Chapter 5

CHAPTER 5

A one-in-a-million fluke happened this week—the BroFO guys actually had a good idea.

It was Nick who'd suggested that everyone loves throwing plastic weapons at a plastic target, including tween girls. I'd been skeptical. The guys' advice was usually along the lines of loosen up and bond with your kids by jumping out of an airplane. Then there was Chet's "offer" last Friday.

I practically puked up my lunch just thinking about that. But thankfully he hadn't bothered me during the week since. And the sight I witnessed now in my backyard on this cloudless Sunday afternoon made everything else BroFO-related feel inconsequential.

Citra's smile glowed with the force of a thousand suns as she lifted her arm over her head and let her ax fly. The plastic projectile arced through the air, slapped into the corner of the target, and caught in the plastic pegs.

"No fair!" Ivy stuck her tongue out at her sister.

Citra threw her hands in the air and danced around the yard. "Whoo! Who's the ax master now?"

"It was a lucky throw," Ivy said.

"Nope, skill. You're just jealous that you can't throw them hard enough to stick the landing."

"Can too." Ivy glared and picked up her three axes that lay scattered in the grass.

"You could try standing a little closer," I told Ivy.

"Yeah, we'll move the stand line forward and I'll land not just one, but all three of mine next time," Citra said.

"Will not," Ivy said. "You'll miss. I'm going to win."

With a sarcastic tone, Citra said, "Sure, Ivy."

"I will!" Ivy stomped her foot in indignation.

"We don't have to keep score," I said. "We're just having fun."

Citra barked a laugh. "Sure, Mom."

It wasn't an eye roll, her phone was nowhere in sight, and she practically glowed with enthusiasm. I really was going to have to thank Nick for telling me to buy this.

We'd had an overall good week, and this was the icing on top. I'd spotted the neighbors across the street that Summer had mentioned the CDC taking in. They'd looked perfectly healthy and normal, so whatever that was about had to be over. Plus, the girls had been getting along.

The sound of a door opening and shutting came from the other side of the fence.

"Summer!" Ivy called. "Come over and play axes with us."

The two of them had spent some time drawing with sidewalk chalk on Thursday. Immediately, Ivy became a huge fan of Summer's. Summer also helped Citra afterward with a particularly rough night of homework. I was now a huge Summer fan, too.

"Axes? Sounds dangerous. I'm in," Summer called back. "Can I bring Hugo with me?"

Ivy grinned up at me.

"He'll be brooding all alone if he stays behind. It's very sad," Summer said.

Citra shook her head no.

"Yes," Ivy called back. "Bring him."

"I thought you hated boys," Citra said to Ivy.

"He's not a boy. He's a man," Ivy said. "You can tell by all the scratchy-looking fur."

Citra frowned at her.

"He might not even come," I said. "Plus it's good to be neighborly. He's nice."

"Mmhmm." Citra retrieved her axes and threw them again.

"It's my turn," Ivy said.

"I don't care," Citra said.

"It's fair to switch who goes first each game," I said.

Citra smirked at her sister.

I said, "It's also important to be kind to one another."

Citra's smirk faded. Then the eyeroll came back in full force.

"Where's my weapon and what do I get to smash with it?" Summer's voice preceded her and Hugo as they walked around the house.

Hugo was wearing casual clothes and looking ridiculously hot as usual. And I suddenly was all too aware that I, too, was wearing casual clothes. Mine weren't hot. They were past-their-prime yoga pants and an oversized t-shirt that was comfortable as all get-out but had never been flattering. It was take-it or leave-it honest and not an attempt to impress anyone. It was me.

"Come here, I'll show you," Ivy ran over and grabbed Summer's hand.

Citra watched as Ivy explained the game, occasionally interjecting to correct her sister's mistakes. She even almost smiled at Summer once after Summer missed her first throw. But she cast a wary gaze back at Hugo as he stepped up next to me.

"Hey, neighbor," he said in that dreamy, gravelly way he always did.

"Strange seeing you on this side of the fence," I said.

"Strange good or strange bad?" he asked.

I considered a moment, or maybe I was just lost in the effect his presence had on me. Finally, I said, "Good."

He smiled, and that was even better.

"I brought cookies, if that's okay," he said.

"Yes, thank you. That's really thoughtful."

He handed the box to me. I peeked inside and found a variety, including the carrot ones he'd given us last time at the market. We hadn't had a chance to go yesterday because of Citra's soccer game.

"My mom doesn't date," Citra said from across the yard, her gaze pointed at Hugo.

Her words, so frank and unfiltered, shot heat up the back of my neck. I wished I could brush the words away like crumbs from a tablecloth. I had no idea what to say, but I had to say something, right?

"I've heard that," Hugo said. "She already has the perfect family right here."

"That's right," Citra said.

"We are pretty great," Ivy agreed.

"There's no such thing as too much love though, right?" Summer said with a sly smile. "I mean look at us. You can't even have two teams battle it out in an epic ax competition when there's only three people. You need at least four."

I nodded my agreement, but Citra's glare made it clear that she wasn't convinced.

"Hugo brought you cookies." I opened the box and set it on the table.

Ivy raced over and picked one with chocolate chips.

"I can't be bought," Citra said, eyeing the box like she totally could be bought if there was a carrot cookie in there.

"Good thing there are no strings attached then," Hugo said. "Cookies are a gesture of neighborly good will."

"I love cookies," Ivy said. "Hugo, you should take a turn with the axes."

She handed him hers.

"You have to stand by the bush," Citra told him, which was twice as far from the target as anyone else had played from.

"Got it." He stood where Citra told him to stand, and then he threw his first ax.

It landed dead in the center.

Ivy and Summer cheered.

"Wow," I said.

"Beginner's luck," Citra said, her voice questioning.

Then he threw the others, each landing in the center of the target.

"Again," Ivy said. "Do it again."

Hugo glanced over at Citra.

"Do it," she said. "You can't do it twice. No one can."

Hugo gathered his axes and did it again, hitting the center of the target each and every time.

"That's not possible," Citra said, aghast.

"He has a lot of experience with axes," Summer said.

"In the fires," Ivy said, her voice filled with awe. "He throws them like throwing stars to save all the trapped kittens and babies."

"Not exactly," he said.

Citra crossed her arms. "How'd you really do it?"

"It's in the wrist," he said. "I'll show you."

She approached slowly, but her desire to defeat her sister outweighed her hesitation.

Hugo showed her how to improve her grip and then her stance and her swing. They practiced as Ivy ran around the yard doing cartwheels and working off her sugar high. I watched in awe of Hugo's willingness to spend time with my girls. There was nothing sexier than a man who cared.

Even if I didn't have time to date, I could see the five of us doing things like this every weekend. If Hugo was good at middle school math, I'd melt into a puddle of swoony mush.

"I have the evening off. Hugo doesn't work tonight, either," Summer said. "You two should go out for dinner. I'd love to show the girls my Nerf gun collection."

"Can we, Mama? Please?" Ivy put her hands together and her whole body trembled with excitement.

"Aren't Nerf guns for ten-year-old boys?" Citra asked.

"I inherited the collection from a nineteen-year-old boy a few years ago, and I assure you, they're in much better hands now," Summer said. "Plus, who cares. Women are meant to break barriers. We can take anything that's supposed to be for men and do it ten times better. Except missing the toilet and peeing on the floor. Dudes only for that."

Citra barked a laugh then blinked twice, seemingly surprising herself.

"I don't pee on the floor," Hugo said.

Summer made a face that suggested that could go either way.

"Please, Mama, pretty please," Ivy said.

"I won't be replaced," Citra told Hugo. "We come first."

"I wouldn't dream of it," Hugo said.

Citra turned a conflicted but hopeful gaze toward me.

I was left a little stunned and a little hopeful myself. I'd always thought it wasn't possible to have it all. But around Hugo, I was starting to think maybe I was wrong.

"I don't mean to put you on the spot," he said. "We can play more axes and leave you to your evening. Any time you might want to get a coffee, talk without a fence between us, I'm there," Hugo said.

And somehow that was even better.

"Yes," I said. "Coffee. Today?"

I didn't mean it to sound like a question.

"I'm free now," he said. "There's a place on Meadow Street. I also have some decaf in my kitchen."

"Our kitchen doesn't count as a date," Summer said quietly to Ivy.

"Decaf sounds perfect," I said. "Then maybe I'll sleep tonight."

Probably not, but even knowing that couldn't dull the excitement thrumming through my veins.

I reminded the girls that they could come get me any time they needed something. And when I left with Hugo to go next door, Citra was actually smiling.

As Hugo set to work making coffee, I couldn't help but look around the space that had once belonged to my brother. The furniture was different, but the paint was the same. It felt strange to be here.

Hugo noticed me looking around.

"Is it the same as it used to be?" he asked.

"Mostly."

"Is that uncomfortable for you?"

"Not at all. It's comforting , actually. It makes me feel like I should actually make time to call Davey back. He keeps reaching out, but I've been putting it off."

"Because he's different than he used to be?"

"Yeah. I feel like we don't know each other anymore. Obviously I can't know him if I don't talk to him, but when I do talk to him, I miss who he was. It's like he's gone and there's a stranger in his place."

"That has to be difficult."

"I think it's a Band-Aid situation, where it'd be better to tear it off, you know? But I never feel like I have the energy for it."

"You have a lot going on."

"Yep. I've told you about the BroFOs. Then there's the girls having more fights recently. And the math homework. I swear numbers are the bane of my existence."

Hugo chuckled. "I never was much a fan of math, either."

"Trying to help Citra with homework has turned into torture for both of us."

"If it helps, I barely survived my math classes and I turned out okay."

"It would help more if you had practical advice for along the way."

"Summer's a math teacher."

"No way."

He nodded. "Makes it hard to believe we're related."

I chuckled softly as he slid a cup of coffee in front of me. He set out cream and sugar, too. I thanked him and prepped my cup.

"Our dad remarried and had a second kid when I was already an adult," he said. "My mom was worried I'd be jealous, but I never had anything but love for her."

That was sweet. He was sweet.

"Summer told me you moved her here to protect her from a stalker," I said.

"I didn't say before because it's her story to tell," he said.

"That's very honorable of you," I said. "So not only do you save kittens and babies from fires, but you save your sister from her troubles."

"I can't do everything. She still has student loans hounding her."

I grinned at him. "She adores you."

"I adore her, too."

"You're too perfect. Tell me what's wrong with you."

He chuckled. "There has to be something?"

"There's always a plethora of somethings. The older I get, the more baggage and red flags men carry along with them."

"I have arthritis," he said. "It's bad in my knees."

"The horror," I deadpanned. "Come on. Give me the juicy stuff."

"Juicy?"

"Yeah, how else am I supposed to know if this coffee is a good idea or not."

"Well you could taste it."

I took a sip. It was delicious.

"What sorcery is this?"

"I grind my own beans."

I shook my head. "Now there has to be more red flags to balance things out or you'd have been married ten times by now."

"I was married once," he said.

Now that's what I was talking about. "What happened?"

"We were high school sweethearts. The doctors said she had a terminal illness, so we got married after we both turned eighteen so she'd have the chance."

Tears sprung up into my eyes. "I'm so sorry."

"It's okay. I don't regret it. But she didn't die."

Alarm bells went off in my head. Here it was, the huge explosive red flag I'd been waiting for. "So you're…still married?"

"No. She left me after a year, and her experimental treatment led to a clean bill of health."

"That's…I'm so sorry."

"I'm glad she's out there getting her second chance at life," he said. "We didn't have the kind of love that was meant to last, but she's a good person and has a family of her own now."

And he didn't.

"I dated on and off through the years, but finding a spark is rare," he said.

"What makes you feel the spark?" I asked.

He leaned a little closer over the counter and smiled at me. "I feel it with you."

My chest felt tight.

I whispered, "I feel it too."

"I'd really like to kiss you, Daisy."

I nodded. "Me, too."

His lips brushed mine like the first warm breeze of spring. He was gentle, tender, as we explored the unknown terrain. Even with the lightness, even though only the briefest of moments had passed, I felt jolted alive.

It had been so long that I'd forgotten the electric pulse of a first kiss, the thrill of something so new and full of possibility.

Hugo was hot and sweet and all things wonderful. I wanted to get lost in him, lost in his mouth, and know that it was safe to finally let go of control, if only for a short time.

But as my eyes flickered shut, I felt a new sensation.

Fur.

I opened my eyes, confused.

Hugo wasn't standing across the counter from me.

But on top of the counter, there was a rabbit.