17. Leo
17
LEO
M om’s acting weird—not at all like I thought she would. I know the excuse we gave Olive to come to dinner was because she helped us, but Tonya, Mom, and I all had ulterior motives. Because of that, I thought Mom would fall all over Olive to make her feel welcome and to embarrass me with baby stories. None of that has happened yet.
My family knows not to discuss certain topics such as Corey, my dancing, and other talents I haven’t practiced in a while. But why Tonya hasn’t brought up my dancing the other night draws a big blank. I thought for sure she’d have told Mom and Mom would be asking me a million questions instead of drilling Olive. Was it not as monumental to Tonya as it was to me? I’m glad they’re smart enough not to go there with me tonight. I want Olive to get to know that part of me when the time is right.
Mom’s usually super warm and welcoming to guests, but I haven’t seen that side of her since we arrived. It’s like she’s skeptical about something. And for her to get emotional—that’s way out of left field. The whole mustard thing had to have been an act to hide it. I haven’t seen her get upset about Dad in a long time. I wonder what triggered it.
And to see Olive immediately offer to help her and instruct her on what to do was surprising. I think it was for Olive too. I pictured her in a hospital room dressed in scrubs, full of confidence and experience. It’s sexy as hell. She could be my nurse anytime.
“So, Olive, did you make any resolutions this year?” Tonya asks between sips of her drink. “One of mine was always to be less obsessive or anal about everything. Never happened.” Sully and I nod in agreement. There’s no stopping her. “I don’t bother anymore.”
Olive relaxes in her chair. “I have a mixture of resolutions and things I want to do this year. I guess they’re considered the same.”
I nudge her foot with mine. “Any you care to share with us?”
“Oh, you know the typical lose weight, exercise…blah blah blah.” She rolls her eyes. “And to get out of my apartment and socialize more. I’ve accomplished those two already in the last forty-eight hours.” She glances my way with a sweet smile and wraps her pinky finger around mine under the table.
“What else?” Sully speaks up, shocking all of us. We aren’t used to hearing his voice anymore.
Olive looks up at him like God spoke to her. “Let’s see. A random one is to sing at a karaoke bar. I can’t sing for the life of me and then to do it in front of people…horrible. But this year, I’m going to face some of my fears. Starting with the little ones.”
Tonya’s face beams. Not good . “Clover Bar has karaoke night tomorrow. We should all go. Then you could cross that off your list. What do you say, Leo? Sully? You in?”
She’s got a lot of nerve. I ball my hands at my sides and shoot Tonya a dirty look. Olive notices and frowns. My gaze pivots back to Tonya, whose smile is as big as ever. Traitor .
“Come on, Leo. We haven’t gone there in ages. Thorsten would love to see you.”
“I’m in,” Sully says, pushing his empty plate away. Of course, he wants to be social now. Well, they’re going to be highly disappointed.
“Really?” Tonya perks up in her chair with excitement.
Sully’s shrug wakes Smokey, who’s been snoozing on and off since we got here. He picks her up and kisses her nose. “Want to hold her for a minute? I want to go check on Ma.”
It takes a second to realize he’s talking to Olive. Tonya pouts. “How come she’s allowed to hold her?”
“She’s the guest, and I’m still pissed about the video you two did. And…she always swats at you.” He hands the kitten carefully to Olive, and my heart melts because of the wide grin on her face.
Olive lays Smokey on the crook of her arm and cuddles her to her side. When she scratches behind Smokey’s ears, I hear the gentle sound of purring.
“Whatever. She swatted only a couple of times. And I’m your sister,” Tonya complains, staring at his back as he leaves the room without another word. “It’s not our fault you can’t take a joke.”
“What did you guys do to him?” Olive lowers her voice.
“Have you seen those scare prank reels on TikTok or Insta where people pretend to be scared and freak out others around them?” Tonya asks.
Olive snickers. “Yes. I saw one where a woman was leaving the house with a man, then the woman started screaming and running around the front lawn like a lunatic. The guy completely freaked out. It was hysterical.” She presses her lips together, but her bouncing shoulders give her hilarity away. She looks behind me, then whispers, “I love those videos.”
“Well, we did something like that to Sully and, as you can see, it didn’t go over well. Especially because we scared Smokey. Leo can show you later. It was all good fun. We tried to scare the anger and sadness out of him.”
“Major fail.” Tonya and I cackle. Mom comes back into the room, and we straighten up. “Ma, are you okay?” I ask. “Your eyes are bloodshot.”
She waves it off as she sits at the table again, but won’t look at me. “Never get mustard in your eye. It’s a horror. I tried to rinse them out, but it wasn’t easy. I’ll be fine.” Olive observes her intently, but doesn’t say anything. Mom picks up her fork. “So what did I miss?”
“We’re going to take Olive to Clover’s tomorrow night for karaoke,” Tonya answers. “And Sully agreed to go.”
Mom’s hand freezes right before she puts a fork full of potatoes in her mouth. “Really? I must’ve been gone longer than I thought.”
“I did,” Sully confirms as he walks back into the kitchen. He gets himself another beer from the refrigerator and returns to his chair. Olive hands him Smokey. He leans back slightly and lays the kitten on his chest, where she instantly starts making biscuits. It’s amazing how tame she is now. When he found her she was starving, skittish, and wouldn’t let anyone near her. Within a week, she was the opposite. To him anyway. I guess he’s got the magic touch.
Mom’s brows shoot up to her hairline. “I must be in another universe.” Say nothing about me. “Did you agree on a time? Maybe I’ll come too.” Great . How am I going to get out of this?
“Hey, if karaoke isn’t your thing, you don’t have to go,” Olive whispers to me. “You don’t have to sing.”
Suck it up, tough guy. I need to get my mood in check. This isn’t about me. It’s for Olive to cross one more thing off her list. With a wicked grin, I say, “I wouldn’t miss hearing you sing for the world.”
Her eyes narrow. “And what about you? Can you sing? Maybe we could have a competition? You know, like what Tom Holland did against Zendaya. You could definitely pull it off with your dance moves.”
I grit my teeth, waiting for someone to use this as an opening.
“I’d love to see that,” Tonya exclaims, clapping her hands. “But that was lip-syncing, and I’m not sure Thorsten wants a dance off.” She sighs with hearts in her eyes. “I love that video of Tom Holland lip-syncing ‘Umbrella.’”
“Right?” Olive confirms . It’s nice to see them hitting it off. “I never heard of him until I saw that video.” She turns to me. “So? You gonna sing too, and make a fool out of yourself with me?”
I shake my head. “No can do. I’ll be going to hear you or them. It’s not about me.” There’s a finality in my voice that not only shocks me but the others too. Olive must think I’m being a dick. I’m the funny guy, not the downer.
But everything I’ve been avoiding for years is closing in on me.
Maybe Mom was right.
Maybe it’s time to stop running.