“I thought you were still a teenager. Don’t you turn nineteen next month?”
“Yes, thanks for pointing that out.” I’m not sure why he knows when my birthday is. How much did Matthew tell him about me? I turn around and struggle to get a basket from the top shelf.
Michael comes behind me, grabs the basket easily and hands it to me. “Does that mean you still obsess about what guys are thinking?”
I give him a strange look as the oven timer dings. “Actually, the only thing I obsess about now is whether I’m going to pass my next chemistry test."
“I get that. Chemistry is hard." He leans against the cabinet. "But guys are easy. Like right now. What am I thinking?"
I pull the biscuits out of the oven and pretend to think. "You're hungry and you're wondering if you could get away with stealing one of these biscuits?"
He smiles. "Close. I am hungry, and those biscuits smell fantastic, but like I said, I've learned to control that part better."
"So, no stealing?" I ask, piling biscuits into the basket. One falls out and rolls across the counter.
"Nope." He reaches over and picks it up. He takes a bite. "Unless it gets me the pretty girl."
When I walk into my room after everyone has gone to bed, Matt is sitting at my desk holding the picture I put on my nightstand of Jacob in his full dress uniform.
“Hey sis.” He sets the picture down without comment.
“Shouldn’t you be in bed by now?” I ask.
He sighs. “Yeah. But we have to be up early tomorrow, and Kendra’s entire family is at her house, grandparents included. I doubt they'd be impressed if I followed her to her room." He laughs as my face flames. "Wow, Jess. You blush easily.”
“That’s not exactly a topic I want to discuss with my brother. Ever.”
“Okay, sorry,” he grins at me.
“So what do you want to talk about, Matt?” I glance at my computer. I was planning to email Jacob before I went to bed.
“Can’t I just come in to talk without having an ulterior motive?” he says innocently.
“You never have before.”
Matthew fidgets in the chair. “I was hoping I could convince you to come skiing with us tomorrow."
I sigh and sit on my bed. "I would love to go skiing with you, but as I said at dinner. I'm low on funds, and I promised Jasmine I'd go Christmas shopping with her tomorrow."
"Michael offered to pay for you," Matthew points out.
I sigh, remembering the discussion at dinner. Turns out Michael grew up in Colorado and was part of a junior racing team. He acted as if he were being modest about it, but I saw through his act. "And I said no."
"What if I paid for you?" Matthew asks.
It takes me a second to realize he's serious. "Why would you do that?"
"Call it an early Christmas gift. Call it wanting to spend more time with my little sis while I have the chance. Call it—"
Matthew is laying it on too thick for me to believe those are his only motives. "You need a favor, don't you?"
He breaks. "Yes. Actually, I'm kind of desperate. I have no idea how to propose to Kendra."
I don’t think I’ve ever seen Matthew this stressed before. “You don’t have a plan yet?”
“Not a clue.”
I rack my brain, trying to remember if Kendra mentioned anything about a perfect proposal scenario. I can’t think of anything. "It has to be something cool, something really romantic. Something she isn’t expecting.”
