Chapter One
April
“Knock, knock!” I balled my hand into a fist and tapped on the door right next to mine where my older brother, Jacob, lived. “Jacob, are you home?” We didn’t live together but we each lived in a unit of the duplex left to us by our late mother. “Jacob?”
“In here,” he grumbled under his breath, and I headed to the kitchen where I found him searching bare cabinets and an empty fridge.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” Jacob was older than me by four years, twenty-five to my twenty-one years, but I acted the part of the older sibling due to circumstances. Looking at him, you wouldn’t know that he was one of the millions of people suffering from a chronic illness. He was tall and broad shouldered with glittering green eyes and thick dark brown hair that never quite let go of the curl he’d hated since he was a boy. He was slender because his cystic fibrosis made it difficult to put on weight, but he wore it well. He was a good looking man, and he should be out chasing women and climbing the corporate ladder, instead he spent more time with doctors than anyone else.
“Just once,” he muttered and slammed the fridge door. “Just once it would be nice if you asked me about something other than how I’m feeling.” he glared at me, it was hard and icy.
I set down the bag of groceries. “You’re welcome for the groceries, by the way,” I snapped back. “But fine, what’s new with you, Jacob?” It frustrated me that he acted as if I wantedto be this way, to treat him like he was my son instead of my older brother. I understood his frustration well, but he refused to understand mine.
Jacob came to the table and removed all the items from the bag, shrugging in response to my question before he looked away. “Nothing at all, actually. I had a date with a woman I met at a coffee shop.”
“Oh yeah? How did it go?” He hadn’t had any significant relationships in the past year and a half since his symptoms worsened.
“It didn’t. I had to cancel because of this damn infection,” he rubbed his chest just as a cough escaped.
My heart skidded to a stop at those three words.This damn infection. “What infection? You haven’t said anything about another infection.” He got them so easily these days and each one seemed to be worse than the last. “What are your symptoms?”
“It’s fine, April.” His angry tone told me he didn’t want to talk about it, but I opened my mouth to ask more when he cut me off. “I saw the doctor and received treatment. Another fourteen days of pills, which means I got about a hundred bucks to last until payday,” he shook his head and let out a bitter laugh. “That check’s gonna be short too since I worked about six days this past pay period.”
“You know I can float you a few bucks if you need it, and now you have groceries so that’s one less thing to worry about.” Every month it was the same story, one or both of us were short on cash. We both had good jobs, him as a graphic designer and me as an account manager for a tech company, buthis treatments were costly, and insurance only covered so much. Even though we didn’t have to pay rent, things were always tight.
“Yeah, thanks but I can’t keep moochin’ off you, April.” He looked so defeated that it broke my heart. We could really use one of the units for rental income, but Jacob needed some level of independence since his illness took away a lot.
“It’s not mooching if I offer to help. We’re family and that’s what we do.”
He snorted, a humorless smile on his face. “Yeah maybe, but it’s always you who’s giving, who’s helping, and who’s buying groceries.”
I shrugged off his defeated tone. “You can always pay me back in food and chores.”
“Or I could design a website so you can actually start your crafty business.”
My smile went soft at his teasing words. “I wish.” It was silly but all I wanted was to make pretty things and sell them all over the world, but it would take too long to build the business, and we couldn’t afford that many months without a stable income. “Maybe one day.”
My phone buzzed in my bag, and I already knew what it was. “You gotta go?”
I glanced at the clock on the stove and nodded. “I’m supposed to meet Kelsie for lunch soon.”
Jacob’s eyes lit up. “And how is the lovely Kelsie?”
“Crazy as ever,” I answered and rolled my eyes. “I’ll let her know you said hi.” They flirted with each other like crazywhenever they were together and it made no sense why neither of them had made a move yet.
But I had too much on my plate to worry about it, so I kissed Jacob’s cheek and rushed out of the apartment to meet my friend. Atlanta traffic was a nightmare on the best of days and with construction and the lunchtime rush, I’d be lucky to make it before the perpetually late Kelsie.
Traffic gave me plenty of time to think about the thing that plagued my every waking moment. Money, or more accurately, the lack of money. I could have a little bit more if my cheapskate boss would give me the raise she’s been promising for the past two years. Or if I could get Jacob put on my insurance without having him declared unfit or worse, a dependent.
I spent half of my time arguing with insurance companies and trying to convince them to pay more of Jacob’s care, but it was an uphill battle and with each passing day, it sucked more life force from me.
I arrived at the restaurant before Kelsie and willed my mind to shut off for just a few minutes. It didn’t work for shit but luckily, my best friend entered in a rush of fabric and colors and perfume. “Kelsie. You look happy.” The sight of her smiling face put a smile on mine.
“That’s because I am,dahling!” She spun in a circle, her flowing skirt and gauzy fabric created a kaleidoscope of colors and her laugh bounced around the small bistro. She dropped down into the seat across from me, a big smile still plastered across her face.
“Well don’t keep me in suspense, I could use some good news.”
Her fiery brows dipped into a frown. “What’s wrong?”
