“What you can do is sit down and put your feet up and let me take care of you for once.”
“Yes, sir!” I laugh, marching over-dramatically over to the couch and throwing myself down. “What did Zora say when she saw you with the bacon?” I call over to him. “Or had she already left?”
“She’d left,” he says. “Why?”
“She’s a vegan. Real enthusiastic about it, too. She might’ve fried your eyebrows off, no kidding. Either that or lectured you on sustainable farming practices. I’m not sure which is worse.”
It feels good to just lie here, listening to Wyatt’s laughter. After the incident at the club, I swung by the admin department at the hospital and chatted with one of the staff there to make sure that his visit got coded as generic alcohol poisoning, nothing drug-related. Which isn’t strictly true, but I don’t want to risk Wyatt’s college career for one stupid mistake. Maybe it’s not right to bend the rules like that, but for family, who wouldn’t?
Wyatt carries three bacon strips over on a plate for me, each dripping with fat. It’s been so long since I’ve had bacon for breakfast, my belly is rumbling already. I take one bite and sit back, eyes closed, letting the fried goodness take me away.
I get a weird feeling, like a word you can’t remember that’s right on the tip of your tongue, and then I remember why. “Christmas,” I mumble.
Wyatt is already nodding. “You’d just gotten your—you know.”
“Period,” I say. “You can say it, Wyatt. Jeez. You won’t get cooties.”
“Whatever. You couldn’t sleep and you were being cranky, keeping us all up. So Dad drove us all down to the twenty-four-seven store and got a fricking trunk-load of bacon and biscuits. Heck! We feasted, didn’t we, Dani? We feasted like kings … and queens.”
I smile at the memory.
“You want some coffee?” Wyatt asks after we’ve sat quietly for a little while.
I jump to my feet. “Let me, little man.”
“Do not start calling me that again!” he warns.
I brew the coffee and we switch on the TV. The first thing that pops up, of course, is a news piece about the drug epidemic. It’s almost like fate saw us having too much fun and wants to remind us that it could all end soon. Neither of us says a word as I switch the station quickly and we watch a Friends episode instead, the Thanksgiving one with Brad Pitt. It’s a perfect lazy morning and, at one point, I even rest my head on Wyatt’s shoulder.
“What do you want for Christmas, sis?” Wyatt asks.
I shrug. The truth is, this is what I want: Wyatt, alive, drug-free, happy. But I know if I say that he’ll get annoyed at me for bringing it up. “I’m not sure,” I say. “I don’t care. Anything.”
“Wow,” he chuckles. “Specific, thanks for the inside scoop. Hey … What’s that?” Wyatt leans forward and picks up Angelo’s business card from under Zora’s graphic design magazine. I forgot it was even there. “Who’s Angelo De Maggio, De Maggio Entertainment?”
I feel myself blushing like I’m a little kid. I remember the phone sex, which was only like six hours ago, his voice in my ear: touch your clit now. It felt so good just letting him take charge.
“Are you done?” I take his plate, heading for the kitchen.
“Do you know who this is?” he calls over to me.
I turn on the faucet. “No!” I lie. “Must be one of Zora’s graphic-design associates or something. Why does it matter?”
“No reason,” Wyatt says. “I just—I think I’ve heard that name before. But I can’t remember where.”
“Really?” I ask, trying to sound casual even as a crazy part of me wonders if Angelo and Wyatt somehow know each other. “Where?”
“Dunno,” he says. “Maybe I’m just making that up; I can’t remember for sure.”
“Oh,” I answer. “Okay.” I hope that’s true. Because dealing with Wyatt on his own is enough. Dealing with Angelo on his own is enough.
But the two of them together? I don’t think I could handle that.
The rest of the day is wonderful, especially since it’s one of my very rare days off. We eat junk and watch bad TV and even find Gremlins just as it’s starting, which was one of our family movies growing up. And then—the miracles never stop—Wyatt tells me he wants to get some homework done. I set him up at my desk in the bedroom and leave