MARISSA
It was like déjà vu. I stood in front of the Burtons’ house, more or less silently psyching myself up to go and knock at the door, but this time my worries weren’t about Lydia, but about Ava, my biological half-sister.
I nibbled on my lower lip and toyed with the hem of my dark purple top that uncovered my shoulders and hinted at my cleavage without actually showing it. Shame filled me when I thought of the time it took me to get ready that morning, not because of Ava, Lydia or her husband, but because I knew Wyatt would be there.
“Déjà vu,’’ said a dark voice I immediately recognized coming from behind me.
I turned around and met Wyatt’s eyes. “But this time you’re not back from a run.’’
“Nah, I was taking a walk. They’re all nervous inside.’’ He nodded at the house and then his eyes left mine to trail down my body in a caress that left not an inch untouched. “You look beautiful.’’
“Wyatt.’’
“What?’’ He smirked and pushed a strand of hair behind my ear. “Can’t I be a good boy now?’’
“You’re impossible.’’ I fought my smile but gave up when my lips trembled with the need to stretch wide. That man turned my head and emotions upside down.
“Ready to get in?’’
I cringed and shook my head. “Never, but we better.’’
“It’ll be okay. Ava is a great kid.’’ He walked in front of me then, and I let his tight ass distract me, giving me ideas that weren’t suitable for a ten-year-old presence, but it was unstoppable, just like my regrets for leaving his apartment the previous week plagued me continuously even though I knew better.
Some said the heart wanted what it wanted, but the same applied to my body.
Without knocking, Wyatt stepped in the house. “Hey, look who I found outside.’’
Intimidated, I stood just inside the door with my purse tightly held in hand and my car keys in the other while my eyes stared at the end of the hall leading to the kitchen and the living room until a young girl flanked by Lydia and who I assumed was Danny Burton appeared.
Ava was all legs and elbows, thinner than I expected from the pictures on the fridge, but her cheeks still held that round shape kids always had. Her eyes, big and brown examined me just like I did her, but her mouth kept a small smile that steadily stretched until it broke her face in two and she clapped her hands.
“Wow! Wyatt didn’t lie when he said you had the same eyes as Mom. And you’re so tall!’’ She quickly walked to me, stopping briefly in front of Wyatt to let him ruffle her straight light brown hair. “Do you dance?’’
I blinked and then looked up when I heard two male laughing. Lydia wasn’t laughing though. Her eyes, so like mine, shone with unshed tears and a pained smile on her lips that trembled further once her husband wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
“Uh, no, I don’t dance. I heard that you’re terrific, though.’’
She shrugged instead of bragging. “I’m okay, I guess. Can you show me your tattoos? Wyatt said that—''
“Hey, peanut, maybe you could let her walk in the house before you throw at her all your questions,’’ Wyatt cut her off, interruption the flows of words coming from an overexcited Ava who didn’t sound too bothered by my presence.
“Wyatt’s right,’’ Lydia said after taking a deep breath and surreptitiously drying her eyes before her daughter turned around to look at her. “Let’s all go to the living room. It’s good to see you again, Marissa.’’
I smiled at her and then exchanged a few words with Danny who was very open and sincere in his greetings. It was a bit unnerving the way his chocolate eyes seemed to scrutinize me, but I supposed as a cop it was his usual behavior and I couldn’t blame him for wanting to make sure his family was safe by gauging me.
“We’re in the living room now. Can I ask her more questions?’’ Ava blurted as soon as we all sat on the corner couch with Ava between Wyatt and me and Lydia and Danny in two armchairs.
I chuckled along with the others and relaxed my grip on my purse and keys, dropping them respectively on the floor and the coffee table where a pitcher full of iced tea and tall glasses waited.
“Go on. I don’t mind.’’
“Great!’’ She stared at me and then asked me a question I couldn’t have anticipated. “Do you have a boyfriend?’’
I blinked and caught Lydia and Danny chuckling as they sorted out the glasses in front of everybody and served us. Without meaning to, I looked up and found Wyatt’s looking intensely at me. Burning up, I looked back at the little girl.
“No, hm… I don’t have a boyfriend right now.’’
“My best friend’s older sister has a boyfriend. They’ve been together fo-re-ver.’’
“Don’t tell me you already talk about boys,’’ Wyatt asked, disgust in his voice that made me laugh wholeheartedly, earning me a glare from him.
“Wyatt,’’ admonished Lydia gently and shook her head. He nodded and sighed, but not before one last cringe for his sister who giggled in return.
Her attention went back to me.
“Why do you only have tattoos of birds? My brother has many different things.’’ She grabbed one of Wyatt’s forearms, and she pointed at the different designs. He let her do her thing without saying a word. The soft smile on his face melted me.
“The birds have a signification for me,’’ I said and bit my lip at what would come next. I rarely, if ever, talked about the reason behind my tattoos, but somehow Ava’s genuine interest in me warmed my heart and made me want to bond with her. Also, in a very odd way, I wanted Wyatt to know more about me, see beyond the woman he fucked and wanted to fuck. I wanted him to see me not only as a woman who threatened his life’s order but as a woman, a person who also went through a lot. “When I was fifteen my adoptive parents and I were in a horrible car accident.’’ Lydia’s gasp caught my attention, but I didn’t linger on her stricken face or Danny’s concern. Instead, I risked a glance at Wyatt and saw him eating my words, so intent on not missing a single thing he leaned forward, his eyes calling out to me, but I didn’t let him trap me in his presence. I stared back at Ava’s innocent eyes and let them capture my softened heart. “My parents got out with a broken arm and a few bruised ribs, but I was severely hurt.’’ I pointed at the small birds tattooed inside my wrist. “These birds are for the broken wrist I got. I have a small flock on my right side over my ribs for each broken rib, another bird inside my right knee for my injured knee and one on my right ankle for my broken ankle.’’
Her mouth dropped open, and silence greeted my words, but it was soon broken by Wyatt who cleared his throat to get my attention.
Once our eyes found each other, he had me riveted. “What about the three birds behind your ear?’’
“I was in a coma for two months, and my skull was fractured. I was very lucky to wake up and be alive, but it took me months of rehab to learn back everything from walking to using my hands like I used to. The coma did a number on my body.’’
“Oh my God,’’ Lydia whispered.
I still stared at Wyatt, even when Danny muttered something or when Ava blabbered. The way he looked at me, deeply looked, did something to my very core. This time, he saw beyond the happy woman who had never had a trouble in her life as he had thought. He saw me, and that made me drop my eyes to focus on Ava again while Lydia and Danny excused themselves. Soon after, Wyatt followed them.
“Where are they?’’ Ava asked, stopping in the middle of telling me about how she stopped a bully from harassing a girl at school the other day.
“I think they’re in the kitchen. They probably want to give us time to get to know each other better.’’
“Oh, yeah. I mean yes.’’ She pushed away from her face some of her hair that kept on falling in her eyes. “I’m glad you came here to meet me.’’
“I’m glad too.’’ I smiled at her and the more I stared, the more I saw a bit of myself at her age in the shape of her face and her little nose, both things I got from Lydia too. “It must be weird for you.’’
“A little. I mean, before I thought I only had one brother, but now I know I have him and an older sister. That’s cool. And Wyatt likes you, so it means that you’re great.’’
I choked on the iced tea and put down the glass before I messed up and let drops fall on the rug. “Wyatt likes me?’’
“Yeah.’’ She nodded excitedly. “It’s obvious. That’s great if you are friends.’’
“Yeah,’’ I answered distractedly right when Wyatt walked in followed by Lydia and Danny. “That’s great.’’
“What’s great?’’ Danny asked jovially.
“That Wyatt and Marissa are friends,’’ Ava answered immediately. Wyatt’s head whipped to me, and I offered him a tight smile that made him smirk in a dark way that told me that friendship was nowhere in this realm, which reflected my thoughts perfectly.
“Friends?’’ Lydia asked nobody, a frown on her face as Danny’s eyes went back and forth between his son and me.
“Hm, well,’’ I stuttered and rubbed at the birds behind my ear.
“She’s doing it!’’ Ava blurted and pointed at me. Her little face turned to Wyatt who cringed and blushed. I blinked. “She is touching her tattoo, just like you said she does when nervous or uncomfortable.’’ She dropped her hand and stared at me with questions in her eyes. She was a bottomless well of questions. “Which are you, uncomfortable or nervous?’’
“That’s enough for one day, Ava.’’ Denny stepped in, and I thanked him with my eyes for his intervention. I grabbed my phone from my purse and checked the time as Ava started to complain.
“I’m sorry, Ava, but it’s getting late. I start early tomorrow at work, and I still have a few things to do before tomorrow.’’
“Can you come back soon?’’
I looked around the room, and Ava’s parents didn’t look against the idea. I avoided Wyatt and nodded at Ava who cheered with way too much excitement. I chuckled and let her hug me, returning it with happiness I hadn’t expected to feel. It poured inside of me, filling me full to bursting.
“Your Mom and brother have my number if you want to call me, okay?’’
“I will.’’
I stood up and quickly bid my goodbyes to the others, avoiding Wyatt’s eyes at all cost and started breathing normally again once I was back in my car and on the way out of the neighborhood of Brookhaven.
***
WYATT
“Ah, damn it,’’ Dad muttered soon after Marissa left when his phone buzzed and we all knew it was from work.
“Don’t go, Daddy,’’ Ava said with a pout that had stopped being genuine years ago, but we never called her out on it, probably because it was cute as all hell.
“Sweetie pie,’’ Dad said and knelt next to Ava’s chair at the kitchen island. “You know I have to go. The bad guys never stop.’’
She nodded and hugged him before standing up. “They suck.’’
“They do,’’ he approved and ruffled her hair like I did and laughed when she started to run her fingers through her messy strands to put some order back. Dad quickly kissed Mom and then patted my shoulder before he left. Ava announced that she wanted to go to her room to watch some shit dance movie and left.
No sooner were we alone in the kitchen that my mom went where I didn’t want her to.
“So, you and Marissa are friends now?’’
“Better telling that to Ava than saying I acted up with her half-sister.’’
She nodded and kept on drying the glasses, passing them to the last for me to put them away in the cupboard. “You two didn’t look like you were fighting.’’
“We agreed on a truce.’’
“Uh, huh.’’
“What?’’ I asked through gritted teeth, feeling my walls getting back up at once.
“Nothing.’’ She sighed then and dropped her damp dishcloth on the counter. “It wouldn’t be a bad thing to be friends with her if that’s what you wanted. You don't have to keep other people at arms’ length.’’
“Let’s drop it, okay.’’ Because I can’t tell you that I know your daughter very intimately and that I want to know her even better. A. Lot. Better.
Her eyes burned into the side of my face as I went to put away the clean dishes from the machine.