Chapter 2
Tristan
“I just don’t think it’s fair,” Ivy whined as she shoveled a spoonful of her cereal into her mouth, spilling a drop of milk down her chin. “I don’t see how you get the whole of December off, and we still have to go to school.”
I smirked as I wrapped the sandwiches I’d made in foil and added them to the twins’ packed lunch. “You don’t hear me moaning when you get the whole of summer off, and I have to work, do you?”
“Yeah, but summer is boring,” my sister huffed. “December is much more fun, you get to start enjoying the build-up to Christmas.”
I twisted to face them, catching Holly rolling her eyes at her twin’s dramatics.
Not only were they different in looks, but their personalities were polar opposites, too.
Ivy was the older of the two by seven minutes and made sure everyone knew.
Despite their twelfth birthday just on the horizon, you could have been fooled into thinking she would be turning eighteen with the attitude she had.
Holly, on the other hand, was more reserved.
She tended to keep her opinions to herself, often coming across as shy, when really, she was assessing her surroundings or getting the measure of someone.
In contrast to Ivy, Holly sometimes acted like she was an eighty-year-old woman who was wise to the world.
“Well, when you get to my age, you can work all year and have December off. Until then, you’ll just have to suck it up, buttercup.” I grinned at them, earning a snort from Holly and a scowl from Ivy.
Despite there being a ten-year age gap between the girls and me, they were my best friends.
I didn’t think I’d ever forget how excited I was when my mom told me she was pregnant, and I’d gone to bed wishing for a baby sister.
My wish had been answered when, a few weeks later, Mom told me that I would be getting two baby sisters.
From the minute they were born, I doted on them. I suppose our closeness was helped by my looking after them a lot as we were growing up. My mom didn’t work for the first three years of the girls’ lives, but when money became scarce, she returned to her job as a nurse at the local hospital.
Her work in the intensive care unit meant she often worked long and unpredictable hours. With Dad working six days a week, and them not being able to afford childcare, there was only one person left to look after the girls.
I didn’t mind. We had a lot of fun hanging out together, and although I missed out on a lot of things thirteen-year-old boys got up to, I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. As the girls neared their teenage years, the three of us were closer than ever, and I hoped nothing would change that.
“You promise you won’t put the tree up until we’re home from school?” Ivy said, pouting into her cereal, having now spilled milk onto her school shirt.
Zipping up their lunch boxes, I crossed to where the two of them sat at the tiny kitchen table.
The house we lived in was far too small for a family of five.
The girls shared a bedroom, and I had the smallest room to myself, which barely fit a single bed and a chest of drawers.
There was only one bathroom, which caused all sorts of havoc during the morning when everyone was trying to get ready for work or school, and our living room only had one double sofa that my mom and dad usually shared, while the girls and I sat on the floor.
At twenty-two, I really ought to have considered moving out, but I couldn’t afford it.
I had my own business as a painter and decorator, which had grown massively over the year, and I earned decent money.
But after paying rent to my parents to help them with their mortgage, along with contributing to the food shop, and whatever the girls needed for school, there wasn’t a huge amount left over at the end of each month.
My dream of having a place to myself was simply that. A dream.
I squeezed Ivy’s shoulder. “I promise I won’t put the tree up until you’re home. Besides, Mom’s picking you up from school today, I’m meeting someone.”
Ivy’s face broke into a beaming smile. “Ooooh, Tristan’s got a date,” she sang, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
“What’s his name?” Holly asked quietly, finishing off her toast and peanut butter.
I met her affectionate gaze across the table.
I couldn’t say when the girls learned that I was gay.
I remembered telling my mom and dad when I was nine; I came home from school one day and told them that I didn’t like girls, but I liked boys.
My parents were nothing but accepting, and when the girls came along, it was like they always just… knew.
“Mike.”
“Mike and Tristan sitting in the tree,” Ivy started, bouncing in her seat, and earning an eye roll from Holly.
I couldn’t stop the grin lifting my lips. As a family, we might have lived in a small house, and we might not have been the richest family, but as far as I was concerned, I was the richest guy alive for having a family who loved and supported me.
“I hope you have fun,” Holly said, giving me a warm smile, one that I returned.
“Thanks, Jolly Holly,” I replied, using the nickname I’d given her since she was a baby.
The two of them were born one week before Christmas Day, hence their names, Holly and Ivy. Christmas had always been my favorite time of the year, but when the girls were born, it made the festive season more special.
I knew the burden it put on my mom and dad, though, and it was one of the reasons I worked throughout the year and took the whole of December off.
We might not have had much money, but I was always determined to make sure the girls had the best birthday and Christmas, and that meant working all year so I could make the whole month of December perfect for them.
“Right, come on, you two,” I said, clapping my hands. “The bus will be here in five, and you still haven’t got your shoes on.”
Ivy grumbled as she finished the last of her cereal, still complaining about life’s injustice, while Holly grabbed her lunch, kissed me on the cheek, and headed to the door to put her shoes on.
Twenty minutes later, I was home alone, and I collapsed onto the couch, exhausted. I loved the twins, and I loved my job, but sometimes, I just wanted to give in to the aches and pains my body experienced. With the TV showing reruns of Friends, I allowed my eyes to close.
The shrill ringtone of my phone woke me. Disoriented, I grabbed it, my eyes widening at seeing that it was past 1 pm, before answering the call from my best friend, Bella. “Hey, babe, what’s up?”
“Hey. Did I wake you?”
I sat up, wiping the sleep from my eyes at hearing the anguish in her voice. “It’s all good. What’s up?” I was met with silence, and instantly, my senses were on alert. “What’s going on, Bella? Are you okay?”
A broken sob reached me. “T, I…I know you have a date this afternoon, but is there any chance I can see you? It’s important.”
My mind began churning. I met Bella two years ago at a bar, and she asked me out, but obviously, I declined. Instead of being embarrassed that I’d rejected her, we’d spent the night talking and had hit it off. Not one day had gone by since then that we hadn’t spoken.
I found out that she’d moved to Henderson a week before we met.
She’d escaped an alcoholic father who regularly beat her.
Unfortunately, Bella had missed most of her school years and struggled to read, write, or do basic math.
It meant she had trouble holding down a job, no matter how hard she tried.
Employers could be fickle assholes; they didn’t tend to care that someone was trying to improve their lives; all they cared about was ensuring their employees made them money. Bella fell victim to that time and time again. As did my dad.
He’d worked for Morley and McScroodge Properties for the last thirteen years, and despite how unhappy he was there, and despite how much they bled him dry for his labor, he at least had a job that covered the household bills.
“Yeah, of course,” I replied, my muscles protesting as I stood. “Usual place in thirty minutes?”
“Yeah. Thanks, T. And I’m sorry, I know you’ve been looking forward to your date with Mike.”
“It’s all good,” I said, ignoring the flash of disappointment. I had been looking forward to the date; we’d been trying to get together for weeks now. “I’ll see you soon.”
I hung up and tapped out a message to Mike asking him to postpone, my mind racing the whole time with what Bella’s news was.
Henderson Heights was one of my favorite places in the world. I’d lost count of the times I’d driven up here, and just stared out at the view across the town. The first time I brought Bella up here, she poured her heart out, sobbing as she opened up about the abuse she’d suffered.
We’d spent countless days and nights here, parked in my van, sitting there talking about everything. Our hopes and dreams. Our fears and worries. For the time we were there, it was as if nothing affected us; that we were the masters of the town, looking down on all those who looked down at us.
Today, that feeling was replaced by the crack in my heart.
“I’m sorry, T,” Bella said, swiping her tears away. “I don’t have any other choice.”
I wrapped my arms around her, pulling her closer into my side and kissing the top of her head. “It’s okay, babe. I get it. I’m just going to miss you so fucking much.”
A pained silence surrounded us as I repeated in my head what she’d told me a few minutes earlier. She’d received an eviction notice giving her twenty-four hours to pack her stuff up and vacate the property owned by my dad’s boss, Ben McScroodge.