“I mean, he’s a little scary,” Snow admits. “But he’s like… a father figure. Who actuallycares.”
I swallow again, my throat filling up with emotions. “Yeah, he does.”
“And Callie is the sweetest,” she goes on. “I mean, you always said that about her but I didn’t know how much. She asked for my favorite flavors because she’s working on this new cupcake recipe for me, something special to welcome me into her family.”
I smile again because Callie told me the same thing, except she already knows my favorite, pineapple, and she’s going to make me a piña colada cupcake. “Yeah, she is.”
“Oh, and Ledger is hilarious.” She laughs. “Or at least, the way he is with Tempest is hilarious. Again, I had heard the stories, but I didn’t know how much. Actually, Reed is hilarious too, when it comes to Callie.”
I chuckle. “They are. As they should be.”
“But,” Snow continues and my heartrate spikes. “My favorite is still him.”
I knew she was going to say that. Or rather, I knew she was going to mention him one way or another. Because she’s my sister and she knows every inch of my heart. I have very few secrets from Snow, and while she doesn’t know anything about what happened between me and him, no one does because I won’t ever share, she does know that I’ve been looking for him these past two weeks.
Not that he’s gone missing, it’s just that he isn’t around much.
After that night, when he arrived late and without me knowing, and then jumped to my rescue, I haven’t seen him once. Which, given the fact that I’ve spent almost all my time with his family except when I was working at the shop, seems like a gigantic feat.
He never went to the hospital with us. But I know he got tested because Callie told me. She also told me he’d been the first one to do that. And when the results came out negative, that’s when the others did the test. I asked her why and she simply shrugged and said, “His orders.”
While everyone mostly came to help me pack after my shift at the coffee shop, he always came when I wasn’t there. I know that because one day when I found some of my furniture missing—the things we had discussed I’d dump because I wouldn’t need them at the Thorne house—and asked Callie about it, she told me he came in and got them. Not to mention, I also know he’s the one who talked to my landlord about letting us move out without any notice.
I also know that while his name never came up when Callie and the girls were making plans at the hospital to help out, he had been the one to stock up on all the groceries and things during the last couple of weeks while I was still in the old apartment. And I know he’s the one who did the shopping today. Again, all secondhand information from Callie that was confirmed by the others.
But most of all, I know he’s been to visit Snow at the hospital over the last two weeks. This, I know because she told me. She also told me that he asked for her favorites: favorite snacks, favorite dinner items, drinks. All of which are stocked downstairs. What does she like to do in her free time? What kind of books she reads. All of which are stacked on the dresser. If shehas a favorite soccer team. He even asked for her favorite color. Which I thought was really odd until I came into her room today and saw the walls were painted that color, along with the new bedsheets and covers.
And I… I havefeelings. About this. So many of them.
On one hand, I’m really, really,reallyoverjoyed that he’s trying to make my sister—his sister too—welcome into her new family. As I said, after living with dysfunction for so long, my sister deserves stability and love. She deserves to feel safe in a home, and that’s all I ever wanted for her. But ask any mother—or a big sister who loves their little sibling like a child—if you shower her kid with love and kindness, she’s bound to fall in love with you. And I don’t need that. I do not need to fall more in love with him than I already am.
With mystepbrotherwho hates me for lying to him.
Who’s doing everything in his power to avoid me.
That’s what he’s doing, isn’t it? That’s why he only shows up when I’m gone. That’s why he hasn’t been around all day today even though this is where helives.And now me and my sister are going to live here too. With him. And I have absolutely no idea how he’s going to avoid me when I’m going to be living under his roof. I also don’t know how we’re going to co-exist—even if for the next few weeks until he leaves for his season—if he hates me this much.
But I come back to the moment with Snow and say, “I’m glad.”
Her dark eyes are wide. “He had the room painted for me, Juju.”
My eyes, in turn, sting with a mixture of emotions. “I know.”
“And he bought every book I mentioned I wanted to read,” she says, almost reverently. “And he said he’s going to set up the Xbox so we can play FIFA. He’s going to teach me because I love soccer.”
I keep smiling. “I’m glad, Snow.”
Then, her eyes fill with worry as she says, “Do you think the media would come after us? Like Conrad said. Do you think they’d find out about Mom’s affair and m-me and?—”
I grab her hand. “Hey, that’s not for you to worry about right now. I’ll deal with it. We’ll all deal with it.”
She swallows. “I just don’t want them to think we’re a burden on them or something.”
“Snow,” I say, squeezing her hand. “They won’t think that, okay? They’re good people. They’ve embraced us with open arms. I know you’re worried because we’ve lived with uncertainty for so long. But I promise you everything is going to be okay. You are going to be okay.”
She is. I’ll make sure of it. Conrad did tell us about the media circus that might happen. Although, even if he hadn’t, I’d still expect some sort of media interest in us. Especially, now that the season is approaching soon. The Thornes are famous—him more than the others—and this is another juicy story after the failed engagement and the cheating fiancée for them to sink their teeth into. Two sisters seemingly coming out from nowhere.
And to be honest, I do understand Snow’s fears because I have them too. We’ve never really had any support system so it’s hard to believe we’d have one now. Even though everyone’s been so nice and welcoming. But as I told her, I’d take care of everything. She just needs to worry about getting better.
