Page 42 of Endlessly Yours
“And that’s okay. You can be Alice. I like Alice.”
I looked over at the now cooling eggs on the full plate beside Alice’s and called out to Cameron again.
The not-yet-a-teenager sigh echoed once more, and Cameron stomped her way down the stairs.
“I don’t even like eggs,” she growled as she forced herself into the chair and bit into a piece of toast.
She had loved eggs the day before, so I didn’t know what I was supposed to say then. Looking at Alice, Cameron glared at me.
“Why did you make Alice cry?”
“She didn’t. It was about Mommy.”
“Don’t talk about Mom.”
“Alice is allowed to talk about your parents as much as she wants to. So are you. It’s good for us to.”
“You’re not my therapist.”
“No, I’m your aunt. Your guardian. And at some point, you’re going to have to understand that. That I’m the adult, and you have to stop talking to me like this, Cameron.”
“I’m not talking to you anyway.”
“Stop being a meanie,” Alice added in.
I patted Alice’s shoulder. “Don’t be mean to your sister either. It’s okay. We’re going to find a balance.”
“I don’t want to find a balance. I just want to go home.”
“I know you do, baby. But this is our home now. And I don’t know how to make it better other than telling you I’m here. Okay?”
“I’m not your baby,” Cameron snapped, but she finished her eggs and fruit.
I looked at the clock and realized we were out of time. The bus did pick up at the end of the street, but I was going to drop them off today because I was worried about the two of them. I felt like I wasn’t spending enough time with them or perhaps spending too much time.
They had only spent the night at Alexis’ twice, and I wasn’t sure how the other woman had handled all of those children. But Alice had had a fun time, and Cameron apparently hadn’t acted out.
No, she only saved that for me.
Thankfully, she seemed to be respectful to her teachers, but I wasn’t sure if they were making friends or not.
I was trying to figure it out, trying to figure all of this out. But this wasn’t the life I had signed up for. Everything was falling through my fingers, and I couldn’t keep up.
But I did not have time to wallow. Instead, I put their dishes into the sink as the girls went to brush their teeth one more time, and we headed out.
Since there were boxes in the garage, things I wasn’t sure what to do with, I had parked in the driveway the night before. The girls moved ahead of me as I locked the door behind me, and I froze as Alice ran off to the side.
“Mr. Brooks! Did you see my hair? Aunt Rory did it for me. It’s a braid, just like Mommy did. Do you like it?”
I forced myself to move forward, past the front porch, so I could watch the scene in front of me.
Cameron stood by the car, arms folded in front of her, but there was a blush on her cheeks as she looked up at Brooks. Well, that was going to be something I’d have to deal with later. However, Alice had her new best friend wrapped around her finger.
To the point that Brooks picked her up with one easy movement, saddled her on his hip, and walked towards us.
“The braid looks pretty, Ms. Alice. Your aunt did a good job.” Brooks met my gaze then, and my throat tightened. Memories of exactly what we had done the night before slammed into me, and I told myself that I needed to stop thinking.
I didn’t know what was going to happen next, but wallowing at this moment wasn’t going to help anything, and frankly, the girls saw too much.
