A red ball bumped Daya on the nose, but, luckily, the touchdown was feather light. "I'm sorry, my dears." She had totally missed what the cold-fusion powered twins were yelling at her before the ball had gotten her attention.
Pausing a recording of a dance routine every time Pavel curled up his fingers made her a touch absent-minded.
"Shush, Auntie Daya is working." Shanti gathered the kids to her.
"She's sitting in the chair!" Rajni pointed out, ducking away from her mom. She chased the ball to the corner of the living room and passed it to Veer, while Shanti flailed her arms ineffectually. Veer, with his tongue between his teeth, caught the thing out of the air.
Daya stretched up in the chair. "I think you should sign them up for basketball."
"Maybe in May. But no ball games upstairs!" Shanti wagged her finger.
"Give me that before you hurt yourself." Daya crooked her finger at Veer and was rewarded with a pass. "No more work! Let's go downstairs and have some fun!"
The twins pounded down the stairs in an avalanche of feet, hands and flying shoes. The whoops of delight resonated from the basement playroom.
"Are you sure you can take my little turbo-jets on? You look tired."
Daya grinned. "It's good for me. I'm going crazy waiting on Her Majesty Belousova to give us her yay or nay. Plus, the little ones are like Pavel-training simulator. Gods, the guy has a second wind, and the fifth, and the hundredth..."
Shanti's brow creased. "You talk a lot about him..."
Daya was sure she was about to ask about Mike, but two impish faces popped around the door, one atop another, two pairs of eyes alive with mischief. "Auntie Daya!" the twins chorused.
"I'm coming!"
The little feet thundered back down.
Shanti sighed. "Ten to twenty more times up and down that staircase, and maybe, just maybe, they will get tired enough to fall asleep without giggling for half the night. I should probably put them in separate rooms, but I don't have the heart... they're twins."
And you don't have a spare bedroom, thanks to me.
"Do what feels right," Daya said. "And, heck, I might fall asleep after this too. I need it."
"How're you holding up, sis?" Shanti threw a quick glance down the stairs, but the concerned frown returned to her face. "I heard you sobbing the other night."
"I want to call Mike every night. I decide against it every morning. What will I tell him? Everything is peachy, I'm waiting on gods know what?"
A heavy sigh escaped her lips before she spelled out for Shanti the imaginary conversation she held in her head with Mike a million times already. "Then he'll talk in that soft voice of his about how it's fine to be content... and I can't afford to be content right now. I can't jump into the car and drive all the way back after walking out like a mad dog bit me."
Shanti lowered herself into the chair that Daya had just vacated and placed her chin on the steepled fingers. "You never told me what had happened between you. Whose fault was it that you rushed back to Ontario?"
"Mine," Daya said without a moment's hesitation.
Her sister smiled a secret, knowing smile. "It's on him then."
"Shanti! Please, just believe me. Your baby sister can screw up. I lashed out at a nice guy, and... and... destroyed it all. Then I barged into your life with my problems... I'm a horrible, selfish person."
YOU ARE READING
Winners Don't Have Bad Days (Watty 2020 Winner, Romance)
ChickLitWhen a total stranger knows what eats you, maybe they are your one true love. Even if you don't know it yet. || On Friday the 13th, two twenty-something, Daya and Mike, end up in a mutually beneficial arrangement: she is his caregiver after he break...
