My Future Husband

Chapter 2

Jesus Christ, today has been a long day.

“Sure you’re okay to walk them back, Princess? Uncle Milo or Uncle Josh will drive you if you want.” Leah kisses Heather’s head as she wrangles her two tiny demons.

Siblings, I mean siblings.

No I don’t.

“It’s fine, maybe the walk will exhaust them and we can all get some sleep tonight.” That girl, putting the whole world before herself.

“Where would I be without you?” Lost, you’d be lost without her.

Leah kisses all three of her children again, but all I can see is how exhausted her daughter is. “It’s an emergency appointment, one of my patients is in rough shape, so I don’t know how long it’ll be, but Dad will be home in an hour... unless you need me here hun, I can-”

“Mom, your patient’s waiting for you. Go, we’re fine.” Heather shoves her mother out the door, sometimes it's easy to forget which one of them is supposed to be the parent.

She’s amazing, incredible in fact. She’s funny, smart, so fucking talented she could rule the world, and yet she channels every bit of that energy into the people she loves.

It takes a toll on her, one she doesn't let anybody else see. She always feels like she has to be the perfect princess; perfect grades, perfect attendance, run for every class position, win every match, keep the kids in line. Sometimes I wish someone would come along and just force her out of her bubble, make her live her life for her for once.

“Shit, where’s my firelighter?” I look around the stove, before I hear a yelp from the youngest Thompson as Heather smacks the back of her head.

“Are you trying to burn the whole place down, you tiny fucking psychopath!” She snatches my firelighter from Cara, who shoves her tongue out at her sister before pretending her fingers are little matches, striking them on her palm before blowing out the invisible flames.

“It would look all pwitty on fire... right next to the water... poetic.”

That one... we’ll all be safer when she’s in prison.

“Thank you, my angel.” I make sure to put it on a high enough shelf the future-star-of-a-murder-documentary can’t get it. “Like fuck are you walking them back though, I’ll get one of the humping bunnies upstairs to take you all. Just tie those little fuckers to the treadmill in the gym when you get back until they pass out.” She laughs, before she yawns. She needs a good night’s sleep.

I pull her around the counter for a hug, we both know she wants it. “How about tomorrow night me and you go down to the lighthouse? Just get a little break, then you can crash with me?”

“Can Liam come?” I think that’s pretty much a given at this point, I can’t remember the last time I saw one of them without the other, even now he’s less than six feet away from her.

“Definitely.” She rests her head against my shoulder, and for the first time today, she lets someone else take some of the weight off her.

The worst part is, most of it she puts on herself. Jay and Leah try to let her breathe, but she has this never-ending need to please people. She knows her dad wants another Thompson jersey in the den, so she never stops practising. She knows that her Mama is so proud of her academics, so she never stops studying.

One day, it's all gonna snap.

I finish locking up, making sure everything is set for the morning before trudging upstairs. Of course when I get to my own front door, I have to fucking knock, because I don’t know if you’ve ever walked in on your brother railing his future husband into your couch, but it’s an experience I only need to go through once.