“You just met her.”
“When you know, you know.”
Right. That’s his whole brand—Family Over Everything.Ironic.
“Is this one new?” he asks, nodding toward a canvas I finished last week.
“No.”
“It’s good,” he mutters. Then after a beat: “Think about how you’d feel if you were Emily. New place. New people. Potential stepbrother being an ass for no reason.”
The word stepbrother makes me drop one of my brushes. Just hearing it should kill any thought I’ve had about her.
It doesn’t.
“I give up,” he says, throwing up his hands and storming out.
I close the door behind him and repeat that word a few times in my head.
Stepbrother.
An hour later
I set a timer on my phone and head to the garden.
Once, it used to be the only place I liked on this property. Now? It’s just another set for my father’s fiction.
I drop into a seat directly across from Emily.
“Oh my god, Cole!” Taylor’s voice hits before I even register she’s here. She plops down beside me, all smiles and cleavage. “I can’t believe you’re actually here this summer!”
“That makes two of us.”
“Cole and I used to spend every summer here,” she says to Emily. “Everyone thought we were gonna get married someday.”
“You need a Wall Street guy to afford your habits,” my dad says. “And you’re not even into Cole.”
The table laughs. I don’t.
Taylor’s never been into anyone who wanted her back. I’ve lost count of how many times she’s ‘accidentally’ flashed me or tried grinding her drunk ass into my lap.
“I’m giving Heather a tour of the town tomorrow,” My dad says to Emily, smiling. “Want to come with?”
“Sure,” Emily says. “That sounds nice.”
“Heather tells me you two do everything together,” my dad adds. “Just want you to know you’re included in anything we do.”
“We definitely do everything together,” Emily says coolly, sipping her water.
Something in her tone flicks a switch. There’s tension there. I don’t know if her mom catches it—but I do.
“Dinner is served,” Ramen, the part-time chef, announces, placing down the first of many trays.
While my dad launches into his favorite story—how he bought this house—I watch Emily, trying to read the undercurrent between her and her mom.
“You’re the Family Values guy,” Emily says suddenly. “From the Family Over Everything podcast.”
“Shhh,” Heather blushes. “He doesn’t like to talk about that.”
