Page 74 of Steady Stroke
“High praise, I’d say,” Zelda said. “Especially coming from someone who was so hard on Benji when he first joined XYZ.”
Lincoln shrugged. “I knew he could be better than he already was with more training, and he got better. Right?”
She laughed. “Yes, he did. You always were the group motivator, pushing everyone to do their very best.”
“It worked, too. It got us all the way to Unbound.” Lincoln’s enthusiasm for the conversation dimmed. “Anyway.”
Emmett nudged his knee. “It’s getting you back to Unbound this year, too. Don’t forget that.”
“Yes, Roxy mentioned a new instrument you’re trying,” Robert said. “Tell me about it.”
Lincoln did. The conversation meandered from his new routine of practicing with Emmett, both on the QChord and on vocals to improve his own range, to Emmett’s job at Off Beat. Then Roxy took over for a while.
Their eldest daughter Taisha joined them for an afternoon of board games while ribs smoked on the barbecue. Percell and Dominic couldn’t make it for dinner, but they both called to wish their dad a happy Father’s Day. After dinner, everyone presented Robert with presents. Lincoln had had no idea what to get the man, considering that everything he bought was with Robert’s own money, so he’d got a card and put two tickets to Friday’s Unbound performance inside. They hadn’t been able to attend last year because of work, but Dominic mentioned they wanted to try this year.
Robert looked at the tickets and nodded. “Wouldn’t miss this reunion concert for the world.”
Lincoln wanted to explode with happiness at that statement.
Taisha went last, presenting a flat box wrapped in shiny paper. Inside the box was something that looked like a folded apron. Robert lifted it out and stared at the printing on the front. Zelda glanced over his shoulder and gasped.
“‘World’s Best Grandpa,’” Robert read.
Lincoln startled, then stared at Taisha.
She was practically vibrating in her chair. “I just entered my second trimester. We’re pregnant!” “We” was herself, obviously, and her husband Roger.
Roxy squealed.
The family kind of exploded at the news of Taisha’s pregnancy, everyone so loud and excited over what was probably a first grandchild that Starr started getting agitated by the noise. Emmett wasn’t altogether comfortable with it, either, and it seemed like a family moment.
He slipped out of his chair and over to Starr’s. “I see a swing set over there. You want to go swing with me for a while?”
She didn’t meet his eyes, but she did nod. They walked over together, leaving some of the din behind, to a well-worn swing set. One was a tire swing, but two had floppy rubber seats. They sat next to each other, and Starr began to swing hard.
“Dominic has a boyfriend,” she said, apropos of nothing. “His name is Trey.”
“Yes, I know. I’ve met Trey.”
“You’re Lincoln’s boyfriend.”
“I am.”
“Mom says Dominic and Trey are in love, like Mom and Dad are in love. Are you and Lincoln in love too?”
Good grief, the girl had questions. And Emmett wasn’t sure how to answer this one. He had strong feelings for Lincoln, absolutely, but they hadn’t even known each other for a month. Love seemed way too soon. And too scary. “Lincoln and I haven’t been boyfriends long enough to be in love. But I care about him a lot.”
“Good. Lincoln is my brother, too, like Dominic and Percell.”
“And I bet you’re an amazing sister.”
“The best sister ever. Dominic says so all the time.”
Emmett’s heart twisted hard, a sharp stab of pain over the loss of his own sister. His own parents. His home and hisfamily. He swallowed hard. “If Dominic says it, then it must be true.”
“Yup. Dominic doesn’t lie anymore. He says lying only hurts his family, and he doesn’t ever want to hurt us.”
This time the sharp pain lancing through Emmett was shaped like guilt. It stabbed at his insides, hot and harsh, because he was lying to this family. Lying by omission, refusing to admit his part in Lincoln’s accident. Dominic had been in the same accident, and while he’d barely been hurt, Lincoln might never fully recover. He might go through the rest of his life battling dizzy spells, migraines, and bright lights, and it was all Emmett’s fault.
