The Sweet Spot by Ariel Ellman

 
    “I want to be a lobster man like my father,” Raffi confided, staring out at the sea. “People say that it’s a dying profession, especially in the Boston Harbor, but it’s in our family blood.” He turned his face to look at Sawyer. “The O’Reilly men have been setting lobster pots in these waters for five generations,” he declared with reverence. “Even though my granddad sent my father to Ireland to be raised by my  grandmother’s family, he came back here with me and Bast when he was nineteen to haul lobsters with his father. We belong to this sea; five generations of O’Reilly men have trawled this sea for lobster and I’m going to be the sixth.”
    “I think I might like girls,” Sawyer whispered back, her face burning in mortification. She couldn’t believe she’d just said it out loud, and to Ra phael O’Reilly of all people! Raffi’s eyes widened and he grinned at Sawyer, reaching out and tugging on one of her braids.
    “Aren’t you a little young to be thinking about girls?” he asked with a laugh and a twinkle in his beautiful green eyes.
    “I’m almo st thirteen and I got my period a year ago,” Sawyer replied, sticking her tongue out at Raffi. “I could get pregnant if I had sex right now so I don’t see how I’m too young to be thinking about it.” Her temper flared.
    “Well you can’t get pregnant if you have sex with a girl,” Raffi teased, and Sawyer’s eyes widened as she burst out laughing.
    “It feels good to actually talk about it with someone,” Sawyer whispered shyly, staring into Raffi’s piercing green eyes.
    “Well I totally understand,” Raffi replied, flashing a dimpled grin. “I think girls are hot too.”
    How could she explain Raffi O’Reilly to her niece, Sawyer wondered as she shook away the memories of that day on the beach with Raffi. In truth, her niece reminded her much more of Sebastian than his brother. Raffi had always reminded Sawyer of Sebastian with her serious eyes and quiet, thoughtful expressions. Raffi was a thinker. Ani called her an old soul, but Sawyer often wondered if it wasn’t Ani’s silences that made Raffi so quiet and serious, and not that she’d been born that way.
    “He was a wonderful boy,” Sawyer finally whispered to her niece. “He was sweet and kind, full of life and mischief, and everyone loved him.”
    “Do I look like him at all?” Raffi asked curiously.
    “Well you have dark hair like he did, but I think you get that from your dad,” Sawyer replied with a tender smile, her heart suddenly breaking at the thought of Jordan alone back at the brownstone. “Hey, you want to go see your dad?” Sawyer asked suddenly, jumping up and pulling Raffi to her feet.
    “Right now?” Raffi asked, blinking her eyes in surprise.
    “Yes,” Sawyer replied decisively. “Let’s go brin g him some ice cream.”
    “Hey,” Ani called out to them softly when Sawyer and Raffi walked into the living room. “What are you guys doing?” she asked, pressing a tissue against her red eyes.
    “We’re going to bring daddy some ice cream,” Raffi said, meeting her mother’s gaze uncertainly.
    “Oh,” Ani replied, staring at Sawyer with an unreadable expression on her face.
    “I love all of you A,” Sawyer tried to explain. “I’m not taking sides. My heart is breaking for all of you equally.” She grabbed her keys and pulled Raffi out the door with her.
    The brownstone was dark when Sawyer and Raffi pulled up in fr ont of it and they knocked softly before Sawyer unlocked the door with her key.
    “Daddy?” Raffi called, flipping the foyer light on and following her aunt into the kitchen. Jordan was sitting at the kitchen island in the dark, swirling his wine from dinner around in the bottom of his glass. “We brought you ice cream.”
    Sawyer began to clear away the abandoned dinner plates and containers of food that Jordan had brought home earlier.
    “Really?” Jordan replied, mustering up a half smile for his