Lo leans over our son to kiss me tenderly on the lips, a chaste kiss, but one full of lifelong promise. I let it guide me to sleep.
65
LILY CALLOWAY
Rose passes me and Daisy hot chocolate mugs before she settles on the brand new tufted love seat beside Connor, Jane on his lap. Ryke and Daisy have claimed the tufted beige couch next to them. My sisters and I are all bundled in blankets, a cold front swept in this morning.
I cup my mug with one hand, a fuzzy purple throw around my shoulders. I sit between Lo’s legs while he rests his back on the white stone fireplace, one hand on Moffy’s bouncer. None of us slept all that well, but we’re less focused on our babies and more focused on my little sister.
“What happened to the couch?” Daisy finally asks as she crosses her legs. Ryke has an arm wrapped around her waist, dark circles beneath his eyes. He has to take Daisy’s mug before she spills the hot chocolate on her lap.
Rose wavers, a bad liar. “It’s not important.”
Daisy twists a strand of her brown hair around her finger. She looks younger with her natural color, I realize. She looks more her age, more innocent. “I know you all are waiting for me to make a big speech…” She twiddles her fingers, and my stomach hurts watching her restless quirks. I’m not so sure they’re healthy parts of her anymore. I’m not sure they ever were. “But I don’t have one that really describes what I felt last night.”
“Dais, it’s okay,” Ryke says. “You don’t have to say a f**king thing if you don’t want to.”
She uncrosses her legs and then crosses them back. “I need to, I think.” Her green eyes flit between me and Rose. “These past ten months living with you have been some of the best of my life. Being the youngest, I’ve always felt left out, and you both managed to include me, even when you were having babies.” She smiles, a sad smile. “I want you both to know that I love you so much.”
I wipe my eyes and glance at Rose. Her gaze is all glassy, even if she’s not crying yet. This sounds like a very sad goodbye. I’m not ready for it. I thought we’d all be living together way longer than this.
I enjoy waking up in the morning to my little sister breezing around the kitchen with blueberries. Like a ball of sunshine, helping Ryke cook pancakes for the house. I love when she skateboards in the living room, reciting her theories on life and love. And when she proposes water balloon fights in the dead heat of summer.
There was a time where I had no idea who Daisy Calloway was. But I know her now. She’s my exuberant little sister, and I’ve grown to love her more than blood. I love her as a friend, and I selfishly don’t want to let her go.
Daisy continues, silent tears rolling down her face, “In some ways, I feel like I’ve regressed. But then I remember all the hours I’ve spent with you both.” She looks right at me. “And I think I would’ve missed all those moments had I been somewhere else.” She sniffs. “I gained something here. And it’s not something I want to lose.”
I use the edge of my blanket to dry my eyes. “You won’t,” I say, my voice scratchy. “Whatever happens, you won’t.”
“We’ll always be your sisters,” Rose tells her. And that’s when her tears fall. She rolls her eyes at the sight of them.
Daisy nods a few times. “I’ve realized that no matter where I go, I’m going to be afraid. I can travel all the way to Costa Rica and scare myself.”
Ryke goes rigid at that. He rests his hand on Daisy’s head in comfort.
“And even if I’ve been a little more out of it than usual, you’ve all made me happier,” she declares. “So I’m staying.”
“We both are,” Ryke announces, and he messes Daisy’s hair with a rough hand. She smiles up at him.
I gape. “Really?” I practically cry.
She laughs, rubbing her reddened eyes. “Really, really.”
“This is the best news.” I turn to Rose, expecting a similar reaction.
Her tears have dried and she now glares at our little sister. “You could’ve spared me the swollen eyes by prefacing with I’m staying.”
Lo cuts in, “She unthawed your heart with sentimental things. Don’t bitch at her for it.”
“I revoke that word from your vocabulary,” Rose retorts, crossing her arms. Connor grins into his sip of coffee.
“Oh look at that, she put a spell on me,” Lo says dryly. He nods to Connor. “How does it feel when she bewitches you? Do you go all dead inside?”
“Just the opposite,” Connor replies, even playing into magic banter, which he usually shuts down. My smile hurts my cheeks.
Lo grimaces. “Christ. Sorry I asked.”
“Speaking of you two,” Ryke chimes in, gesturing between Connor and Rose. “I got a text from Lily last night saying that she convinced you to join social media. What the f**k?”
“I was already on Twitter,” Connor reminds him. “She only had to convince Rose.”
I perk up at the new topic. “Everyone should do it.”
Ryke shoots me a dirty (the non-sexual kind of dirty) look. “Please tell me that wasn’t your high school f**king motto.” This is protective Ryke coming forth. (The non-sexual kind of coming.)
I scrunch my nose as I contemplate this. “No, that’s more Daisy. She’s the one who tries to rally people into doing crazy things.” I point at her. “Like walking the roof ledge of an apartment building.”
“Yeah, bro,” Lo says with a smile. “You’re dating that one.”
Ryke raises his brows at his girlfriend.
Daisy smiles so wide that it brightens the whole room. Tension extinguished. “I figure I have about thirty more years left of crazy things, so hey, I might as well do them with as many people as I can.” She nudges his side. “Even if it’s just you.”
Ryke is about to full-on make out with her. I know that lusty look in his eyes. I wear it on too many occasions, I think. He ends up kissing her head and focuses back on all of us. “I thought we agreed no social media?”
“That was until last night,” Connor says. “Lily tweeted that everyone was safe after the break in, and dozens of news stations credited that tweet as a legitimate source.”
For the first time, our voice was truly heard. No twisting of our words. No bad editing or misplaced quotes.
“We’re taking some control back,” Rose adds.
Lo is new to this situation like Ryke and Daisy. Lines wrinkle his forehead as he digests this info. “And with what username are you taking control back with?” he asks her. “At Callowitch, hashtag spank me?”
I smack Lo’s chest.
“What?” he whispers to me.
“That was mean.”
Connor isn’t smiling, which means that this one definitely stung Rose.
She inhales strongly. “You just insulted both of my sisters considering I’m Rose Cobalt. And hashtag, I loathe you.”
Lo raises his hands. “All I’m saying, Rose Cobalt, is that no matter how much we go on social media, there’ll still be people criticizing us. This isn’t going to fix that.”
I look up at him. “I know that, Lo.” He’s worried about me—that I’ve put all my faith in social media as a big solution. “We’ll always have haters. But we’ll have fans too. And I’d like to keep those.”