“But she loved him, if that’s any consolation.” I glanced his way. From the expression on his face, he was soaking in every word and wanted to hear more. “She was sixteen and he was nineteen. All she ever called him was Chaz, so I don’t know his full name, sorry.”
Pick gave a small shrug, letting me know that was okay. He was learning more about his sperm donor than he’d ever heard before.
“Her family didn’t approve of them being together. He was a high school dropout who drank a lot, and it didn’t look as if he’d ever aspire above the mechanic job he had.”
Pick glanced at me sharply. “Mechanic?”
I nodded. “Yeah, he was into cars too. So, anyway, when Mom—Polly—left home to be with him, her family cut all ties with her. She got pregnant almost immediately, and then went into labor on the same day your dad was killed in a drive-by shooting at the garage where he worked.”
I rushed the last part, not sure how Pick would take it. His fingers tightened around the steering wheel, but he said nothing. He only slowed the car in front of a two-story with a For-Sale sign in the yard, pulled to the curb and cut the engine.
Then he blew out a breath. “So, he’s dead too, huh?”
“I’m sorry,” I shook my head sadly. “She was pretty upset and couldn’t handle a new baby so soon after what happened, but she always talked about how much she regretted leaving you. She never tried to find you again, though; she was convinced you had to be in a better place.”
I didn’t mention how many times she’d told me over the years that she wished she’d left me and kept him instead.
“Well...” Pick said slowly, staring straight ahead out the window. “That’s something, I guess.” Then he glanced at me and lifted his eyebrows. “Ready to look at this place?”
I had upset him. Feeling shitty about that but no with idea how to fix it, I nodded and opened my door. “Let’s do it.”
I didn’t really want to look at houses anymore, so as soon as we met with the realtor and he started showing us features, I said, “You might as well save it, man, and just show us the backyard first.”
Pick laughed while the other guy sent me a funny look. But we got to see the backyard first, and as soon as disappointment glinted across my brother’s face, I knew he hadn’t yet found what he was looking for.
Waiting until we were back in his car and driving away from the house, I finally let my curiosity get the best of me. “So, are you ever going to tell me what’s up with the backyard thing?”
Pick sent me a small frown, then groaned and admitted, “You’ll never believe me.”
I shrugged. “Try me.”
“Okay, fine. I’ve seen it before. In...like, a vision.”
One eyebrow shot up. I wasn’t as startled by what he said as I was by learning he was actually into that. I never would’ve taken him as the type.
Lifting a finger, he warned, “Don’t look at me like that. I don’t believe that shit either, but it’s fucking true.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“When I was a kid,” he went on with a reluctant sigh, “I had an...encounter once, with this witch lady. Like a true witch, who sold potions and shit and told fortunes from her home.”
“Okay...” I said slowly.
“I’m not fucking lying,” he muttered defensively.
I laughed and lifted my hands in surrender. “I didn’t say you were.”
“I went to her place to throw a rock through her window because she’d upset one of my friends, but she caught me and put her hands on my face. I don’t know what the hell she did, but I suddenly had all these visions, like little flashbacks, but they were flash—forwards. I saw Tinker Bell, and Julian, and Skylar in them...ten years before I even met Eva or the kids were ever born. We were living as a family in some house that I only saw from the backyard, and...” He glanced at me. “You were in one of the visions too.”
“Me?” The hair on the back of my neck immediately stood on end.
Pick nodded. “You were at my wedding reception, in a tux, over by the sound system at Forbidden, exactly how you have the stage and everything set up now. That’s why I didn’t turn you away when you showed up that first day, asking about playing there. I’d seen you before. I knew you had to stick around long enough to be at my wedding.”
“Shit,” I said, stunned by everything he’d just told me.
“Oh, and by the way, the first song Eva and I have to dance to is ‘Baby Love.’ Don’t forget that.”
“Shit,” I said again.
He grinned. “Too much to take in all at once?”
I shook my head but said, “A little bit, yeah.” Then I turned fully in my seat to gape at him. “You’re not shitting me, are you?”
He shook his head. “Not even at all.”
“Huh.” I tapped my fingers against my bottom lip to the rhythm of “Baby Love,” because now that song was stuck in my head. “So, let me get this straight. You’re searching for that backyard you saw in your vision during all these house hunting trips?”
When he nodded, I snorted. “Well, that’s just stupid.”