Greysonopened the door. “Hey, Aunt Tabs.”
“Hey,Grey!” I wrapped him in my arms and kissed him twice on the cheek.
Ihad missed him. The house was too quiet, and the distance felt too big. I’dseen him nearly every day since he was born, and not seeing him for such longperiods of time was now throwing me off to the point that I couldn’t pinpoint whatexactly was different about him.
“Didyou change something?”
“Huh?”he asked, stepping back and letting me into the house. “What do you mean?”
“Youlook different,” I mentioned, stepping inside and noticing immediately thechanges in the house.
Greyson’sthings were everywhere. There was no mistaking that a teenager lived here, sounlike my own house, and something in me whispered,Sebastian’s so muchbetter at this than me.
Fora minute, I resented him for it.
“Oh,I got a haircut,” Greyson told me, jumping over the back of the couch, and Inoticed the other boy. I recognized him as one of Sebastian’s nephews, one ofGreyson’s cousins, and I smiled at him.
“Hi,”I greeted, and he nodded with a quickly blurted, “Oh, hey.”
“So,wait. You got a haircut?” I asked Greyson, looking for confirmation, eventhough the sight of his hair was proof enough. The length I had grown soaccustomed to was gone, leaving behind this purposefully messy look that suitedhim so much more. “It looks really good.”
“Thanks,”Greyson turned to me, smiling happily.
Everygesture, every word, every look … everything told me he was so much better off withhis father. He had friends, family. He had a house that allowed him to live andthrive, and what was I providing for him? A stick-up-the-ass aunt that wouldn’tlet him play his drums when I was trying to concentrate.
“Where’sSebastian?” I asked, my throat tightening with the realization that I hadfailed my sister tremendously.
“Dad’supstairs,” he told me before turning back to the movie playing on the TV.
Dad. God,I didn’t know if I’d ever get used to hearing him say that. Fifteen years was alot of time to overwrite.
Theboys laughed at whatever they were watching and I felt dismissed. I decided tohead upstairs and change in what had been assigned as my room. An eruption ofbutterflies struck me hard and fast in the gut—why was I so nervous? This wasjust a dinner with Sebastian’s friends, to keep him from being the third wheel.Nothing more, nothing less.
Butwhen I landed on the top step, and saw his bedroom door open, my poor, batteredheart—abused from a year of relentless heartbreak—took a startled leap into theconstricting cavern of my throat.
Beforeme stood a stranger.
“Y-youcut your hair,” I stammered, clutching my garment bag to my chest.
Sebastianran his fingers through the short, lifted strands of blonde, mussing it up in away that looked effortlessly unkempt and styled. “Yeah, Greyson wanted a haircut,so I thought, hell, why not?”
“Greysonwanted a haircut?” I asked doubtfully. He hadn’t gotten his hair cut in wellover a couple years.
Helaughed, and his cheeks pinked just a little. “Okay, fine. You got me.Iwanted to go, but I was freaking out, so he went first.”
“W-whydid you want to cut your hair?” I hated that I was horrified. I hated that Iwas shocked. Because, while it was certainly an unexpected change, Sebastianhad taken a sharp turn from beautiful to undeniably gorgeous.
Heshrugged so nonchalantly, like it wasn’t a big deal whatsoever to change thehairstyle he’d kept for decades. “Just felt like it was time.”
“Doesit feel weird when you’re drumming?” I asked.
Helookedsodifferent, so unlike himself, that I hesitated to reach up andtouch it.
“Hellyeah, but I’ll get used to it. It’s kinda nice being able to see what I’mdoing, actually,” he laughed, and cleared his throat. “Uh, anyway, so …” Hestepped forward, opening the door to the guest room. “Greyson gave me Jess’snumber, and I got your sizes from her—”
“Youtalked to Jess?”
Nodding,he replied, “Yeah, I wasn’t just gonna buy you a dress and guess your size,Tabby. That’s a good way to get myself castrated.” He walked into the room andopened the closet, removing a garment bag from Nordstrom and laying it on thebed. “You can check it out. Mel and Dinah helped pick it out because, for somefucking reason, they didn’t trust me. Jen took it upon herself to handle theshoes, so blame her if they’re hideous.”
