Sea Breeze 02 - Because of Low

that time I’d been so fascinated with her little blond curls and happy little claps and squeals and she’d been my sister. Had that been Willow’s plan? She’d thought by bringing Larissa into my life under false pretenses that I’d love her and accept what my father had done? God, how had I been so blind! Those damn dimples. I was lost the moment she flashed them at me. She appeared so wounded and innocent and the whole freaking time she’d known exactly what her sister was doing to my mama. What she’d done was unforgivable. She lied to me. To my family. And dammit I was still in love with her.
    “They’re going to be at the condo this week. He’s invited us and I’m going. I want you there with me. I need you there Marcus. Please,” Amanda begged.
    Dinner with Dad, the other woman and the other kid. Not my idea of a good time. An image of Larissa smiling up at me and demanding I play with her tugged at me.
    “Okay, I’ll go. But only because you want me to so badly. Not because I want to make amends with him. If you want to then fine. But it’ll never happen for me.”
    Amanda frowned then nodded and walked around the table and kissed me on the head.
    “Thank you. I really wish you’d get past all this anger and let it go. Then maybe you can see the big picture that everyone else sees. You’re living in a tunnel and if you stay blind for too long you’ll miss it.”
    What the crap did that mean? I stared up at her and she smirked then walked out of the room. I guess she thought that was supposed to be deep and meaningful. It was probably the lyrics from some God awful boy band song.

    “Amanda,” my dad said warmly and pulled Amanda into his arms. He patted her head and kissed her temple and whispered something to her. She nodded and his eyes raised to meet mine. “Marcus. I’m glad you came.” I wasn’t. But obviously Amanda needed this. I nodded and followed her inside.
    “MARTUS,” A loud squeal startled me and I looked down to see Larissa running toward me with her arms up in the air, grinning. Two little teeth flashed at me. I picked her up and she smelled just like I remembered.
    “How’s my princess? I see you got two teeth.”
    She pointed at her new teeth, “Two teef,” she agreed and placed a wet kiss on my mouth.
    “Martus come pay,” she’d added a few new words to her vocabulary. I sat her down and held her hand.
    “You lead the way,” I told her and she pulled me along behind her toward the living room where toys of all kinds were scattered around the floor. I quickly scanned the room and Tawny was nowhere to be found. Letting out a sigh of relief I sat down where Larissa demanded and she pulled a bucket of bright pink blocks toward me.
    “Pinses bocks,” she explained pointing to the picture of Cinderella on one of the blocks.
    “My favorite kind,” I assured her and she giggled happily waiting for me to build her a tower of blocks to knock down.
    “She’s mentioned you several times,” my father said as he walked into the room. I didn’t look up at him. Nor did I respond. I came here for two reasons. My sisters, both of them.
    Amanda sank down on the ground on the other side of Larissa.
    “Larissa, this is Manda,” I said as she studied Amanda.
    “Mana,” she repeated. Amanda beamed at her and nodded.
    “Yes, and it’s very nice to meet you Larissa. Can I play too?”
    Larissa grinned brightly. Amanda had said her favorite word.
    “Mana pay too,” she pushed some blocks toward Amanda.
    Amanda eagerly started stacking them. Larissa had that effect on people. She was hard to resist. Much like her Aunt. Aw, damn .
    Larissa was studying me and I watched as her small smile faded and she looked back at dad then at me.
    “I ‘ont my Lowlow,” she whispered as tears filled her eyes. Dad immediately walked over and picked her up.
    “Hey, don’t cry sweetheart. You have Marcus here to play with you and Amanda. Remember I told you Lowlow would be coming tomorrow to see you. Okay,” his voice was so gentle. Had he talked to us like that once? It was hard to see my dad as being soft hearted and loving. Larissa sniffed and nodded her head.
    “Down,” Larissa demanded and Dad put her back where she’d been sitting.
    Larissa smiled tearily up at me. “Lowlow come too.”
    My chest hurt so bad I was having trouble breathing. Would it ever get easier seeing Larissa? Would memories of Willow always haunt me and rip me apart all over again?
    I cleared my