Page 114 of Seasons of Love
“Good try, bro,” Darius says. “Three out of five on the distraction tactic. Why don’t you want us to be here for your gardener, helper, whatever he is? Or are you expecting someone else?” He winks and then elbows Alice.
“Ugh, I tried to set him up with Tyler, but now they’re just friends.” She sulks.
Darius laughs. “Tyler? Seriously? Anyone could tell from a mile away those two would never work.”
“Anyway. It doesn’t matter. You know I’m expecting this guy Alice apparently contacted, and I want you both out before he comes.”
“Why?” Alice asks.
“Yeah, why?” Darius repeats.
“Oh for the love of god. I know you’ll both butt in with your…ideas, and even though I didn’t start it, this is something I’d like to do on my own.”
“How boring. That’s all you had to say. But I want a fire pit,” Darius says.
“And fairy lights,” Alice adds.
They both start walking to the door when the doorbell rings.
To give them credit, I can see how restrained they both are when they want to open the door to see who the guy is. I roll my eyes as I get past them.
As they say, third time’s a charm. But the last person I expect to see when I open my front door is Milo.
“Ellis,” he says, clearly as surprised to see me.
He looks around and then down at a piece of paper in his hand.
“Um, I think I’m in the wrong place. I’m sorry,” he says, looking a little flustered, probably because of the additional sets of eyes on him. I elbow my siblings.
“I’m looking for 10 Rosebush Drive. Maybe I wrote it down wrong. There was a Rose Street a few streets ago.”
He’s pushing Sara’s stroller back and forth.
“You’re in the right place. Come on in. Let me help you with the stroller and get you out of the sun,” I say.
I practically have to push Alice and Darius out of the way to let Milo in.
“Hey, this is my girlfriend from the other night,” Darius says. “How has she been? Fever went down, okay? She’s eating and drinking well?”
Milo looks confused.
Darius looks down at his clothes and laughs. “Sorry, I’m the nurse you saw at the hospital. I don’t usually wear scrubs outside of work.” He winks, and Milo smiles.
“Ah, of course. Sorry, that night was a bit of a blur. I didn’t recognize you. Thank you. Sara has been a lot better. The antibiotics must be working because she hasn’t shown any signs of pain or discomfort.”
“Sara was sick?” I ask. “When?”
“That night after the soup kitchen. When I got home, she was running a high fever.”
I look at Sara in the stroller, and she’s alert and smiling at the attention she’s getting from Darius.
“Anyway, Darius and I were just leaving. Weren’t we?” Alice says, poking our younger brother in the ribs.
“Ouch. Yeah, yeah, we were leaving.”
“By the way. Bittersweet is closed, so make sure you get coffee and a brioche out of this one.” Alice points at me, and then they’re both out, closing the door behind them.
I let out a deep breath.
