Page 52 of Unbearable

“No.” Nova grabs for the whip cream on the counter beside the ice cream I set out, considering her super heroes carefully. “He’s like Ironman because he has a hole in his chest. But Mommy healed it with her heaven powers when he was hurt and gave us Lenny.”

“Lenny’s pretty special, isn’t she?”

Nova’s face lights up. “She is.”

When he’s finished with the ice cream, Nova and him pour on the toppings and bring the bowls to the table where I’m sitting watching the two of them. Tyler takes a bit of his ice cream and then looks at Nova. “So why are you giving your dad a hard time lately if he’s a super hero.”

Nova rolls her eyes, midbite of her chocolate sundae. “Because he’s making me go to school. I don’t want to go. I want to be a stay at home kid like Uncle Rawley.”

“You don’t want to be like him, Nova,” I add, hoping she never turns out like him. Rawley knows he’s a horrible example, but he claims if you can’t be a good one, be a horrible example of what not to do. His logic, not mine.

GETTING NOVA IN her pajamas before we are set to watchFrozenfor the second time tonight is something else. We’re in her room, digging through her dresser when she strips down to just her panties and I notice the kid has a wrench in her underwear.

“Ollie gave me a wrench,” she says, pulling it out to set on her nightstand.

“Why did you put it in your underwear?”

“Does it look like I had any pockets?” She raises an eyebrow. “I had to put it somewhere.”

She is Red’s kid so I’m not all that surprised by this.

Once dressed in her jammies, her and I go back out into the living room where Tyler is in the fort waiting for us, still fully clothed. I’m glad he’s stayed because he’s made the night so much better. Not that we wouldn’t have had fun without him, but Tyler has a way about him that makes everything more fun.

For nearly two hours, we lay in the fort watchingFrozenand eating popcorn, most of which Tyler throws at me because deep down, he’s still a boy and when you want a girl’s attention, you throw things at her.

“We gotta get her to sleep at some point,” I tell Tyler onceFrozenis over and Nova restarts it again, knowing this kid is never going to go to bed if we’re playing with her. Fuck us for being the cool aunt and uncle who don’t force her to bed at nine. It’s midnight and I can’t understand why she hasn’t passed out. Could have been from all the sugar we gave her.

“This movie’s not very good. What’s with all the singing?” Tyler’s lying against the pillows in the fort, Nova across his lap, his hands combing through her hair trying like hell to make her sleepy. “I have an idea,” he says, nodding to her room and sitting up. “Go grab her bear and blanket she always sleeps with,” he whispers.

I forgot she had a special bear and blanket she refuses to sleep without. When I’m in her room, I hear Tyler turn on some music.

I walk into probably the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen in my life. Tyler slow dancing with Nova as he holds her against his chest and sways in the kitchen. They’re dancing to Chris Stapleton’s “Tennessee Whiskey” and I nearly cry.

Her head is on his shoulder, her eyes blinking slowly like she’s close to sleep and he’s singing softly to her. They continue this for the entire song and when it’s over, Nova’s asleep, just like that.

“How’d you do that?” I whisper, setting her bear on the pillows.

Tyler twists his head to the side after brushing his lips over her forehead. “Do you remember the week Nevaeh died and Red locked himself in his room?”

I nod. I was only sixteen when Nevaeh died but I remember my brother’s pain during those first few weeks like it was yesterday, knowing nothing would ever be the same for him. He was so broken and out of it, I didn’t even recognize him anymore.

His head tilts sideways and his brows knit together as though he’s in pain. “I helped your mom with Nova that week, and the only way I could get her to sleep at night was dancing with her in my arms. And then she’d sleep right on my chest for hours.”

“You’ll make a good dad someday,” I tell him, my hand on his shoulder, rubbing it softly. I wrap Nova’s blanket around her before Tyler lays her on the sea of pillows on the floor.

Tyler nods, setting Nova down but there’s a sadness in his expression that says he’s bothered by something I said. He stares at Nova for a moment and the sadness remains.

Standing, he steps back, his hands buried in the pockets of his jeans. “I should go home.”

“No, you told her you were staying. Don’t bail on a five-year-old.”

It gets him and he sits back down but doesn’t say anything.

Fuck, did I say something to upset him?

When we’re both lying down, I finally ask him, “Why’d you come here tonight?”

“Because you called Wang ugly,” he teases and then breathes in deeply, he takes a moment to think about the question and then says, “I like spending time with you.”

---