Trust Me .(54)

I stop and look up at my brother who has been by my side since the day I was born. “I know you worry about me, and I appreciate that so much. What I need from my big brother now is his support and love.” I give him a big smile.

“Well, you have that. I promise not to interfere with whatever is going on with Maddox. Just as long as you both know that I will hurt him if he hurts you.” He gives me his best stern, big brother glare.

I chuckle at him, at the thought of my gentle, book-smart brother getting violent over anything. “You are the best big brother ever. I love you, William.”

“I love you too, Avery,” he says as he throws his arm around my shoulder and walks us out of the corn maze.



*****



Halloween night proved to be perfect trick or treating weather. Travis and Will are over at my place to walk the neighborhood with me as Brooklyn goes trick or treating. This is the first year that she can actually give the whole trick or treating thing a try. Travis has been working on her saying ‘Trick or Treat’ for the last couple of days, but it still comes out ‘twicks tweets’.

“Come on, Ave! Trick or treating started a half hour ago! If you don’t hurry up, Bean’s gonna miss it,” Travis yells from the living room.

“Almost ready!”

Brooklyn runs out of my bedroom after I finish securing the final pin in her long, blond hair. She’s bundled up underneath her pretty princess gown. And no princess can be without a tiara.

Travis picks her up and gives her raspberry kisses on her neck. They head down the front steps with Will and I trailing a very short distance behind. We wait on the sidewalk as Travis and Brooklyn go from door to door around my block to gather plenty of sugary treats.

An hour later as we head back down the sidewalk towards my house with a bag full of candy, a squad car pulls into my driveway. I see Maddox and Jake hop out and wait at the sidewalk for us to get there. Brooklyn sees them waiting for us and takes off running, but it isn’t her uncle that she runs to. She runs straight to Maddox. As Maddox picks her up, Jake looks at their exchange with questions in his eyes. Will and I exchange looks, knowing that this could play out very badly.

“Seriously? Uncle Jake gets no love?”

“Don’t be jealous that she likes me more than she likes you. It’s not my fault that women find me irresistible,” Maddox replies with a big grin for his friend.

“She’s all sugared up, Jake. Don’t take it personally,” I say as casually as possible as I approach. He leans forward and gives me a kiss on the cheek as Brooklyn fills Maddox in on all the houses they went to trick or treating. “What are you guys doing here? Shouldn’t you be patrolling for toilet paperers or pumpkin smashers?”

“We were just in the neighborhood so I wanted to swing by. I promised Bean I would stop by to see her costume.” Jake walks over and grabs Brooklyn from Maddox. I over hear him tell her how beautiful she looks in her dress and ask her who her favorite uncle is. I love that each of my brothers try to out-do the other when it comes to Brooklyn’s affections.

Maddox walks over casually, not really making eye contact. “Did she have a good time?”

“Yeah, she drug Travis from house to house and insisted that he ask for candy too.” I look over at Travis and Will to see them both scavenging through her candy bag, stealing a few pieces of their favorites. “Hey, don’t take the Snickers,” I yell over at them.

Maddox looks on as Jake and Brooklyn go over and dig through the candy bag with her other uncles. “I’m more of a Reese’s man, myself.” He clears his throat and shifts his weight from foot to foot in a nervous gesture. “So, I won’t get off until late tonight but I thought maybe you and I could go grab dinner tomorrow night. And maybe Bean can go with us.”

I look up into his chocolate brown eyes. I’ve never imagined someone wanting to take my three year old with us on a date. Is it a good idea to take her with us? She’s already ousted our relationship to Will, which Maddox took surprisingly well when I told him about what happened at The Pumpkin Patch. I weigh my options for a few moments while I watch her with her uncle’s. But really, there’s nothing to think about. I want to have this time with Brooklyn and Maddox together.

“That sounds like fun.”

“Okay. I’ll text you details when we don’t have an audience,” he says just as the entire gang walks over to us. Will is giving me a pointed look that makes me squirm a little under his scrutiny. It’s like he knows all about our secret plans for tomorrow night.

“Well, we better go,” Jake says. He kisses Brooklyn one more time and then hops into the driver’s seat of the squad car. Maddox gives me a wink while all eyes are focused elsewhere, throws a ‘good-bye’ to everyone over his shoulder, and gets into the passenger seat.