A miniature pirate with an eyepatch rounded the corner of the cozy two story house, being chased by a massive man she hadn’t seen before. He scooped up her niece and hoisted her up onto his shoulders. Amy squealed with laughter as he pretended to drop her. The taxi pulled away and drew the pair’s attention.

“Aunty Keke!” she squealed from atop the giant. She patted him on his head and he lifted her from his shoulders and placed her gently on the ground. Amy ran straight to her and nearly knocked Keira down as Amy wrapped her hands around her legs. Keira dropped her bag on the grass and squeezed her back. Hefting her up, she thought she would pull a muscle in her back. The goliath had picked her up like she weighed nothing.

“How are you doing, kiddo?” she said, tightly squeezing her niece to her.

“I’m awesome, Aunt Keke. I was playing pirate with Evan.” Keira put her down on the grass as Evan the Giant approached, wiped his hand on his jeans and held it out to her.

“Hi, I’m Evan. I’m a neighbor from next door,” he said, gesturing to the blue house next to Izzy’s. Keira shook his hand, her hand completely engulfed by his. “Isabelle had to run to the store for a little bit, so she asked if I wouldn’t mind babysitting.”

“We were playing pirate princess, Auntie Keke. I was the pirate and Evan was the princess!” Her niece beamed and Evan’s cheeks flushed. She cracked a smile. Okay, he had to be a stand-up guy if her sister left Amy with him and he agreed to play the part of a princess. “I had to rescue him.”

“And rescue me she did,” he said, ruffling her hair. Izzy’s car pulled into the driveway next to them and she jumped out, running over to Keira. Squeezing her until she could barely breathe, Izzy squealed in her ear.

“Holy hearing loss, Batman. Good to see you too, Izzy,” she laughed, hugging her sister back.

“I had to run to the store to get some stuff for lunch. Good thing too. Why didn’t you tell me you were coming?” she said, punching her in the arm. Keira grimaced and rubbed her arm. Her sister’s softball pitching strength hadn’t diminished after all these year.

“Jeez, that hurt.”

“Oh, stop being such a wimp and help me with the bags.” They both turned to the car, but Evan was closing the trunk with every bag in his arms, muscles bulging. Izzy’s mouth hung open and Keira put her finger under her chin to close it.

“Down girl,” she whispered.

“Hey, Amy, can you get the door for me?” Amy stopped twirling over by the flower beds and ran to hold the door open for him.

“So, what’s the deal with the hot giant,” she whispered to her sister. Izzy, whose gaze had been locked onto Evan like a tractor beam, snapped back to Keira.

“Evan? He’s just a neighbor. Moved in a couple of months ago like I told you before. He’s really nice.”

“He’s pretty hot and it seems like he’s into you.”

“Why would you say that?” Izzy said, grabbing her purse from the car.

“He’s babysitting for you. Got the groceries for you. He’s pretending to be a princess to be rescued for Amy. I don’t think guys do that kind of stuff for women they are tolerating.”

“I guess not,” she said, absently.

“Plus, I mean how often do you find a guy who towers over you?”

As close as they were, there were few people who could think they were sisters. At five-six Keira leaned toward the taller side of average, but Izzy maxed out at six feet even. Her shoulder-length black hair, contrasted with Keira’s light curls. And Keira’s medium build was eclipsed by her athletic sister, who played pretty much all the sports in high school and college. If it wasn’t her height that intimidated a guy, it was the fact that she could beat them in pretty much any sport. The goliath next door might be just what she needed.

“He’s not that tall,” she said, pulling the screen door open.

“He’s taller than you.”

“True,” she said, stopped inside the doorway, abruptly. Keira ran in to the back of her. Peering around her sister she saw Evan reach up to put something on top of the fridge, his shirt riding up showing off some impressive abs covered in a light trail of hair.

“Oh shit,” her sister mumbled. She glanced up at her and saw her sisters face flushed and her eyes wide as she watched him move around in her kitchen, putting things away in the cabinets.

* * *

They had a light lunch together with Evan before he headed back to his place. The trio played in the backyard and broke out the board games when the sun finally started to set. Once Amy was tucked snuggly in her bed after copious amounts of ice cream, her sister laid into her.

“So, who are you running away from this time?” she said, putting a full glass of white wine in front of her.

“What makes you think I’m running?”

“It’s pretty much the only time you actually come to visit. When you’re hiding out or running away from something you don’t want to face.” She took a sip of her wine, staring at Keira over the rim of her glass. “How are things going with the tour?” Keira flinched. And her sister set down her glass, sat back, and crossed her arms over her chest. “Spill.” She wasn’t going to take no for an answer.

“I left the tour. I found out some stuff about Eric that meant I couldn’t stay on any longer.” She gulped down some wine to buy more time.

“I’ll keep refilling the glass, maybe some more wine will loosen those lips.”

“He asked me on the tour for his image. To make him more appealing to female fans. It was never about my art, it was about how I looked and how they could spin things for the press.”

“He said that?”

“No, I overheard him talking to his ex. She was all hugged up on him and laughing about how the studio had put him up to bringing me on tour.”

“And he admitted that?”

“Yes, pretty much,” she hung her head, running her finger around the rim of her glass.

“And then what?”

“We fought, he said he didn’t think it was that big of a deal and I just had to get out of there.”

“Keira, seriously?” Her sister dipped her head, trying to catch her eye. “You just walked out?”

“I packed my bags, told him I needed some space and left.”

“Are you freaking kidding me?” she shrieked.

“Quiet, you’re going to wake Amy.”

“That’s my line and that kid sleeps like the dead. It would take nothing less than a jet crashing into the house to wake her up. You didn’t just have it out and figure this thing out?”

“I wasn’t going to have a Paulo situation happen all over again.” Her sister threw her hands up in the air.

“Not with that asshole again.”

“What? You don’t know what it was like. How humiliating that was to be told the only reason I got that spot was because of him. Plus, there were other things going on,” she said, drifting off.

“You don’t think I know what it’s like to be humiliated by someone you care about? You think that zero dates in high school, being called every name in the book for a lesbian and being invited to prom by Sean Stevens as a joke, means I don’t know what it’s like to be humiliated when it comes to dating?” Her voice raising with each second. “No, Keira. I wouldn’t know anything about that would I, prom queen?” Keira’s head snapped up, staring at her sister.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” she said, trying to placate her sister.

“Of course you didn’t because you were always too scared to confront someone when they screwed you over. Always trying to be everyone’s friend. Me on the other hand, I take those things head on and don’t let people get away with any shit.”

“I guess I’m not as strong as you,” she said, tears welling in her eyes.

“Bullshit, stop being so dramatic. You are, you just hate confrontation and don’t like to get anyone upset. Which is probably why everyone loves you so much.”

Keira snorted. “You don’t think that’s true?”

“Hardly,” she said, draining her glass. Izzy grabbed the bottle and filled it up again.

“Keira, when are you going to face the truth? You’re one of those girls that other girls hate because of how easy everything seemed to come to you. I have to admit I’m glad I was older and went through school ahead of you because if I’d had to follow you, I’m sure I would have hated you,” she laughed, refilling her own glass. “How long are you hiding out here for?”

“I’m not hiding out. And until tomorrow night. Then I don’t know what to do. I guess leaving things where they are with Eric isn’t great and I just left without saying anything to him.” She hung her head. This secret with his dad was a ticking time bomb. She needed to tell him. Needed to go back.

“Or I could always go on tour with Matty B…” she said, trailing off.

“Matty B?” her sister said, nearly knocking her glass over, wine sloshed out onto the table.

“Yup, it seems that word has gotten out about me.” She took another sip of her wine.

“And yet you took that asshole Paulo’s word about your art. I don’t get you. Always so quick to believe anything negative that anyone says about you.”

“That’s not true.” She protested.

“Why didn’t you submit to that art scholarship senior year?”

“That’s not fair. I wasn’t finished with the project I was going to submit.”

“No, you pussed out and wouldn’t submit one of your equally amazing photo pieces because Mr. McNamara said maybe you should go with that.”

“He was my art teacher.”

“He was a hack and he didn’t want you to win that award.”

“What about the apprenticeship during our junior year of college?”

“The one in Paris?” Her sister shot her a duh look.

“Yes, the one in Paris, did you have any other ones out there that I didn’t know about?”

“I didn’t get it.”

“You got it. I found the letter. You got that apprenticeship and you freaked out because Matthew told you that you wouldn’t be able to hack it.”

“That’s not true, I wasn’t ready.” And Matthew had said, she’d be embarrassed when she showed up there and wouldn’t make the cut with other artists of a much higher caliber. She still remembered how her gut had twisted as he picked through her portfolio.

“They obviously thought you were ready. They selected you from hundreds of applicants, Keira. They thought you were good enough, but you let your fear get in the way. That’s why you’re working as an art instructor instead of pursuing your dream.”

“Hey, I love teaching.”

“Of course you do, because it’s safe. Always taking the path of least resistance.”

“I’m doing this tour thing. I stepped out of my comfort zone to do that,” she said pointedly. Her sister’s judgement hanging between them.

“Only because you had no other choice. You were up against a wall and have no savings and that’s why you did it, isn’t it?” Keira glanced off to the side taking another sip of her wine. “Exactly. Stop being so damn afraid all the time, Keira.” Izzy reached across the table and covered her hand, squeezing it. She glanced up and held her sister’s gaze.

“You’re an amazing artist. You see things that other people can’t see. You capture things with your lens and with your sketch pad that other people can’t. You can’t be afraid to put yourself out there. If you are, then no one gets to enjoy the things you create.” Keira nodded, her throat tight. She clenched her hands under the table, tears filling her eyes.

“Okay, enough with this sappy stuff. Let’s break out the real stuff.” Izzy hopped up from the chair and went to the liquor cabinet. She grabbed a couple of shot glasses and a bottle of tequila, shaking it at her. “Let’s do this!”

The rest of the night kicked up a notch once they hit a half-finished bottle of tequila. Shots with limes and salt turned into a game of truth or dare that may have ended with Izzy streaking through her backyard and a few catcalls across the fence to the giant next door. Izzy tackled Keira to the ground as she called out to get his attention. A light flicked on as Keira glanced up from down in the grass. She tried to push Izzy off, but her sister had her pinned down.

“Get off me, you big bully,” she said, struggling to breathe. “You’re going to kill me!”

“I can’t believe you did that,” she whispered. A window slid open and Evan stuck his gorgeous head out.

“You’re the one that said I needed to be braver. I’m helping you do it to,” she said, picking grass out of her teeth.

“Izzy?” he called out, sleepily. Izzy popped up, leaving her sister down in the grass. She leaned against the fence, trying to look casual.

“Hey, Evan. I’m sorry we woke you up. Just me and Keira having a girls’ night in,” she said, pulling Keira up from the grass. She waved at Evan and he waved back.

“Hey, Evan, my sister thinks you’re really hot,” Keira blurted before her sister could react. Izzy’s eyes got as wide as saucers. “And—” Izzy slapped a hand over her mouth and dragged her toward the back door.

“Is that so?” Evan called from his window. Keira nodded while Izzy tried to shove her inside. “Tell her I think she’s pretty hot too,” he said, staring directly at Izzy. Her hand dropped from Keira’s mouth and she stood there with her mouth wide open. “Good night ladies,” he said before closing his window and turning his light off. From the dopey look on her sister’s face, Keira knew it was the right move. Maybe it would light a fire under them. Now, if only she could figure out her own life.

They spent the rest of the night on the couch going through old pictures before passing out. The sunlight streaming through the open curtains woke them about ten minutes before Amy popped out of bed, ready to start her day in that sunshiny way of hers. Her chipper voice, cut through their hangovers like a knife.

“Morning, kiddo. Let’s get you some breakfast,” her sister said, dragging herself off the couch. The three of them had a packed day, complete with a trip to the zoo and dinner from the grill courtesy of Evan. After dinner, Izzy drove Keira to the airport and made her promise that she would stop wimping out and start taking real chances, even if she wasn’t backed into a corner.

She’d do it. She’d definitely do it. Starting tomorrow…