Stay For Me - Megan Smith Page 0,50

clean, always make sure they have everything before you worry about yourself.” Erin said as she took a plate to rinse it off. “And you have this smile on your face that never goes away.”

Sitting here on the back deck at my house while I’m watching Fallon and Sophia in the pool a few weeks later makes me realize that maybe Erin is right. Every single time I look at Layla or Fallon I can’t help but smile.

“Hey, can you throw these on the grill for us?” Erin asks as she hands me a plate of hamburgers and hot dogs. It’s a Saturday afternoon and Erin brought Sophia over for a swim before Layla and I have to leave for work tonight.

“Yeah, sure.”

I walk over to the grill which is just under the kitchen window out back and still in view of the girls in the pool. I flip the lid and start to place the hot dogs and hamburgers down. I can hear Erin and Layla talking in the kitchen. I probably shouldn’t eavesdrop but I do anyway.

“You’re right when you mentioned how good Eli is with Sophia.” Layla says. “He’s really good with her and Fallon. The other day when the girls were playing out front, Eli had just got home from the store and before he even came in he took them out back and was blowing bubbles with them. Then he gave them each a Popsicle and helped them with their jump ropes all before he even made it inside with the stuff he bought.”

“He’s a good guy, Layla, one I’m proud to call my brother. I thought for a while he would never find someone who could make him smile and who would tie his ass down but you do that to him. He gets this look on his face whenever you’re around.” One of them turns on the faucet and it drowns out the rest of what my sister was saying.

The water turns off. “I just hope that we aren’t out welcoming our stay, you know? This can’t be easy for him to take on a girl and her sister, kind of like a ready-made family.”

I push open the lid of the grill and flip the burgers. I don’t know how many times I’ve told Layla that I want her here. I’m not sure how else to get it through her head.

“If there is one thing I know about my brother it’s this, if he didn’t want you around you wouldn’t be. Eli is a straightforward type of guy, he doesn’t do things just because it’s the right thing to do.”

“But I feel like I just dropped my life on him and it makes me feel a little guilty, I guess.”

“Have you told him that? I mean you are friends at the end of the day.”

“No, I haven’t but maybe I should.”

“Let me ask you something? Do you want a relationship with my brother one day?”

I’ve backed off trying to pursue a relationship with Layla because she doesn’t need to worry about that for now. I want her to get her life in order without having to involve me.

Layla doesn’t respond right away.

“Yeah, I would one day when I know I can stand on my own two feet.”

I can picture Erin staring at Layla the way she does to me when she’s about ready to challenge me. “What if you broke one of your legs? What would you do? Who would you lean on?”

There is some rustling around going on. I hope Erin is making my favorite potato salad.

“I don’t have anyone to lean on, I guess. I mean I have Jaylinn but she’s got Cooper.”

My sister is going in for the kill in one, two, three…

“And that’s no way to live, Layla. You should always have someone to lean on, even if it’s just someone to listen when you need a shoulder to cry on.”

I walk away to grab my beer off the table that’s down by the pool. I don’t want to hear her answer. I don’t want it fucking with my head. My sister is right about needing someone to lean on. Everyone needs that. It’s also another reason why I haven’t taken things further with Layla. I want her to do this on her own terms, when she’s ready.

When I turn back around from grabbing my beer from the table Layla is standing by the grill with her hands on her hips.

“You heard all that didn’t you?” She asks shyly.

I