boy

"Hey!" Peter grins, peeking his head over the fence at ten-thirty – like clockwork. "You gonna come over?"

"Sure," I shrug, unfolding myself from the lounge chair I'd occupied for the past ten minutes. Nothing better to do, really.

"Come to the front," Garrett instructs. "We'll let you in."

Following their directions, I skirt around my house, duck out of the front gate, and cut through their front lawn. I am immediately intercepted by two wild-eyed, ruddy-cheeked blondes.

"You're tall." Peter murmurs, staring up at me through wide eyes.

"Yeah," I chuckle, following them through the gate and into their backyard. "You sure it's okay with your parents?"

"Duh!" Garrett scoffs. "My daddy knows your daddy so we're not strangers no more."

"Yeah," Peter confirms.

"Okay," I shrug. Good enough for me.

I run them through a few warm ups before we start on some throwing drills. The boys follow my direction eagerly, listening intently to every critique and smiling widely at each praise. I work with them for about an hour straight before we're interrupted by the sound of the back door swinging open.

"Daddy!" Peter shrieks, streaking across the lawn to wrap himself around a tall, blonde man in his early forties. Garrett quickly follows suit.

"Boys," their father chuckles. "Alright, alright, I need to head out soon." Despite their father's wishes, the boys cling to him relentlessly. "I hope they've been behaving for you, Edward."

"Sure," I shrug. "They're good."

"Good." He grins, palming the back of each boy's head lovingly. "I don't think we've been properly introduced – I'm Phil Dwyer."

"Edward." I murmur, taking his proffered hand.

"Thanks for doing this, Edward. I really appreciate you taking the time to help out with the boys." After a moment of looking me over, he continues. "I would have asked Riley to do this, but my step-son tends to get… distracted by his social life."

"It's no problem," I shrug, pressing the toe of my sneaker into the dirt.

"Anyway… I left some money on the counter for lunch in case you boys want to order some pizza. Have fun today, kids." Phil smiles, clapping me on the back before ducking inside.

Movement in the rightmost window draws my attention away from Phil's retreating form. It's the girl, clad in tiny shorts and tank, staring down at us from her second-floor bedroom. My stomach does a nose-dive and twists in acknowledgement of her presence.

"Who is that?" I feel my mouth asking without my permission. The boys don't even have to turn and look, the smiles on their faces tell me they know.

"That's Bella." Garrett says.

"She's our sister." Peter clarifies.

Trouble has a name.


Hi all! So, Edward's had Bella sighting #2! What was she doing standing in the window? And what do we think about Phil? There's quite a bit of contrast between chapter 8 Phil and chapter 9 Phil.

Next we'll get some more insight into Bella's beautifully broken mind. I'm hoping that as the story progresses, you all will start to understand and like her more and more. See you all on Monday (:

xo j