Chapter 16
“You keep smiling,” Scott observed as he dropped a red token into the Connect Four game board.
“I always smile.” Stephanie released her yellow token in the slot that would give her two in a row and after she did she saw two places that her brother could win in the next move. She hoped he did too. This was their fourth game and she was ready for him to move on to something else or get tired. She’d been here for over four hours and he didn’t seem to be slowing down. Sometimes his nebulizer treatments amped him up and this appeared to be one of those times.
He took his turn and she tried to hide her disappointment when he didn’t connect four.
“Not with your eyes,” he said.
“You don’t want me to play with my eyes open?” It didn’t matter to her. She wasn’t trying to beat him. If he wanted her to play blind, she was fine with that.
“You always smile with your mouth but never with your eyes. Today you keep smiling with your eyes.”
Since he was little, a toddler, her brother had always noticed things about her that the rest of the world didn’t. If there was anyone who she felt truly saw her, it was Scott. He didn’t always understand what he saw or why she felt the way she did, but he saw her. Today, he saw that something was different about her, he just didn’t know that it was the man that she’d left sleeping in her bed.
“I guess I’m just happy.” She felt her lips turning up. She couldn’t help it. Every time she thought about Ace it was an automatic response.
Last night had been…amazing. She’d honestly believed that no night could ever come close to the night they’d shared before he left. The intensity and intimacy she’d felt had been so powerful she’d never thought it could be matched. He’d owned her body. But last night was just as intense. Just as intimate. Last night he’d owned her soul.
The entire experience had left her feeling raw, exposed and vulnerable but at the same time healed, shielded and protected. She’d been so scared of what was happening between them but he’d effortlessly combated her anxiety with security. In his arms, in his words, in his eyes the only thing that existed was strength and support.
Even now she wasn’t clear about what exactly had happened between them. But whenever fear started rising back up all she had to do was close her eyes and remember his touch, his smile and his embrace and she was instantly cocooned in safety.
Today she’d been so tempted to overthink what all of that meant. Instead, she’d decided to take a page from Misty’s system and not try to see the future. She was determined to take each day, each minute, each second that she was lucky enough to spend with Ace as it came. Were they going to be together tomorrow, next week, next year? Maybe not. But that was out of her control. All she could do was allow herself the moments that might just carry her through the rest of her life.
“Why?” Scott asked. “Why are you happy?”
“Why am I happy? Umm…well…” She was stalling in hopes that her brother would lose interest and move on to another subject. That strategy worked about fifty percent of the time.
“Is it because Mason is your boyfriend?”
Scott got confused sometimes. He’d forget the way things were and remember the way things used to be.
“No.” She shook her head. “Mason’s not my boyfriend.”
“Yes he is,” Scott maintained.
Often, when Scott insisted that he was right about something, she’d just drop it. Facts were insignificant in these situations. There was no reason to argue with him about what was right. It only made him upset. So, as much as she wanted to set the record straight and insist that Mason was not her boyfriend, she did what was best for her brother instead and remained silent as she scanned the blue plastic game to plot her next move.
“He told me he was your boyfriend again and that he’s going to marry you. And he gave me this.” Her brother picked a plain blue gift bag up off of the floor and pulled out a gray novelty T-shirt with bold black letters across the chest that read, I Like To Party and beneath it in white read, and by party I mean take naps.
“Mason gave you that?”
He sighed heavily. “I told you that already.”
When Scott had to repeat himself, he thought people weren’t listening to him and he got frustrated. Now, her brother had a tendency to confuse timelines but he’d never made up stories or said that someone said something that they hadn’t. Maybe Scott was remembering time he spent with Mason years ago. That was the only explanation that made sense, because why would Mason come by with a gift and tell Scott that they were together and getting married now?
She needed more information. “When did you see Mason?”
“When he gave me this.” Scott stuffed the shirt back in the bag and scrubbed his hands over his face.
His agitation was visible and she knew she’d have to figure out another way to get to the bottom of this mystery.
Changing the subject she smiled brightly as she announced. “I think it’s time for Family Feud.”
“It is?” He looked at the digital watch that he wore on his left wrist. “It is!”
Stephanie’s mind was filling with questions as her brother turned his television on and moved to sit in front of it. What could Mason possibly think he’d gain by giving Scott a T-shirt? He’d never even liked Scott. In fact, Scott had been the catalyst that had caused her to finally call things off.