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Joey

“Hey Dad, a little help, please?”

It was two days before Christmas, and Dad had decided that he simply had to have the biggest bouquet of sunflowers he could possibly find to gift to his new girlfriend, Erin.

Well, I say new , but they’d been seeing each other for at least six months as far as I knew, so it wasn’t new new. Were there different levels of newness when it came to girlfriends? Were they like cheese? Did they get better with age? Or turn moldy at the first sign of trouble?

Maybe it depended on the type of cheese.

Or maybe I was just hungry.

Whatever.

Dad had dragged me to the local florist on what was supposed to be a quick pickup, but instead had turned into a three-hour slog through last-minute shoppers hunting for a bargain to buy a gift for their loved ones. I didn’t understand why he’d demanded I come with him until we spent the good part of an hour hunting for a parking spot that felt about the same distance away from the florist as our house was, babbling excitedly in my ear the entire time.

Seriously, we should have just walked there. Probably would’ve been way quicker. Either way, he would’ve been able to chatter at me, which I suspect was his intention all along.

After finding a spot, he led me through the throngs of people pressing in on us from all sides, all so he could get Erin some flowers. It wasn’t until we elbowed our way into the florist, and I saw the largest display of sunflowers I’d ever seen in my life, that I realized I wasn’t just there for moral support and an ear to talk to. He actually did need an extra pair of hands to pick up some flowers.

And now, another couple of hours later, he’d left me in the driveway trying to wrangle those same damn flowers out of the backseat while he went to unlock the front door, promising his swift return.

At least, that’s what he’d said he was doing. He’d disappeared inside, no doubt checking for Erin. Cursing his very existence, I finally got free of the car and awkwardly hobbled across to the front door, shouting at him to hold the door for me, all in the hope that he would take the hint to come and help me with this gigantic mess of golden fluff that impeded my sight so much that I had to swing them to the side to see where I was going.

Honestly. Why would anyone buy such enormous flowers, anyway? They were just going to die in a few days’ time, and all that he’d have left to show for it was a massive cost line on his bank statement.

Did women even like getting flowers this big? I had my doubts. Maybe they only enjoyed them because they didn’t have to lug them around like the five-hundred-pound weight they currently felt like in my arms.

He so owed me for this. I’d better get the latest PlayStation for a Christmas present this year or there’d be hell to pay.

Leaving the car door open, I let Erin and Dad’s excited voices guide me towards the house. I blindly shuffled up the steps to the front door, then bent my knees enough to clear the flowers from the top of the door.

“Dad?” I called out again, hoping he’d pick up the hint of annoyance in my voice. They were his flowers after all, not mine. He should be the one to break his back by bringing them inside.

“Oh, Joey! Come and meet Callum,” said Dad, somewhere in front of me and slightly to the right.

I stopped in my tracks. Callum. Erin’s son. He was here already? I didn’t think he was due in from wherever it was he went to college until tomorrow. Something about last-minute submissions or something. I didn’t know, and I didn’t really care. I’d never met the guy and had only heard about him through Erin. It sounded like he was okay, but how far could I trust what his own mother said about him? Probably about as far as I could throw these goddamn flowers. Which wasn’t far. They were fucking heavy.

This Christmas was supposed to be the first time all four of us would be together in the same spot. Dad had met Callum a couple of times over the past six months when he and Erin had traveled to the other side of the country to visit him, but I’d been too busy at school both times they’d gone and stayed home instead, much to the annoyance of our neighbor Mrs. Brown, who had been charged with keeping an eye on me to make sure I didn’t burn the house down while they were gone.

I may have been fifteen, but I wasn’t that bad. I could reheat a frozen dinner like no-one else. It was a specialty of mine. Microwaveable frozen dinners, ice cream, and chocolate were the undisputed stuff of champions. Don’t let anyone tell you any differently, including my dad. Who needs vegetables anyway?

I was intrigued to see what Callum was like in person, but I wasn’t prepared to meet him now . He was supposed to arrive tomorrow, not today. I was supposed to have one more day to get myself used to the idea of someone new in my personal space. It had taken a bit to get used to Erin spending so much time in our house, but even though she now spent nearly every waking minute here, she still technically lived in her own one-bedroom flat.

Callum, however, would be staying with Dad and me while he was in town. Dad and Erin had both agreed that it would be easier seeing as we had a spare room that we could put him in.

Logically, I understood the decision, but my brain needed time to prepare for his invasion into our everyday home life, even if it was only going to be for a few days. Callum, arriving a day earlier than I expected, had thrown my mental preparedness out, and now I felt like I was on the back foot, both figuratively and literally.

I gripped the sunflowers in my hand to stop the wave of nervous energy thrumming through my veins, willing myself to calm the fuck down. He was Erin’s son, not a stranger. She’d vouched for him, as had Dad. There was nothing wrong with him staying under the same roof as me for a few nights.

Just a few nights.

I could totally handle that.

Even if it had taken weeks for me to get used to Erin being around.

Fuck.

Fine. I was fine. Totally fine.

My breathing came quicker as my anxiety began spinning out of control.

I was not fine.

I felt a tug at the flowers I now held in a death grip.

“Here,” came a deep, throaty voice from behind the sunflowers in my hands. It had the slightest hint of an Irish accent to it, and was the same accent his mother had, even though hers was much thicker. “Let me take these from you. They look heavy.”

Reluctantly, I relaxed my fingers from around the stems, and the giant blooms swayed slightly in front of me before shifting to my left and allowing me to lock eyes with the most gorgeous pair of hazel orbs I’d ever seen in my life.

A deep vivid green on the outer edge blending to a gold around the pupil, Callum’s eyes were framed with long dark lashes that crinkled as he grinned at me. “Joey, right? Or should I call you Sunflower ?”

I gulped and nodded, my eyes greedily taking in this gorgeous man that stood in front of me.

His deep auburn hair flopped over his eyebrows but was almost shaved on both sides. Freckles were mottled everywhere on his face, most noticeable on his cheeks, but they trailed down his neck to hide under his black leather jacket. I wondered if his entire body was covered as much as his face was. His pale hands carefully lifted the flowers from mine, and I could see that the backs of his hands were smattered with the same freckles, but not nearly as densely as the rest of him.

He continued to grin at me as he introduced himself. “I’m Callum. Erin’s son. It’s a pleasure to finally meet you.”

Oh, he’d asked me if my name was Joey, and I’d never answered him. No wonder he was grinning at me like I’d grown another head.

Oops.

I can still fix this. Just talk to him like a normal human being. Easy.

“Gudtamtutoo,” I gurgled before feeling my face flush. Way to go. Now he thinks I’m an idiot.

He laughed as he turned to the side and placed the flowers on the side table that someone had obviously cleared. Probably Dad. It’d been covered with junk mail and other crap before we’d left. I snuck a pleading look towards Dad for help, only to notice that he was fully involved in a loving conversation with Erin, all heart-eyes and adoration.

No assistance from him, then. Brilliant.

Still chuckling, Callum spun back to face me and stuck his hand out for me to shake.

Hesitantly, I took his hand, only for him to stiffen and grip my palm. His eyes glazed over slightly, and he brought his other hand up to envelop mine entirely. His head tilted to the side as his eyes trailed over me from head to toe, his grin slowly dropping from his face.

“Uh…” I glanced over Callum’s shoulder to Dad and Erin and chuckled nervously, my heart racing from the return of my growing anxiety and the feel of his cool skin on mine. I tried to tug my hand from his, but he held firm. “Dad? Help?”

Dad and Erin glanced our way, pausing their conversation when they saw what Callum was doing.

“Ah,” Erin said with a relaxed smile. “He’s channeling. It’ll be best if you just let him do his thing. He’ll be finished soon enough.”

“What?” My eyebrows rose to scrunch up somewhere near my hairline as I returned my attention to Callum.

“It’s nothing to worry about, Joey,” said Dad, resting his hand on Erin’s back. He was smiling just as easily as Erin was.

As soon as Dad finished talking, Callum gasped, heaving a deep breath in and dropping my hand like it had burned him. He blinked before his eyes widened as he continued to stare at me, his mouth dropping open in what looked like horror as he took a step back, his hands held up like he was surrendering to something. “Oh, fuck me sideways.”

“Um?” I looked from Callum to Dad, to Erin, then back to Callum. “What just happened?”

Callum shook his head almost angrily. “No. Nope. Not doing this. Not yet.” He took another large step back before turning around and bolting up the stairs like his ass was on fire.

Confusion filled me as I remained standing in the entryway, swinging my gaze from where Callum disappeared, to Dad and Erin, who were looking a little concerned at the way things had gone down, then back again. “Can someone please explain what I just did wrong? What is channeling ?”

Dad looked at Erin with a wry grin, then kissed the side of her forehead. “I’ll put the kettle on.”

“Thanks honey.” Erin patted Dad on the chest even while she kept her shrewd eyes on me. She waited for Dad to head off to the kitchen before she came over and wrapped an arm around my shoulders. She guided me towards the lounge and sat me down, then settled next to me. Much like Callum had done only minutes prior, she tilted her head to the side and chewed on her bottom lip in thought. “First, I need to tell you that you did absolutely nothing wrong.”

I raised an eyebrow at her. “It sure doesn’t feel that way.”

She waved her hand in the air, dismissing my concern. “I swear, what just happened had nothing to do with you. This happens sometimes when my family meets someone new for the first time.” She grinned at Dad, who came into the room and sat in the plush chair opposite us. “In fact, I had a similar reaction when I first met your father.”

I frowned. My eyebrows were certainly getting a workout today. “Why?”

Erin brushed her hands along her thighs, took a deep breath, and leaned forward nervously. “Some members of my family are psychic, Joey.”