Page 13 of Sleeper: The Palisades Edition

A minute later, my brother calls out my name.

I slowly remove my face from the eucalyptus branches that I’ve been inhaling and place them back in their bucket.

Nico brings Shane over to me. “You remember my little sis? Willa.”

His face is so serious now. “I do. Sweet pea. P-e-a, the flower, not urine.”

Great.Thathe remembers, but not my name.

“What?” My brother laughs. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing,” Shane says, grinning at me now. That trademark flirtatious but safe and friendly grin that sells tickets and dreams and wastes years of a girl’s life. “Hi.” He holds his hand out, and I glance down at it before taking it because I’m afraid that despite being twelve years older and ten times wiser than I was the last time I touched that hand, I will do something idiotic like kiss it.

I need to say something amazing but understated and memorable.

“Hi. Your shirt’s on inside out.”

He lets go of my hand as soon as he’s given it a good firm shake. “Yes. Yes, it is.”

Well, that was underwhelming, but at least there’s no way either of them can tell how I used to feel about him.

We both look back at my brother and wait for him to steer the rest of this conversation in the right direction. He shakes his head at me, silently wondering what is wrong with me, but he suggests we order coffee and take it to the covered outdoor seating area. Shane orders decaf and informs us that he has insomnia. I have about a thousand things to say about that, but it’s probably not my place.

He still smells clean, but in more of a housecleaning product way, with a hint of something earthy or nutty. Hummus?

I take a seat at a small table, Shane takes the seat across from me, and Nico pulls up another chair.

Now that my brother is around, Shane has barely made eye contact with me. It’s fascinating. And it sort of makes me want to capture his attention again.

“Let’s see the kid pics,” Nico says to him, like he wants to get it out of the way. Asshat.

Shane laughs. “You don’t have to indulge me. They’re just as cute as they were the last time you saw them.”

“I want to see them,” I say, tossing my long hair over my shoulders and leaning forward. His tired eyes barely slip to glance at my exposed cleavage in this silk camisole before staring down at the table in front of him as he reaches for his phone. I’m wearing a blouse over the cami, so my brother can’t see any boobage from where he’s sitting.That was just for you, tired daddy.

He flicks through a few images and then turns his phone to face me. “This is Summer Rain and Lucky Scout.”

I gasp. It’s not even a fake reaction. Those are two of the cutest, most beautiful children I have ever seen. They have their father’s blue, blue eyes and his wavy brown hair. I suppose I can see their mother in their pretty faces too, but mostly Shane. “Oh, Shane. They’re wonderful. What are they—five?”

“Yeah, they’re in kindergarten.” He tilts his phone for Nico to see.

“Yup. Still cute,” my brother says.

Shane swipes to another photo to show me.

“You took these pictures, right?” I ask.

“Mmhmm.”

“I love how they look at you. Summer’s a little bit sassy and Lucky kind of reveres you.”

“Yep. That about sums it up.” Shane shifts around in his chair and places his phone facedown on the table, still avoiding eye contact with me.

My brother looks back and forth between us. “You know…Willa was a nanny in France. You should hire her to help you with the kids.”

I practically sprain my neck when I snap my headaround to widen my eyes at him.

“What? You need a job. He needs a nanny. You need a live-in, right?” he says to Shane. “This could work out well for all of us.”