My Life In Pieces (Book #1)

Chapter 5

Holy shit!

Staring back at me was a little boy with gorgeous blue-gray eyes. The only one in the photo who wasn't one of my cousins. He was a very young Ari.

I was ready to get the hell out of this house. I scarfed down my breakfast while Dad just looked at me amused.

"Can I go over to Uncle Jim's?" I said though a mouthful of bacon and eggs.

His smile spread further across his face. No doubt from seeing me so eager to hang out with his Canadian family. I let the fact I had accidentally made him happy slide.

"Sure. Go for it. You really had fun last night, huh? What all did y'all do?"

I nodded. I still hated the fact that I was here, but last night had been awesome.

He didn't need to know how awesome though.

I put on as innocent of a voice as I could. "Yeah Daddy, I had a blast. James took me to a show downtown with some of his friends."

"Oh that sounds nice. Was it a good movie?"

He was too old if he thought show still meant movie.

I just nodded. Jordan wouldn't have cared that I saw the concert. She would have asked how good they were or when the next one was so she could come too.

I headed out down the street. It was only August but already I needed a coat here. I walked over to my cousins' looking at the little Wisteria Lane of street I now lived on. Elyse and I binge watched Desperate Housewives this summer. I wondered if this street would be just as dramatically entertaining.

I made it to the door but wasn't sure if I was allowed to just walk in. Even as a kid Aunt Claire made a big deal about how rude it was just enter someone's house. Jordan never cared if  my cousins did that. I guess it was a southern hospitality thing. I stood there a moment before deciding to knock. I was surprised when it was Tyler who  answered the door.

He gave me a warm smile of welcome. "Hey little Harrison."

I flashed a genuine smile, little Harrison, I was one of the Harrison brood to him. Not Stephens-Harrison or Harrison-Stephens or Ryan-Stephens-Harrison, or whatever combo others always tried.

"Hi Tyler."

"Call me Ty. The rest of my friends do. Come on in."

"Where's James?"

"In the living room. We're are watching the Argos game."

I followed him down the hall. "Is that a sports team?"

"Yeah it's Toronto's CFL team."

"What's CFL?"

He stopped short and turned back around to face me smiling. "It's the Canadian Football League. You know there is more than the NFL right?" I stood there awkwardly, not wanting to admit that I had no idea Canada had any real teams outside of Hockey. He laughed once it was obviously getting too quiet. "Welcome to Canada, little Harrison."

We headed into the living room and James looked surprised but smiled when he saw me.

"Hey Lex. What's up?"

"I was bored so I came over to see y'all."

I walked over to where he was on the couch and sat down next to him. I wanted to talk to him about Ari but there was no way I was bringing up boys while he and Tyler of all people were watching sports. The game had just started so I settled in, waiting on a chance to talk to James alone. Tyler sat back down on my other side. After a while I began to notice that he was staring at me. I looked down to see if I was missing something. I was wearing Jordan's old Texas A&M hoodie and a pair of ripped jeans. My hair was up in a messy bun and I wasn't wearing a ton of makeup. There was absolutely nothing remarkable about my appearance today; so why was he staring?