“Just Tino.”
“What happened to your leg?”
“Broke it jumping off the landing.”
“Does it hurt?”
“Like a bitch.”
“Your arm’s bleeding. Do you want me to get the first-aid kit?” she asked as she tilted her head and looked at his arm.
Tino shrugged. “Sure.”
Not like he had anything else to do.
* * * *
“Got it,” his sister Carina announced when she came back into the room ten minutes later, carrying a big box of supplies. She was breathless, as if she’d run the whole way back. “I brought pens to sign your cast, and myziogave me some temporary tattoos to piss my ma off. Maybe we can decorate your new room or something.”
“Why would a gift piss your ma off?” Tino asked from his spot on the floor, because the couch had boxes on it and moving boxes while on crutches was not easy.
Carina didn’t explain as she sat down next to him. She pulled the first-aid kit out of the box and opened it as she said, “I have a best friend. She’s my BFF forever.”
“Doesn’t the last F stand forforever? So she’s your best friend forever forever?” Tino asked with a frown as Carina grabbed his arm and then sprayed something on it that made him grunt. “Son of a bitch.”
“I’d take a bullet for her,” Carina went on as she ignored his pain. “So I don’t need your brother to be my brother. Brianna’s like my sister.My real sister.I don’t need him.”
Were they still talking about Nova? He must have left a lasting impression. “What did he say to you?”
“I came up here to say hi. I was real nice too, even if he made my ma drink the whole damn box of wine, and he told me to take my spoiledguinea-pigass back where it came from.”
Wow, that was ghetto, even for Nova.
She glared at Tino as if he was the guilty party. “I know what it means.”
“I’m sorry,” Tino said as his sister put a bandage on his arm. “He’s having a bad day.”
“I hate him.”
“I guess,” Tino agreed. He’d probably hate Nova too if that was the first thing Nova ever said to him. “I don’t like that term. I never say it.”
“I don’t like it either,” she whispered and sat cross-legged in front of him. “Do you think I’m too dark?”
“What?” Tino frowned at her again. She was dark by Italian standards, very Sicilian looking, with long black hair that was thick, shiny, and wavy. She was tan too, probably because of the pool, but he wasn’t sure why it was an issue. “Why do you think it matters?”
“My ma has blonde hair. Real blonde. She calls me a little guinea. Says I’m dark like my daddy. I never believed her, but now your brother—”
“Look, Nova didn’t know you were sensitive about it,” Tino promised her. “And who the fuck is he to be calling anyone a guinea? Tell him to look in the friggin’ mirror the next time he says it.”
“My ma freaked when she saw him,” she whispered softly.
“Yeah, I bet.” Tino studied Carina again, who, up close, looked so much like Nova it was bizarre. Only she was petite and feminine in a way Nova would never be, and it was sorta freaking Tino out, like seeing what his brother would look like as a girl, so he asked, “How old are you?”
“Twelve.”
“Get out!” Tino shouted, first because she was so small and second because, “I’m twelve!”
“Whoa, you’re pretty big for twelve,” she said in surprise. “When’s your birthday?”
