Page 10 of Crossing the Brooklyn Briggs
“I never understood how anyone could like something complicated like chemistry,” he replies with a chuckle. “You are inspiring.”
My face heating, I move my focus to the food in my hands, even though I’ve already eaten most of it. If only he knew how wrong he was about my skills. Or lack thereof… “Chemistry is a lot easier than real life,” I mutter, which is true. I’m apparently not good at either. “It has rules. Predictable reactions. There’s precision and order, which is essential to the world functioning how it should.”
He makes a weird face, and I have no idea what it’s supposed to mean. He must sense my confusion because he grins and looks up at me. “The chaos is what makes life interesting,” he says, as if that should be obvious. “The most magical moments are unplanned and unexpected.”
“Maybe for you.” I don’t think I would ever be able to embrace chaos even if I tried. I’ve lived without stability, back when my mom died and my brothers and I were left with a father who couldn’t take care of himself let alone us. Chad was only fifteen, and he did his best to step up, but there were some days when Houston and I weren’t sure what we would have for dinner, if anything. Chaos means hunger and fear and loneliness.
I don’t expect Jordan to understand something like that.
He watches me for a moment before looking at his watch and standing up. “I should probably grab some things from home if I’m going to be here all weekend. Are you going to be okay if I’m gone for an hour?”
I scoff as he disappears into the hallway. “I’ll be fine. I’d be fine even if you didn’t come back.”
But then my ankle throbs, and a wave of dizziness reminds me that I might be concussed, even if I argued that I’m not. The house suddenly feels empty, which makes no sense at all because Jordan has only gone into my room, returning a moment later with my phone. If Houston was in town, I would probably be begging him to come over anyway.
“So, you’ll be back?” I ask, hating how desperate I sound.
Pausing at the door, Jordan looks back and gives me a wide grin that is both familiar and completely new, which makes as much sense as me wanting him to stay. “Sure, Queens.”
Chapter Five
Jordan
When I step into myparents’ house, I’m hit with a wall of shrieks and giggles that makes me smile. Brooklyn’s basement was so quiet, to the point where I started singing to fill the space before I went a little crazy, and this feels a lot more normal. Honestly, anything is better than what I dealt with in California, even if my nieces and nephew can be a bit deafening at times. That silence still haunts me.
“Danny!” When they see me, all three kids abandon the board game they were playing on the living room floor and tackle my legs with repeated shouts of the name only my family calls me.
I make a show of struggling against them, even if the oldest is only six and stick-thin, before collapsing to the ground with an exaggerated groan. “You got me!” Then Mia starts tickling me, and nothing is exaggerated when I burst into laughter and curl into a ball, trying to protect myself from her attack.
I have no idea how she’s so good at finding the sweet spot, but the four-year-old is a tickling fiend.
“Okay!” I gasp, grabbing a kid under each arm and holding them tight. Thankfully, two-year-old Joshua can’t do much yet, or I’d be in trouble because I only have two arms. “Okay, you win! Let me breathe, if you please.” Once I’ve decided I’m safe, I release the girls and hop back up to my feet, my grin fully in place as I head deeper into the living room and lean down to kiss my mom’s cheek. “How are you feeling?”
She smiles, and her brown eyes are brighter than usual today. “Today is a good day,” she says, confirming my suspicions. It’s always a gamble with her chemo treatments. “You’re home early.”
“Not for long.” I crouch in front of her armchair to be at eye level. “I need to help a friend out with something over the weekend. Do you think you’ll be okay if I’m out for a couple of days?”
She pats my cheek with a little more force than necessary. “I don’t need you taking care of me, Danny. You know that.”
“Won’t stop me from doing it.” Especially because she has been looking after my little brother Alejandro’s three kids for the last year while he’s been deployed and his wife is at work. With the cancer on top of things, she’s doing way too much considering the minimal energy she has, and I hate seeing her so tired and rundown. When I only have myself to look after, it makes sense for me to do what I can.
“I see Houston is playing today,” she says, pointing to her phone even though it’s currently locked.
I nod, my grin growing. She’s always been so good about paying attention to my friends and things in my life even when they aren’t directly related to me. “You’re a good mom, you know that?”
“Danny, come play with us!” Hannah puts a hand on her hip and points forcefully at the game, turning her request into a full-on order.
Mom laughs softly. “She’s gotten feistier over the last few months, don’t you think?”
“Too much of Alex in her,” I agree. My brother has always been strong-willed, and the older Alejandro’s kids get, the more I see him in them. Especially Hannah. Standing up, I ruffle Hannah’s hair. “Sorry, kiddo, but I’ve got to go pack a few things.”
“But Joshua doesn’t understand the rules!”
Even now, the toddler is playing with the pieces like they’re people, making them hop around the board with no rhyme or reason. I wish I could stay, but I’m already nervous about leaving Brooklyn alone for an hour. She’ll probably try hopping around the apartment on her own and end up getting even more injured than she already is. She’s too stubborn for her own good. Always has been.
“Maybe you can try playing a game that Josh does understand,” I suggest before heading up to my room and digging an old duffel out of the closet.
You would think, considering I hadn’t lived in this house for almost a decade until I moved back last fall, something would have changed in my room, but my mom is too sentimental. Even when Alejandro and I both moved out, she kept everything exactly as it was, which means my walls are plastered with baseball posters and team trophies, all things I cared about more than I should and couldn’t care less about now. The only baseball I bother with is Houston’s team, and even then it’s mostly Houston that I care about.
