Fix My Feet When They're Stumblin'

Chapter 66

    Following Ronnie into the amber-lit living room, Brandon found his children crowded on the patterned rug around a Monopoly board, with Tana on the loveseat nearby. Olivia sat cross-legged at the board's last edge in front of Tana's couch. His wife looked up with a sunny grin as he approached, patting the empty cushion at her side.

    "Brandon, do you wanna come sit with me? There's not enough room for all of us to sit, so we're gonna hang out here and share a piece, and the kids are gonna roll the dice and move our piece for us."

    Carefully, Brandon stepped around the board on the floor and sank down beside Tana with a soft sigh, accepting a small pile of multicolored paper money from her.

    "Here, you can have the ones and the fives, we'll tag-team it. We're missing a piece, so there's not enough for everyone to play on their own. I thought we could share the horse, is that okay?"

    Brandon shrugged, ambivalent, and leaned back into the loveseat, resting his head on her shoulder and fiddling absently with the pink and white bills. "Okay."

    A soft scratching sound reached his ears, and Brandon raised his head and looked around, searching for the source of the noise. Tana touched his hand, then pointed to the French doors that led to the backyard.

    "It's only Anakin, outside. It's okay."

    Brandon squinted, just making out a dim golden shape beyond the doors. "Oh. W-Why's he...out there?"

    Tana tilted her head, examining him with narrowed eyes, and Brandon wilted against the side of the loveseat. I think I'm supposed to know this. "S-Sorry, I don't...sorry."

    "It's okay, Brandon. He was just...overly excited when we came home. He was too loud, he hurt your head. We...we didn't want him to do it again."

    Poor little guy. It's not his fault. Brandon looked to the doors again, listening to the quiet scratching of the dog. "Oh. You c-can...let him in. It's...o-okay."

    All three of his children looked up from setting up the Monopoly board at that, their eyes wide. Gunnar perked up, staring at Tana. "Oh, please, mom? Dad says it's okay!"

    Tana looked uncomfortable, and Brandon winced. I probably shouldn't have said anything. She sighed, dropping her gaze to her knees. "Fine. We'll try again, someone go - "

    Before she had even finished her sentence, Gunnar was at the back door, coaxing the dog inside gently. "Come on, Anni!"

    He followed the goldendoodle back toward the board, grinning, and Brandon relaxed, seeing similar expressions on his brothers' faces. They're happy. Good.

    The dog circled around the Monopoly board, sniffing everyone diligently and whining in excitement before lying down with a soft snort on the bed beneath the engraved end table.

    Settled next to Olivia by Brandon's feet, Ronnie tapped Brandon's knee and tilted his head back, grinning mischievously up at him and displaying a tiny silver boot in his palm.

    "Hey, Bran, look - I'm gonna be the boot, so I can have two functional feet for a little bit!"

    Brandon giggled, basking in the sudden rush of warmth at his friend's joke, and Ronnie beamed back at him, then hastily returned his attention to the boys as the game began.

     Brandon's eyes lingered on the miniature boot sitting innocently beside the other pieces, then forced his gaze away, fighting an unpleasant roil of nausea. A hiking boot...we'll never go hiking again because of me.

    He bit his lip and watched his boys instead. Ron's not bothered by it, so it shouldn't bother me either, right? Ammon took care to roll the dice on the carpet, minimizing the noise, and Brandon was surprised when Tana nudged him only a minute or two into the game.

    "Hey, baby - do we wanna buy Oriental Avenue?"

    Brandon blinked and sat up, peering down at the baby blue square card held up by Gunnar. Dunno. He shrugged, sinking back into Tana's shoulder. "If you want."

    "Ohhh, so I'm the boss now, am I?" she teased, passing a golden hundred dollar bill down to Ronnie for the bank and squeezing Brandon's knee as she returned. She balanced the property card on the arm of the sofa, smiling down at it. "That's nice, I'll take it."

    Another few turns went by uneventfully, and Brandon began absently laying out his bills on his lap - ones here, fives there, and watching the little figures travel around the board, money exchanging hands. Tana and Ronnie both bought everything they landed on, while Olivia and the children were more selective.

    "Ron, that's our property. You owe us rent," Tana spoke up suddenly, looking between her little collection of cards and the board just as Ronnie moved to pass the dice to his wife.

    "What? No, that can't be yours, can it?" Ronnie's eyes gleamed as he craned his neck back to look at Tana's stash of properties. "No, I remember - you guys bought Vermont! This is Oriental, Tan. Jeez."

    "Oh, shut up and give us the money," she giggled, nudging his back gently with her foot and leaning to check the information on the card. "You owe us...um, six bucks. Hand it over."

    Ronnie held up a pair of pink and white bills, winking at Brandon. "Okay, but I'm paying B, not you! He's the holder of the mystical ones and fives. Here you go, buddy. You're a whole six bucks richer. Go buy yourself something nice."

    "You're d-dumb, Ron," Brandon giggled, reaching out to retrieve the money and carefully matching them with their respective piles in his lap. "Thanks."

    As the game progressed, producing bright little lines of green plastic houses and red hotels, Brandon found himself zoning out, only startling to attention when ones or fives were required, and he would clumsily count them out and hand them over or collect them drowsily.

     Eventually, he could no longer keep his eyes open, his head drooping into his chest. He felt Tana swipe the bills from his lap, adding them to the rest of her own colorful store of money.

    "Brandon, baby, let me help you up. You should go to bed," she whispered, her breath tickling his ear.

    Go...? "N-No." He mumbled, leaning into her shoulder. "Don't...w-wanna stay."

    There was a long lull in the conversation, a silence only broken by the sounds of the game continuing in their absence, and then he felt her hand brush his forehead tenderly, felt her guide his head to the armrest of the loveseat.

    A soft rustling filled his ears, then a soft, heavy weight settled over his lap and he curled his fingers in the blanket, bringing it to his chin. When his wife spoke again, her voice was tight and choked with tears.

    "Of course, Brandon. You can stay, baby. Just rest."

    Everything I say makes her sad. Brandon buried his face beneath the blanket, forcing himself to take deep, even breaths through the tension that suddenly filled his muscles. I don't want to make her sad.

    "Sorry - m'sorry, j-just - just wanna stay," he mumbled, feeling her lean into him to listen. "S-Sorry. If you d-don't...don't want...I c-can go."

    A shaky inhale was Tana's only response for many seconds, and then he felt the blanket being pulled back from his face, felt her lips on his cheek, her fingers coasting through his hair.

    "No, love. I want you to stay. You can stay."

    A wave of relief swept through his body. "'Kay," he whispered, relaxing into the couch cushions and finally succumbing to the cloud of weariness that loomed over him. "L-Love you."

    A tiny giggle reached Brandon's ears, and he felt her lips on his own. "Not more than I love you, Brandon. Now shh...go to sleep."

    Brandon sighed deeply, and let the hushed giggles and whispers of his children carry him away to sleep.