Page 12 of Fragile hearts

“Uncle Cars!” Colton calls. “Ms. Sunshine like Mickey Mouse too.”

Alexis laughs. “I thought that was our secret,” she whispers loud enough for me to hear.

Colton’s eyes widen. “Oopsie.”

“It’s okay, buddy. My brother was the one who loved Mickey Mouse.”

“You have brother?” Colton asks curiously, Alexis nods. “He’s my twin brother, we were born a few minutes apart.”

“Wowie, I have no brother, I have daddy. You have a daddy too?” Alexis freezes, then quickly relaxes. I open my mouth to change the subject, but she shakes her head. “I don’t have a daddy or a mommy.”

“Oh no, you have my daddy.” Alexis chuckles, running her hand through Colton’s hair. “That’s nice of you, buddy. But I’m okay, I’m used to it.” She shouldn’t be used to it, I learned about Alexis’s situation years ago. Everyone knows that she’s a foster child. They were hoping she would have gotten adopted, but unfortunately that’s not the case.

“You sad?”

“No, I’m not sad, I had my brother who kept me safe.”

“Is he home?” Oh fuck.

Alexis swallows hard, looking up at the sky for a moment, then looks back at my nephew. “No, he’s not. He’s an angel now. He lives in the sky.”

“Angel? Like Mommy and Daddy?” Alexis brows furrow at Colton’s question. I lean closer, our arms brushing. As Colton stands up to grab the ball. “Is he—?” She starts, then stops, wincing. “Never mind, it’s none of my business.”

“You can ask,” I say quickly, waiting until I meet her eyes. “If you’re wondering if he’s adopted, then yes. His biological parents passed away in a car accident a year ago, my brother adopted him.”

“I’m glad he has someone. He is lucky.”

She sounds sad when she says it, averting her gaze, she stands up when Colton throws her a ball.

I lie down, exhaustion seeping through my body. My eyes close and open as I try to stay awake, their once loud voices now a whisper.

The bright sun is replaced by a shadow that covers my head. I lie down on my side, losing the fight with wakefulness. Colton’s laughter and Alexis’s hushed voice are the last thing I hear before I fall into a deep slumber.

Chapter Four

Alexis

“Uncle Cars is sleepy,” Colton whispers from beside me, holding a large red plastic ball in his hands. Carson is snoring softly, lying on his side.

“He is, so we gotta be very quiet, okay?”

Colton nods, stares at his uncle, then at me. “I play ball?”

“Of course you can, buddy.” His face lights up with a smile as he kicks the ball while running through the garden. I stretch out my legs. The wooden ice cream sticks lay abandoned in the grass. Carson has been sleeping for a few minutes, but I’m not waking him. The black circles under his eyes were even more prominent than yesterday.

I don’t know what is going on in his life, and it’s none of my business, but I’m hoping it will improve. The amount of sleep he is getting is nowhere near enough to fully function.

“Ms. Sunshine, look!” Colton throws the ball in the air, then kicks it as hard as he can when it falls on the ground.

“Good job, buddy,” I praise, plucking blades of grass from my palms.

Carson jerks beside me, his fingers clenching into fists, mumbling something under his breath.

“No, wake up!” I inch closer, unsure what to do. My hand hovers over his arm. I don’t want to touch him without his permission, but I need to get him out of his nightmare.

I lightly stroke his arm. He jerks underneath my touch. I pull back, thinking I must have frightened him, then his fingers relax, slapping down on the grass before landing on my hand. He squeezes it tightly, interlocking our fingers. My breath catches as he pulls our locked hands onto his stomach. “You’re okay,” I soothe, my voice wavering as I stare at our entwined hands. “You’re not alone. Everything is okay.”

He sighs and turns his head, his cheek lying on the grass, a few inches from my thigh. It’s only a matter of seconds before he’s snoring again.