I tickle the Luna box, and she tugs my finger with another giggle. “What can I do?”
Garrison sips his Lightning Bolt! energy drink and gestures to the cardboard boxes labeled The Fourth Degree. Freshly plastic-wrapped comics in each, all extras to replenish shelves or too obscure to take up shelf space.
“I need every comic that has Sorin-X. There are too many issues and spin-offs now. Honestly, I just don’t have time to go through all of them.”
I don’t ask why he needs them yet. I pick myself off the floor. “Moffy, there’s a little Luna in a box—”
“I got her, Mommy.” He goes to the Luna box and plays with his sister. I was in full-on make this sound fun and not like a babysitting chore mode, but he squashed that instantly. To him, I think babysitting is fun.
I pat the dust off my leggings. My baggy Star Wars T-shirt hangs to my thighs. “They’re all in here.” I guide Garrison to The Fourth Degree labeled boxes. “Lo will be here soon, and he might be more help. He’s read every issue about a million times.”
We rip open two boxes and start flipping through the comics, setting aside the ones with Sorin-X. The ones without the comic book character, I try to gingerly slip them back into their plastic covers.
“Are you going to read these?” I wonder.
Garrison places another comic on the pile. “What else would I be doing with them?”
“I don’t know.” I try to narrow my eyes at him and piece apart his motives. “You don’t really read comics, not like Willow.” I point out another fact, “You had no clue who Cypher was when you started working here.”
“Yeah, and none of the employees ever let me forget it.” His lips begin to rise like he misses those days where he worked at Superheroes & Scones. Willow was here back then, and I think she’s the soul of his nostalgia. “I’ve read New Mutants, by the way.”
My giddy smile spreads across my face. “Because of Willow?” Young love. I witnessed their beginning—and much, much more. I don’t think I’ll ever have to witness their end.
It’s not so much a prediction as it is a fact now.
“Yeah, because of Willow.” He tries to shake a comic back into the plastic.
“Which brings everything to Twitter,” I tell him. “Gillow Engagement has been trending all day, did you see?” I remember reading the headlines of articles: Willow Hale Gets Engaged! Check out Loren Hale’s New Brother-In-Law Inside!!
He proposed to her in London, and even though they’d mentioned marriage to one another before, he looked so nervous at dinner. She had no idea we were in the restaurant, and after he dropped to one knee and she said yes, we surprised her by appearing.
There was an abundance of tears and smiles.
Now that he’s back in Philly, Willow stayed at college in London, so they’re still split apart while she’s studying and he’s working. None of us questioned their engagement. Daisy said that when Garrison talks about Willow and when Willow talks about Garrison, they look like they’re smiling up at the moon.
Rose called them love-struck in London.
I think they’ve been love-struck since the first moment they met. Long-distance did nothing but strengthen them.
They’re planning to marry around the time she graduates, but they’re keeping this fact secret from the media. It was too hard to conceal the engagement news with all of us together in London.
I also tell Garrison, “Connor said you both made GBA Entertainment News last night too.” I thought Connor only watched CNN and Bloomberg TV, so it’s possible he just cruised through the channel and caught the Willow and Garrison segment in passing.
“He watches entertainment news?” Garrison says with cinched brows.
“That was my reaction.”
Garrison flips through a comic. “You also forgot about Garlow Engagement and Wilson Engagement.”
All three have been trending. It’s been years and no one can decide their ship name. Willow said she doesn’t want to choose a side with the fans, so she supports all three. Garrison isn’t into ship names like us, but we look past his flaws.
When they had no relation to us, they used to be out of the tabloids completely. Now they’ve made television news, magazine headlines, and even Twitter trends.
“Does all of this bother you?” I wonder. “You and Willow never talk to us about the media presence.”
He shrugs. “Being around you guys, it just comes with the territory, and we both kind of gradually stepped into it.” He tilts a comic upside-down, his brown hair hanging in his eyes.
In all the years I’ve known him, he’s never changed his hairstyle. He did ditch the hoodies though, about the same time he moved into our house and stopped seeing his brothers.
“Lily…can I ask you something?” He peeks over at Moffy to make sure he’s not listening. Moffy climbed into the plushies box with Luna and chatters away, even if she can’t speak much yet.
I smile at them and then nod to Garrison. “Sure.”
“I just…” he trails off and then shakes his head. “Forget it. It’s stupid.” He chucks a comic aside.
“I bet it’s not.” I sidle closer.
He stares down at the comic. “The airport—I don’t want to be mobbed like that when I go to London alone.”
Paparazzi and fans encased us after our flight to Philadelphia landed, coming home from the engagement. With all the children with us—Ryke, Lo, and Connor went into dire protection mode. I’d never seen them all so focused and intent. No yelling. Just intense protect the babies and shove forward.
I think that might’ve been Garrison’s first time in a situation that overcrowded, most of the attention directed on him rather than us.
“I just…I don’t want to be touched like that again.”
A breath locks in my lungs. Fans put their hands on my shoulders and arms, even with bodyguards trying to block them, so I’m sure something similar happened to him.
I ask, “Are you scared to go back to the airport?”
He shrugs and then nods.
“I can ride to the airport with you when you need to go, and there’s this thing we can do.” Sometimes we do it, sometimes we don’t, but I don’t think we’ve ever offered the option to Garrison when he’s alone. “We can drive right up to the private plane and bypass the normal airport entrance.”
“We can do that?” He frowns.
“We’ve done it before. The airport gives us permission because we cause a lot of disruption. It’s safer for us and for everyone else.”
“But it’s just me…I don’t usually fly in a private plane.”
“Yeah but you can take our planes alone. We don’t mind. We’d want you to.”
Garrison is already shaking his head. “It’s too much for just me.”
“Then I’ll send Garth with you. He’s the best.” Garrison already has a bodyguard but two are better than one. “If it’s only you, the crowds won’t be as bad. I know they won’t.”
He nods.
“Have you told Willow?”
“No,” he forces like you don’t tell her either. “If she knew, she’d start flying to Philly to see me instead of the other way around.” He licks his dry lips. “Willow gets anxiety when she’s stuck in the middle of crowds. I know she’d brave it out for me, but…”
“You want to brave this out for her,” I realize.
He nods more firmly. “Yeah.”
Moffy must’ve heard that last part because he shouts, “I think you’re brave, Uncle Garrison!”
Garrison smiles weakly and says to me, “Your kid is funny.”
“Or maybe he’s right.”
Garrison lets out a breath like it’s been sitting on his chest. “So I can take Garth when I fly to London?”
“Without a doubt, no take-backs. Cross my heart.” I remember to make an x motion over my heart, and I also add, “He’s pretty much the family bodyguard, and you’re our family.”
Garrison smiles more. “Thanks. I appreciate
everything, you know?”
I nod again. I know he does. We see it in his eyes all the time. Years ago, he was just a teenager, knocking on the door of Superheroes & Scones and asking for a job that Lo once offered. He almost turned around, but I let him in.
We both let him in our lives, and the good person we saw beneath the layers of hatred and self-loathing emerged.
“So really,” I say as we resume our Sorin-X search, “what are you doing with all of these?”
“I guess I have to ask about it anyway, but you have to promise not to tell the tall one. He’s literally throwing hundreds of thousands of dollars at my face. I’m scared shitless he’ll shut the entire thing down and fire me if he finds out.”
It’s about what he’s been secretly working on for three years at Cobalt Inc. No one really knows what the project is, and Connor gave him five years to execute it, which he said is realistic for someone working alone.
“Cross my heart.” I catch myself making a cross-symbol with my finger instead of an x. I stop midway and just drop my hand. I was doing so well.
Before he spills the news, the storage door cracks open.
Moffy whispers to Luna, “Shhh.” Hidden in the cardboard box, Moffy yanks down a flap.
Lo pockets his keys as he enters, and we instantly lock eyes, the magnetic pull drawing me to my best friend, and Lo urgently reaches me.
“Lily,” he breathes, his hands on my cheeks.
“I’m okay…” He has the prettiest pink lips. Focus. My mind wanders to nefarious places, and I hang onto his belt loops. “We’re okay.”
Lo kisses me lightly but only for a second.
My body warms. I push against him. Melded. My chest up along his. I cling to him like a tree, but he’s holding me back.
While he stares down at me, I steal another kiss. I feel a smile on his lips, but he’s the one who breaks apart. He scans the area, nods to Garrison, and then asks quickly, “Where are our kids?” His edged voice carries a severe amount of panic.
Then the box giggles and laughs.
His alarm depletes, but Loren Hale is not nice. I know what he’s going to do before he does it.
“Moffy?! Luna?!” He layers on fake fear and panic. “Lily, go call 9-1-1 right n—”
“No!” Moffy shrieks with tears in his eyes. He pops out of the box and bolts to Lo as fast as he can. “I’m right here! I’m right here!” He hugs onto Lo’s legs, and Lo crouches down to hug him tight, acting relieved to find him so quickly.