The Greatest Gift

𝘊𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘵𝘦𝘳 16 𝘹 𝘉𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘵

Sorry I didn't post this!! Here you go! Hope you enjoy it! 

As we were finishing up watching The Little Mermaid, the front door opened and I heard my brothers come in.

I pried away from the twins, crawled out of the fort, and ran into the kitchen where they were unwrapping the fast food they'd gotten for supper.

McDonald's. Sadie's favorite.

"So how was it?" I asked them both.

Jaison looked at Shayne, seeing if he wanted to go first. But Shayne was leaning on the island, staring into space.

"Hey, you OK?" I asked concernedly.

Shayne's head snapped up.

"What?" he said. "Oh. Yeah. I'm fine."

"Sure?"

"Yeah."

"How was the counseling session?"

"It was great," Shayne said. "I mean, we've already gotten really far. Mrs. Acre is amazing; we figured out how to keep my nausea at least at bay by changing my thoughts and using breathing patterns."

"That's great!" Jaison said excitedly. He gave Shayne a side-hug. "I'm so glad. I was so worried about you, Shay."

"I was, too," I said, joining in on the hug. "We all were. We love ya, Shay."

Shayne's eyes got watery. "Thanks," he mumbled.

"How was work?" I asked Jaison after we'd broken apart.

Jaison shrugged.

"Eh," he said. "Same old, same old. Except for some coworkers who gave me sympathy cards and PayPalled me money. I figured we could open the cards after the twins are in bed."

Shayne and I nodded solemnly. Shayne did one of his little breathing patterns for a couple of seconds. I rubbed his shoulder and he smiled sadly at me.

"How was it here?" he asked. "Were the twins okay?"

I nodded. "We built a fort and watched a couple of movies," I said. "Then we took a break and played hide and seek and played outside. Then we watched a few more movies."

"Man, I want to switch places with you," Jaison mumbled. "They didn't snack, did they?"

"Nope," I said. "I was going to make cheesy popcorn, but after I got your text about supper, I figured I'd save it for us for later." I smiled.

All of a sudden Shayne's phone screen lit up and made a noise. Shayne picked it up and opened it.

When he was the text on the screen I could see him internally panic.

"What's the matter?" I said.

Shayne looked up and tried to make himself look calmer than he really was.

"Nothing," he said. His voice squeaked.

"No, what is it?" Jaison put his arm around our brother. "You can tell us. We won't tell anyone."

"No, really, it's nothing," Shayne said. "I promise."

"Are you sure?" Jaison said.

"We want to help you," I said.

Shayne pulled away. "Seriously, it's literally nothing," he said breathlessly. "It's a text from someone I met at the center, okay? Just drop it. I'm not a middle schooler."

Woah. Touchy. I held up my hands, signaling innocence, and backed away. Shayne gave me a look.

Although, I did see some recognition light up on Jaison's face, and, surprisingly, he willingly stopped pushing.

I'd have to ask him about it later. Something was up with Shay. There was no denying it.