“Yup,” I say, standing beside him to scan the room.
“Can’t be worse than last time.”
I hope so but I also feel a creeping dread that I’m courting disaster with this do-over. It wasn’t necessary. Crimson seemed happy to remain engaged forever. This day springs from my desires. I don’t know if it’s a reaction to my mother’s stubbornly single status or just internalising a standard I see among the men I lead.
A belly laugh catches my attention and I turn, surprised to see it emanated from Ciprian. He’s talking with my mother, not a situation that leads to jollity from my experience, but it seems he’s getting quite a different result.
Thaddius follows my gaze and smirks. “They used to date. If things had been just a little different, you and Crimson might’ve been brother and sister.”
I give him a hard enough look that he chuckles nervously.
“You know that’s not how it works, right?” I swing back to stare at the unlikely couple. “Might as well say that if they’d kept dating, she’d be the one dead now.”
“Or Ciprian would if we’re being honest.”
I try not to laugh but it bubbles up so quickly that I can’t suppress it. My dad doesn’t help, smirking again until he joins in with my merriment like it’s catching. Sure.Thisis what we bond over.
My phone buzzes and I pull it out, only to discover the noise isn’t coming from mine. I pull Crimson’s out of my pocket and glance at the screen, then freeze. Unless she has a horrible sense of humour and deliberately mis-programmed the name, it’s Gabriel texting.
Thaddius peers over my shoulder and shakes his head. “That boy’s courting trouble.”
“He’s courting death if this is another one of his taletelling sessions.” I close my eyes, toying with the daydream that I just turn the phone off and pretend I never saw the incoming message.
But that’s hardly in line with the levels of honesty I promised Crimson. With a sigh of regret, I retrace my steps to her bedroom and pass her the phone. “Guess you might want to answer this.”
Crimson freezes as she sees the name. When she meets my eyes, I see a hesitancy there and I duck to kiss her on the cheek. “I’ll get out of your way.”
If I thought handing her the mobile was bad, it’s nothing compared to the strength it takes to force myself to walk out of the room. Except I don’t quite get there. When I reach the door, Crimson calls out, “Do you mind staying?”
Her voice trembles and I wish I could smash my kid brothers face through the phone screen.
In lieu of that technology, I sit beside her and wrap my arms around her. “Hit it.”
She opens the message, and it’s just a standard congratulations. A text reads,“Best wishes for your big day.”
It’s so blasé it’s almost offensive.
I kiss her on the side of the forehead. “Can’t believe you dated this guy.”
“I know, right?” She wrinkles her nose. “What a loser.”
“It’s so nice that we agree on the big things.” My eyes close as we sit together for a while longer, both gathering the strength from each other to face the rest of the day.
CHAPTERTHIRTY
CRIMSON
One year later
“You know this is meant to work the other way around, don’t you?” I grumble to my father as he meets us outside the restaurant. “You’re meant to get married to Micah’s motherbeforewe hook up. Becoming stepbrother and sister after the fact doesn’t carry any sense of taboo.”
My dad looks startled at the notion, and I consider changing my reading habits because it looks like the idea isn’t as widespread as I thought.
“Never mind,” I tell him before the expression can get too engrained. “It’s wonderful news and I’m happy for you both.”
Micah finishes his intense discussions with the driver before making his way around the car to join us.
“Problems?” I ask him, feeling a jolt of concern. Rising tensions mean we’re always looking over our shoulders lately. I thought coming down to Christchurch would give us a breather, but judging from his expression, that isn’t the case.
