Page 83 of Stick Play

We all head up the stairs, and Dad glances at me as I step into the living room. His worried eyes meet mine and I give a nod to let him know everything is under control. “Hey, Zoe. Want to stay at my place tonight?”

She jumps up. “Yes.” She stops jumping when she sees the others coming in behind me. “Are you my brothers?” she asks as she angles her head, completely confused.

Gina waves toward the sofas. “Please, everyone, have a seat.”

Maria and Elena sit and the boys perch on the arms of the sofa. I move to the loveseat and Gina drops next to me, calling Zoe over to sit on her lap. “Zoe,” she begins. “Lucas and Josh are your half-brothers.” Gina swallows. She’s having a hard time with this and I don’t know how to help.

Zoe slaps her palm to her forehead. “But they’re big. I wished for a baby brother.”

Gina chuckles nervously as the family of four watch us. “But isn’t it awesome to have two big brothers? You can show them Ash’s games room and you can play pool and pinball. I bet they’d love that.”

“You want to play?” she asks and they nod. “How do I have big brothers?”

Gina brushes Zoe’s hair back. “Why don’t we save that story for another time, and instead we can all get to know each other.”

She sits there for a second. “If I get a daddy, will he be their daddy too?”

“It’s complicated,” Gina tells her. “Why don’t we wait and see if it happens first before we answer more questions.”

Satisfied with that, Zoe jumps up. “Do you have a dog? I want a dog.” She shows the boys her wishing stones. “I’ve been wishing for a lot of things, and you can wish for things too. Where do you live? Do you know how to fix a Cadillac?”

“Okay, Zoe.” I rustle the hair on the top of her head. “No more questions for now. Let’s get going before the snow is bad, and then we can all get to know each other over pizza.”

“Pizza, yay?” She starts to jump up and down again, and her resilience still amazes me.

“Not with that fake meat,” Dad says and screws up his face.

“Oh, come on, you liked it,” Gina counters, her features soft again and maybe there’s a part of her that’s both relieved and happy about this situation.

“Do you want to follow us in your car?” I ask Maria.

“Yes, that’s a good idea.” With that, I open the door and they all file outside. The boys run down the stairs, anxious to get to my place, and while I felt helpless through most of this, I can at least help by giving them a place to stay and a safe place to talk.

“Zoe, run and get some clothes packed,” Gina tells her.

“I can’t believe I have brothers,” she mutters as she trots off to get ready and Dad makes his way to the kitchen. I guess he senses that I need to talk to Gina alone.

“Gina,” I begin and pull her into my arms. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. The pictures…” I shake my head. “None of this would have happened if I hadn’t picked Zoe up that night.”

“I think I’m happy it happened. I always knew Zoe had brothers. I never thought she’d ever meet them.” She grins. “Our little family is expanding.”

“It is.”

She shakes her head, her eyes once again filling with tears. “I can’t imagine what Maria is going through, though. How horrible for them all. I never wanted to see any of them hurt by what I did.”

“It wasn’t what you did. It was what her cheating, asshole husband did.” I brush her tears. “But she has you now, so that is going to make everything better.”

She smiles at me. “Thank you.”

“I’m really sorry about the pictures. Keeping a secret was the one thing you asked of me.”

“In the beginning, yes. I didn’t want to complicate things. Then after a while, it wasn’t so much that I was worried about being seen with you, it was that I just…in the back of my mind, I always worried that someday Lucian would change his mind and maybe want to see Zoe or try to take her. It was just a small worry, but a worry, nonetheless. I did tell him I was leaving, and he didn’t ask where, so I didn’t tell him. I guess I just wanted to keep a low profile.”

“You’re not worried about being seen with me, about our relationship getting out there?”

“If our relationship is getting out there.” She pauses to poke my chest. “I think maybe you and I should first figure out what this relationship is.”

I laugh. “You’re right. Will you be my girlfriend, Gina?”

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