Page 5 of Small-Town Secrets
I gave him a shrug. "I'm not looking." Even though my brother didn't know it—no one really did—I'd just come out of a long-term relationship only a few months ago.
My brother shook his head at me. "You need to get out more." His expression turned thoughtful. "Some of the kids in Maddie's karate class have single parents."
I sighed. “You know I’m not looking to date right now.”
“Are you ever?” My brother looked downright exasperated to me now. “You know you can’t spend your whole life alone with your dog, right?”
“Who says I can’t?” I shot back, if only to tease my brother. Seriously, though, Sarge was the best companion anyone could ask for.
I couldn’t deny, though, that my house did feel empty at times. It was just way too big for one person.
Maybe I did need to get out more, but if I admitted that to my brother, he would never let the topic go.
As it was, Marvin deflated before me. “Please do this for me? It would only be for a month or two and I’d owe you forever. C’mon, bro, we’re family. Don’t leave me hanging.”
He would owe me forever? That was something to think about. I raised a finger. “One condition.”
“What’s that?”
“You’re never getting another dog.” My niece had wanted a dog when she was four—and what Maddie wanted, she generally got.
Only then her parents had been completely incapable of taking care of the rambunctious Labrador puppy. Eventually they’d come to the end of their rope and Marvin had come to beg me to rehome the poor thing, which had resulted in tears all around. If I could save another dog from that fate…
My brother hesitated only for a moment before saying, "Deal." He offered me his hand and we shook on it.
I'd had no idea, of course, what children other than my niece I'd meet in the gym of Oceanport Elementary school.
3
Laurence
It was Saturday, but that didn't mean that I had a relaxing day ahead of me. In fact, the weekends were probably more stressful than the weekdays. Monday through Friday, I worked at the only flower shop in town. Saturday and Sunday, though, I was home with my kids—and raising twins was a lot less peaceful than growing flowers.
Living with my cousin didn’t make matters easier either. Gregory still considered me his live-in housekeeper. Never mind that Istillhad to pay him rent. Not as much as I would have had to pay other places, but it wasn't negligible amount.
So of course I was pissed when I was done vacuuming the whole house and he immediately harped on me to clean the windows.
"The windows don't evenneedcleaning," I pointed out, stowing the vacuum back in the closet next to the room I shared with my children.
"Of course they do!" Gregory insisted, squaring his shoulders.
"I did them last week." Besides, I didn't have time to worry about the windows now. I'd promised Chris and Tyler that I would take them out to the park. My little bundles of energy went stir crazy when they were cooped up in the house and then sooner or later, something would break. It was even worse now that their karate lessons had been canceled and they were getting less exercise.
"The windows need to be cleaned a lot because your children always press their snot noses to the glass."
“But that’s just what childrendo.”
"I let you live here because you said you'd clean up after your children." A small pout showed on Gregory's lips. He obviously hadn't expected me to show resistance.
"Iamcleaning up after my children, but you have to understand that it's like shoveling snow in winter. There's always going to be more and you can't keep your whole property snow-free. You focus on the bits that are crucial. The windows aren't crucial right now."
My cousin didn't seem to know what to say. He only nodded and turned around. "Well okay then. But be sure to do it later!" he grumbled as he walked away.
With a small sigh, I watched him go. Gregory was never going to change, but I didn't need him to. I only needed him to back off and let me do my thing.
When I went downstairs, I found my children in the living room. Chris sat in a corner with his favorite toy—an old Gameboy with Super Mario on it that had been donated to the omega shelter while we were living there. The other kids got frustrated with it because it would randomly shut off on its own, but Chris could lose hours playing on that thing, so they'd let him keep it when we moved out.
Tyler, on the other hand, couldn't be bothered to look at the Gameboy. He liked things to be a little more colorful and flashy. Heespeciallyliked Gregory's tablet, which I'd told hima thousand timeshe wasn't allowed to touch. So of course, I found him lounging on the couch with the shiny device in his lap.
