Hollow (Heaven Hill Generations #4) - Laramie Briscoe Page 0,74
we have to make sure to get a handle on - is not letting him in on adult business. We’ve been way too open with him, and that needs to stop now.
“Dad’s gonna be fine. He’ll be gone for a while though, do you want to go watch some TV?”
“Will you lay with me?”
He’s only asked me to do it a couple of times since I came home, and the request makes my heart clench. “I would love to.”
I make a motion to my mom to let her know I’m going to spend some time with Walker. When we get to his dorm room, I ask a question I’ve been pondering on lately. “How do you like it here? Do you miss home?”
We lay side by side, he grabs the remote and turns the TV on, a pensive look on his face. At certain times he looks so much like Dalton, I’m scared for the girls as he gets older.
“I used to,” he says slowly. “But that place had a feeling.”
“A feeling?”
“Yeah.” He nods. “Ya know the bad feelings Uncle Tyler always talks about?”
“We’ve gotta get you away from Uncle Tyler,” I mumble, hoping he doesn’t hear me. It appears he doesn’t because he continues.
“It’s like there’s a sadness. One we can never fully get rid of.”
“A dark cloud?” I supply for him.
“No, the house itself. It’s sad.”
This is definitely Tyler shit and I’m way out of my league. “So are you saying you don’t want to go back there?”
“I don’t think so. I like being closer to the family and the twins. All I have to do is call and they’re over here in five minutes, and we can go up to Grandpa Liam’s.”
“Heaven forbid you don’t have your social club.” I ruffle his hair.
“It’s no fun being an only child,” he whispers. “That’s why I was so excited about a sibling.”
“Yeah.” I play with the ends of my hair. “That’s something most of us don’t know about. I’ve always had Drew, and then Tatum. The twins have each other. You and Carter aren’t close. I guess you are kinda stuck on your own, half the time.”
“I am.” He traces the shapes on his comforter with his finger. “And I was kinda looking forward to having a sister. Ya know, so I could be the cool older brother who protects her. Harley doesn’t need protecting and she takes care of Justice, so…”
A snort works its way out of my nose. “That kinda leaves you out, huh?”
“I’m glad they’re strong and independent, but sometimes it’s nice to be needed.”
That seems to be a recurring theme for the men around here. No matter how much they want to protect us, we’re as independent as we can be.
“Now that,” - I sit up straighter, crossing my legs in front of me - “is something I can relate to. If we’re being honest, I kinda feel like you haven’t needed me as much in the last year. I know part of that is because you’re growing up, but if we’re talking about why we were excited to have another member of the family, I was looking forward to being needed again. It would’ve felt good to be needed like you used to need me.”
He rolls his eyes. “Of course I need you, Mom. Just not all the time, like I used to. I wanna hang out with the guys, learn how to work on bikes and stuff. It’s important to me.”
Doesn’t he realize that’s the part that hurts? But then again he’s just a kid who’ll grow up and learn. He’ll have his own kids one day, watch as they grow into independent members of society. “I know, I know. I’m learning, Walker. Trying to learn anyway.”
He side-eyes me. “You know where I do want you and need you?”
“Where?”
“Dad never watches TV with me at night. I missed our nightly viewing,” he admits slowly.
“I missed it too. If we’re gonna do this tonight though, it has to be like old times.”
We look at each other smiling before we speak in unison.
“Popcorn and Reese’s!”
“This show is stupid,” Walker grumbles, as we sit through the last few minutes of The Bachelor.
It’s just a placeholder until the show we really want to see comes on.
“What?” I take a bite of the popcorn. “You wouldn’t go on some reality show to find love?”
He wrinkles his nose. “Girls are ewwww, but I don’t have to worry about it anyway. When I patch in, I won’t have to ask