15| Deadbeat

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I grabbed my dad's hand as we both walked up the steps to the house

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I grabbed my dad's hand as we both walked up the steps to the house. I glared at the time on my phone. It had just turned 7:30. My mom is currently at work on an overnight shift. She is not set to come home until tomorrow morning. I did feel an ounce of guilt for keeping my mom out of the bubble, but it's what we have to do. I'm not sure just how bad she's going to react when she finds out, but for now, it's best that we keep her out of the loop.

When we both entered, we found Graham sitting on the sofa watching SpongeBob with Toddy sitting on his lap. Graham loves that little boy. We all do. A gut-wrenching feeling began soaring at me the second I connected eyes with Graham. My fingertips lost their feelings, and I felt a pounding in my head.

"Aunty!" Todd screamed in excitement when he saw me.

He jumped from Graham's lap and ran over to me. His breath smelled like Cheetos and the apple juice he guzzles down every day. I planted kisses all over his cheek. I wanted to break down. It took everything in me not to break down.

"Hi Toddy Todd," I said softly as a caressed my hands through his head full of curls.

I let out a deep breath, and I failed miserably. I burst into tears. I was so disappointed in myself. I gave myself a pep talk the entire car ride. I was supposed to come in and distract Todd while my dad talk to Graham out back. This was going to be much harder than I thought.

"What's the matter?" Graham stood on his feet alert. I was emotional.

"Nothing!" I said quickly.

He read right through my bullshit.

"Come on Farrah, why are you crying?" He asked.

He was wearing a white shirt and black sweatpants. Graham is probably one of my favorite human beings on this earth. My little brother. Who loves and cares so deeply about people was about to have his world flipped upside down.

He walked over to me and stared into my eyes.

"Come on Farrah, you are scaring me. Are you okay? What's the matter?" He was concerned for me.

Graham has always been this way. Seeing me cry always puts my younger brother in protection mode. Although he's the youngest of the three of us, He's always been very protective of me and Sunny.

I turned my head to look at Toddy's eyes and realized he does not look like anyone in our family. I was completely convinced he looked like our father, but as Todd got older, he has grown into his features, and the similarities went away.

"There is something I need to speak to you about son." My dad said grimly. I looked over to him to see him standing beside the door.

From his body language, I can see that he was nervous, but this was not fair to Graham. We had to let him know.

"What's up with y'all? Why are you two acting like someone died? Is everything okay?" He asked looking back and forth between me and our father.

"Graham. I think you and daddy need to talk." I wiped my tears with the back of my hand.

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