Tend To My Heart

10

Evangeline

     I expected to be with the group for the rest of my day but it just ended up being my brothers and Jeremy. I drove Hayden and Lucas home after my shift and we were greeted by Jeremy who was making dinner.

"I would've made dinner uncle J" I smiled kissing his cheek and setting my things on the counter.

"I know, that's why I jumped at the chance" he smirked.

"No hooligans today?" He asked, realizing it was just the three of us.

"No, everyone was beat" Lucas shrugged, swooping Hayden up to join him in plopping on the couch.

"You both look like you've had a day" Jeremy laughed.

"This is my best look, what do you mean?" I rolled my eyes.

"Hayden says grandma wants dinner this weekend" Lucas reminded me and I could see Jeremy fight the urge to whine.

"Okay..." was all he said and I let out a snort.

"You sound excited" I told him, sitting in one of the stools that rested underneath our counter.

"You know how grandma gets, she's always on my ass about being single and trying to set me up with one of her friends weird daughters" Jeremy let out.

"What's wrong with being single? I like my life" he shrugged.

"Aww" I cooed and he turned to glare at me.

"Tell her you have a girlfriend" I shrugged.

"Lie? To my mother, Evangeline Carter, what's gotten into you?" He playfully gasped.

"Or say you have a date or something, the second she hears you landed a date without her help, she'll back off, I guarantee it" I laughed.

"Or find an actual girlfriend" Lucas chimed in causing Jeremy and I to both glare in his direction.

"I'd prefer if the children I'm raising didn't converse about my love life, I'm very happy with our situation we've got going" Jeremy rolled his eyes.

"Happy or content?" I asked, resting my chin in my palm.

"And that's enough of that, chicken, anyone?" Jeremy changed the subject making me shake my head and laugh.

After dinner, I sent Hayden to bed and watched the older men follow shortly after him, trudging to their bedrooms. I took the opportunity to clean up the apartment on my own and starting a load of laundry, just to get it out of the way.

I packed Hayden's lunch as well as Jeremy's because he always forgets and eats twice the amount we all do during dinner.

I felt a surge of calm take over me as I did my little list of chores and smiled to myself.

With everything that's happened over the course of a few days, I took advantage of the quiet and alone time I was getting right now.

Even if it was now 2am.

This was the only time of day that I got time like this. That I had time to think and go over the latest events of my life and analyze them.

I often over analyzed and sent myself into a spiral of possibilities but I genuinely found a sense of peace in my thoughts.

I sat on the couch, leaning my head back to stare at the ceiling and just started to think. I thought about everything and anything, I thought about everyone and anyone.

And still, my mind seemed to trail back to the one person I fought oh-so-hard not to.

Tristan fucking Fuller.

I have never wanted to know so much about a person. I've also never been so infuriated by a single person before, not one. While he was a man that women probably found admirable, I found that I was fascinated with him for all of the opposing reasons.

I let out a groan and rubbed my face.

"You are such a clean freak" Lucas' voice scared me and he leaned against the wall, looking around the apartment.

"And you're just a freak, so" I shrugged, folding my arms.

My twin walked over to sit beside me and let out a sigh of his own.

"What's going on up there?" he asked, poking my temple and I swatted his hand away.

"You want me to pick...one thing out of the chaos happening in here?" I laughed and faced him.

He rolled his eyes and I pulled my knees up to my chest, resting my chin on them.

"You know how I get around this time, the bills are almost due so I'll be spending some time sorting all of that out and everything" I shrugged.

"No...it's more than that, something is off" Lucas pointed out and I mentally facepalmed.

No one else can point things out like that the way Lucas can. Call it what you want, twin telepathy or whatever, Lucas always know more than anyone else.

"My schedules been thrown off ever since that damn party Lucas. Everything I'm used to, everything I do almost everyday is so...off balance" I told him truthfully, being careful not to bring anything up that might relate to Tristan.

"Maybe that's a good thing, change can be good V" he chuckled.

I shook my head "not for me...change has never been good for me Lucas" I sighed.

He pulled me under his arm and kissed the top of my head. It nearly brought tears to my eyes but I choked them down and just enjoyed the comfort of my brother.

"We love you V...and we're always here" he told me, giving me a squeeze.

Before I knew it, I shut my eyes and drifted off to sleep.