On One Condition (S.I.N. #2)

by K. Bromberg

“You’re not to see her again.” “Dad . . . what are you talking about?” “I don’t like repeating myself. You heard me.” “I love her,” I blurt out. “You’re thinking with your dick, Ledger. Every good man does at some point, but this is the wrong time and the wrong person to do it with.”

“You’ll do as I say. I will not have you disobey me on this. Pretend she never existed. Pretend this summer never happened.”

You’re my first born, Ledger. The one most like me. I expect more from you than anyone else.

Uh—who’s that, though?” “Who?” he asks as he steps forward to look in the direction that I lifted my chin. “Her.” “Lavender Girl?” He snorts.

And then there’s Tootie in her neon pink dress with crooked pigtails, unabashedly mowing down every sweet there is on the dessert table.