“I’m impressed. Your sisters seem so selfless and resilient.”
“They are. You can also add being wicked smart and mature for their ages to the list. It’s scary sometimes.” He drums his fingers on the table. “I won the lottery with them. They gained all the good traits I didn’t.”
“I disagree with that last bit.”
Sam’s cheeks flush. He shoves a gummy worm into his mouth and chews to keep from responding to me.
If Sam won the sister lottery, I think I lucked out, too, and won the boyfriend lottery. The more I’m learning about him, the more I am shocked that he hasn’t been snapped up by another lady. Who could resist a man like this?
“Do you have any siblings?” Sam questions.
“I have an older brother.”
“Should I be worried about him?”
“No. We aren’t that close. Cam and I have a big age gap between us, like you and your sisters. He’s eight years older than me.”
“It’s funny how as a kid, eight or ten years can make a huge difference. Yet as we get older, it’s less of a big deal.”
“It was hard growing up. He never wanted to be around his boring younger sister.”
The image of a doll pops into my mind. I can remember sitting around trying to make clothes for it while I waited for Mom and Dad to get off work. Cam would be out with his own friends or in his room, doing whatever it was he did.
“I hardly doubt you were boring,” Sam muses.
“Thanks.”
“If you weremysister, I would’ve made sure I played with you.”
My face falls. “I wish you were around. I was lonely,” I admit. “I guess that’s one of the reasons I threw myself into dance. I needed something to distract me and prove I was just as good at something as my brother.”
“What do you mean?” He frowns.
“Cam and I have always lived on two separate planets. He was like the perfect child. He earned straight As, was captain of the varsity swim team, and went on to win a full-ride scholarship to Brown. I felt like everything I ever did could never measure up to him. Even now. He’s a cardiologist, married to an orthopedic surgeon, with two boys, a gorgeous house, and a dog.”
“Nobody’s perfect. I’m sure he has his faults.”
Sure, except I’ve never seen them. Sam’s unintentionally struck an exposed nerve.
“It doesn’t seem like it. Even when I call home, I still get asked things like, ‘Have you found a boyfriend yet? You’renot getting any younger. By the time Cam was your age, he was already married.’” I take a deep breath. “I know my parents love me, and it’s only out of love that they say things like that, but I feel like I’ll never be able to step out of his shadow.”
“Min, one of the qualities I like most about you is that youaredifferent from any other woman I’ve ever met. You’re unique. One of a kind. I wish you would see what I see in you. You aren’t meant to take after others or fit into a cookie-cutter box. You’re meant to stand out from the crowd. Forget trying to be Cam’s younger sister. Be Minerva the Fashion Guru.”
Sam steals a gummy bear from my side of the froyo cup. I’m still trying to process the pep talk he’s given me. He has a way with words. I can picture him giving life advice to a young new army recruit. He has more life experience than most people.
All my life I’ve seen myself as Cam’s sister, the younger sibling. I’ve always felt compelled to prove that I could be his equal. But I was wrong. Being his equal isn’t possible. The world isn’t meant to have two Cams. It’s meant to have one of him and one Minerva. Yes, I carry labels, like being Cam’s sister, but all those come secondary to being me.
“I think I’ve just had a eureka moment.”
“Glad I could help.” Sam puffs out his chest. He pecks me on the cheek, his lips cold from the froyo. “Now come on, think long and hard about this. What’s one fault your brother has?”
“I guess you could say he didn’t know how to do his own laundry until grad school? Mom always did it for him. I remember when I was about ten, she was furious that Cam had sent his laundry home to be washed overnight express through UPS.” I start laughing. “He didn’t realizethere’d be a customs duty on his dirty clothing when the package arrived. It was something ridiculous like seventy-five Canadian dollars.”
“There you go.” Sam’s fingers brush against mine, sending a few tingles up my spine. “If he had trouble with doing the laundry, odds are, he also struggled learning to do the washing up, and other basic life skills. I see it all the time with the new recruits.”
My lips twitch. “Doesn’t the army do that all for you?”
“In basic, we’re supposed to be able to sort our own uniforms. It’s part of learning how to properly care for our kit.”
