Chapter 61

“Chris? You mean Mrs. Davis? You call your girlfriend’s mother by her first name? Did you say, girlfriends? Thank you, you’re special to me, too, very special.” Cindy obviously was listening with some part of her brain.

I kissed her forehead and laughed for a second before punching her in the shoulder. “Come on, let’s walk.” I dragged Cindy off the swing.

“I don’t normally call her by her first name, but being this far away, I figured I’d give it a try. She tells me to call her Chris, but I have never been able to do it. She is an adult, even if.”

“Nice try, but I see what you’re doing. As much as it’s still hard to believe you had sex with a woman, I’d rather hear how you’re still saying you have more than one girlfriend. It’s been weeks since we talked about this, and you got Jasmine a promise bracelet. Susan must know. How is she dealing with it?” Cindy stopped walking and waited for an answer.

“Um, did I tell you about the other bracelet?” I was stalling, but not because I didn’t want to talk about it. It’s just what I had been doing since I fell in love with the sisters.

“Joe?”

“When I got Jasmine’s present, I got Susan the same bracelet.” My voice trailed off in total disbelief of my own words. “I, I couldn’t not. You should have seen the look on the girl’s face behind the counter.”

“You should see the look on your face right now.” Cindy bulged her eyes. “Maybe you don’t get it because you’re not a girl, or maybe you’re retarded, but this isn’t good. I’m sorry, but you cannot have two girlfriends. That’s wrong in the first place, but they live in the same house, are sisters, and on top of that, you got them the same promise bracelet. Holy crap.”

Cindy’s words always seemed to punch me in the stomach like a prizefighter. “I love them too much to hurt one of them. I lost my mind at the jewelry store, but it seemed like the only right thing to do. Now, I have Susan’s present, and I can’t give it to her, even if I was there because she’s not there. They went to have a White Christmas at Aunt Jane’s house. Jeez, what am I going to do?” I flopped onto the dirt riverbank under the weight of what I must have somehow been hiding from myself.

“What does your heart tell you?” Cindy sacrificed her clean pants and planted herself next to me in the dirt. Her loving arm wrapped around me. “Great, now I’m a cry baby, again.” I wiped snot on my sleeve and tried to smile.

Cindy hugged me and shed a few of her own tears. “You’d be an asshole if you weren’t crying.” Her words surprised me and got my attention. “Joe, you are too perfect. You could be screwing both of them and not caring about what happens to either. Do you know how many guys would just lead both girls on, then go with whichever one they thought was better? Without any concern for a broken heart.” It sounded like Cindy was speaking from experience.

“I love you, Cindy. I hate to say those words because I don’t want them to be ho-hum, but I mean it. If you weren’t my cousin, I’d marry you.” What the hell am I talking about? My brain had suddenly been taken over by something I hardly knew anything about. “I mean that from my heart, I love you and always will.” I almost finished with an I promise, but that would have made it too weird.

“Thank you. I know what I want for Christmas.” Cindy smiled and jumped up and brushed off her rump.

When she finished, I took the opportunity to help her with a couple of spots on her plump ass. I finished with a pinch that earned me a hard blow to the chest. “Ouch, you hit hard for a girl, especially such a pretty girl.”

Cindy appeared to be deeply considering my words. “You think so, am I pretty?”

Coming from such a well-proportioned girl with a sweet face, the question surprised me. I had always imagined the girls with bodies that made the guys turn their heads were fully aware of what kind of package they were wrapped in. That’s why I never approached a girl like Jasmine. My own thought was revealing. “From this day forward, I want you to picture yourself as the hottest girl in the room. No matter who is there with you, you’re the prettiest, no matter what. Make guys earn you.” I wasn’t sure where all my words were coming from, but I was deeply moved to make sure my cousin never felt like Susan or Jasmine.

As we walked back to the house, I thought about asking Cindy what she wanted for Christmas, but then I decided it was too late anyway. I had already gotten her something, so I didn’t want to know if I messed up.

“I was hoping at some point I wouldn’t have to choose between them. Or, that one’s love would be so strong, it would heal my broken heart when I hurt the other one. That hasn’t happened.” I paused, searching for the rest of my thoughts.

“So, what has happened? You’ve been with both of them for weeks, months, really.”

“It’s like it has been growing equally. I am more in love with whoever I’m with, but my love has gotten stronger for both of them at the same time. I never have to see them together because of Susan’s restriction, so it’s been easy. Plus, they’re both hurting so much that I can’t add to that, not now. I have to help them, not hurt them.” My dad’s words hadn’t come to my mind since the day he spoke them, but all of a sudden, they were thundering in my head.

“Wow, I wish I could help you more, but I don’t think you can save them from their problems. You can help but not save them. Ask Julie about that.” I wondered what happened to Julie but didn’t ask.