“My wheels are gone.” She says skeptically, touching the seat and blinking up at me.

“You don’t need the training wheels anymore. You can ride it without them now, like we practiced on your old bike.”

Her teeth chew her bottom lip. “Are you sure, Uncle Tor? I don’t want to fall and ruin my new bike.”

I lift her up and gently place her on the seat. “I’m going to run right next to you. I won’t let you fall, Angel, I promise. Do you trust me?”

She smiles at me, the gold flecks in her jade eyes sparkling under the bright summer sun.

“I trust you.”

I wink at her and place my hand on the back of her seat. “Okay, then. Start pedaling.”

She grasps the handlebars with as serious a face a five year old can make and starts to pedal slowly, wobbling a bit. Grasping her seat, I jog next to her as she picks up momentum, and soon, she’s pedaling perfectly on two wheels.

“You’re doing it!” I yell, as I slow down and let her go ahead of me on her own so I can watch her.

She turns her head to look for me, turning the front tire sharply, and she goes down right in front of the neighbor’s house, arms and legs sprawling on the pavement.

“Shit,” I mutter under my breath, running to her. “Are you okay?” I ask her, helping her stand up.

“You made me fall,” she says tearfully. “I was looking for you and I fell. You promised to stay with me.”

“You’re right. I just wanted to see you do it all by yourself. And you did it. You don’t need me to hold you up, right?” I pick up the bike, glad to see it’s not broke, but her knee is bleeding and her palm is all scraped up. Ember’s going to kill me.

She glares at me and shakes her head, the helmet twisting crookedly on her head.

“It’s better when you hold me up.”

I take her small hand in mine. “Maybe for now you’re right. Let’s go back to the house and fix up your knee, okay?”

“Okay. I won’t tell Mommy you let me fall.”

I don’t know why, but those little innocent words slice through my heart. I’ve never let her get hurt before. And no matter what, I’m never going to let it happen again.

Tor

Tristan is standing over me in my work area as I’m kneeling in front of this old Indian bike that I feel like I’m never going to finish. Finding parts for this bike has been nearly impossible and has put me way behind with my schedule.

“Speak or go away. I’m busy.” I say, grabbing a wrench.

“I need a week off.”

“Need or want?”

“Does it fuckin’ matter? What’s up your ass lately?”

I stand, grab a rag to wipe my hands off on, and turn to face my little brother. Even though he’s twenty-four, he’ll always be my little brother in my eyes.

“A week off is a long time. I’ll have to rearrange some work since you’re the only one who does what you do here. When do you need it?”

“In about two weeks.”

Two weeks doesn’t give me much time to move things around for the custom paint jobs we have booked, but Tris hardly ever asks for time off so I really can’t complain.

Sighing, I nod. “Okay, then. We’ll work it out. Can I ask where you’re going?”

He shoves his hands into the front pockets of his faded jeans and looks down, his dirty blond hair falling down into his face.

“I’m meeting with a local service dog rep to go through the screening process for a therapy dog.”

My attitude instantly diminishes. Mom and I have been after him for years to look into a therapy dog to help him with the seizures he suffers.

“Tris, that’s great. Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know,” he shrugs. “It’s just taken me a while to accept it, I guess.”

“It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

He’s always tried to hide the fact that he has seizures, like he thinks there’s something wrong with him. It’s kept him from making friends and he’s never really dated anyone, at least as far as I know. He and Tyler have both become like hermits and that worries me a lot. I don’t want my brothers spending the rest of their lives alone. Like me.

“Anyway, so now I have to meet with them in person, they do a home check, I meet with a few of the trainers, and then I get put on a waiting list for the right dog.”

“Take all the time you need, then.” I lightly squeeze his shoulder. “This is worth it, trust me. Do you need any money?”

“Nah, they work on donations and I already made one.”

“We’ll organize a ride to raise some money to donate to them, too. Does Mom know?”