’m a Coulson fan, even though he’s not technically a superhero. In fact—”
“This is what I meant when I said we’ll be here forever.” Lucy sounds—and looks—like an annoyed thirteen-year-old girl. The only thing missing are the exaggerated eye rolls, and it’s all I can do to keep from cracking up.
“Well, who would you choose?” Brent asks impatiently.
She looks at him like he’s an idiot. “Thor, obviously. He’s so pretty.”
And that’s when I lose it, because…yes. Just yes. I was going to say Wonder Woman myself, but Lucy is totally right. Thor is so pretty.
Before I can back her up, though, I glance up and realize Hunter is standing there—arms folded over his chest and a huge grin on his face—watching us.
“Are you done already?” Lucy asks when she sees him, and she sounds so disappointed I can’t help smiling, too. Any more than I can help the warmth that starts spreading inside of me. She is absolutely adorable and so is her older brother. No wonder Hunter is so close to them.