Page 116 of Ricochet

Every time the ball strayed her way, her heart skipped beats, and she was sure multiple years were shaved off her life. Then the ball rolled between two trees. Clearly, it was agoal for the younger of the two brothers, and the little guy’s happy dance was cute.

“No way! That’s a foul ball!” The older kid stomped over. “That’s out.”

Adelia’s lip curled.What the hell? Not fair.

The little kid wasn’t taking his brother’s cheating and stomped back. Silently, Adelia cheered for the underdog, and the little argument devolved into shouting—then pushing. But the littleone wasn’t as scrawny as he looked. He gave as good as he took, and the next thing Adelia knew, both boys were on the ground, rolling around, and she panicked that they’d see her hiding—the deck door flew open above her.

“Boys!” A mother’s voice snapped. “Cut. It. Out.”

Both kids hit their feet so fast Adelia snort-laughed.

“Dust yourselves off.”

Their little hands brushed side to side ontheir knees and moved to their bottoms then up to their elbows and backs.

“Now shake it out,” the mom ordered.

The two little dudes shook hands, and not a slam of the back door later, they were back to kicking the soccer ball as though there hadn’t been a brawl. The mom wasn’t that concerned, and the kids had moved on. It was very Mayhem-like, but it stayed with her as she watched them play.That was life with a normal family? Little kids fought and got over it… Big brothers pushed buttons, little brothers tested their big ones, and—

“Goal!” The big brother ran circles around his little brother, but it was the ball that had gone through the same trees as before that caught Adelia’s eye as the little kid jumped up and down in excitement.

They were siblings, and they’d worked itout. A longing for that kind of love and acceptance lodged in her chest until Adelia decided to roll from under the deck, not caring if the kids saw her.

They did, and she waved as they stopped to stare at her walking through their backyard.

“What are you doing, lady?” the older brother yelled.

“Heading to call my brother.” She grinned. Javier might be just the person she needed to trust becausethat’s what siblings did. They picked each other up when they were down.

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