“Sounds about right.” I nodded and then winced as Ben was thrown down. “That little shit!”
“Swear jar!” Viera sang.
“Swearing doesn’t count in sports,” Colby said.
“Go, little shit!” Viera yelled.
Colby slapped a hand over Viera’s mouth as we earned several stares, then used her other hand to squeeze my thigh. “Let’s go, Ben!”
I wasn’t even sure if she knew she was doing it, but I suddenly didn’t care as she squeezed harder and harder each time Ben was thrown down.
“What the hell is that kid’s problem?” I lowered my voice so only Colby could hear me.
“I don’t know, but I’d like to give him a flip!” She suddenly looked down at her hand and jerked it away. “Sorry.”
“It’s OK.” Her cheeks were turning pink, and suddenly I found I couldn’t look away.
She looked really pretty.
She also looked like she fit.
With us.
With everything.
With the chaos that was constantly banging around in my head. Ugh, I needed to sleep, right? That was what this was.
Her hair was half falling out of her bun, and her shirt could have used a good ironing, but suddenly all I saw was the kindness and caring and, yeah, embarrassment that shone on her face over the situation. The best part about Colby wasn’t the perfection, no, it was the small imperfections she didn’t care about that made her a good aunt.
So what if her shirt had a stain? She was busy coloring.
And her crazy hair? Well, there was glue up in there… put there by Ben the scientist.
I hated that things like that had set me off, because why the hell did they matter?
If the kids were happy.
If they were smiling.
If I was smiling…
And then Viera suddenly screamed again. “Bennnnn!”
Moment broken, all three of us stared while Ben suddenly did a double-leg takedown and pinned the little shit to the mat.
The kid’s legs flailed beneath Ben, but he couldn’t break the hold. You could see the strain on Ben’s little face as he held strong.
Pride burst through my chest as Colby stood and yelled, “Get him, Ben!”
She didn’t care that she had red-stained fingers from the Takis, or that she was yelling in front of all the parents.
No, she just cared about Ben.
That was it.
Maybe that had always been it.
Colby didn’t seem to care what others thought. She only cared that the people she loved knew she loved them.