Chapter 3 #2
“Thanks. Thank you. That’s…” I put a stop to the word soup spilling from my mouth. “Thanks.”
I felt lighter than air as I returned to the gym and grabbed my bag and phone. The warm shower felt like bliss as I rinsed off the sweat and washed away the tension my meeting with Lee had caused. I tried—and failed—to push away my worries as I dried and dressed, then drove home.
By the time I was there, my skin was tingling again, like the cold Chicago winter felt the need to remind me it wasn’t through with us yet. The lights were already on, despite the fact that I lived alone, and I dreaded getting out of my car and going inside. But I didn’t have a choice.
Did I?
The door creaked as I pushed it open, but I didn’t have a chance to think about writing myself a reminder to fix it before I was bombarded by my sisters.
“There you are!” Kacie said, hopping out of her chair at my kitchen table and rushing toward me with her hands clasped in front of her.
Kendra, our oldest sister, didn’t bother getting up. “You know, for someone who works out all the time, you sure don’t look like it. That’s where you were, right? Working out instead of coming home to eat with your sisters? If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were avoiding us.”
Every cell in my body screamed, “You think?” But I bit my tongue and sucked in my gut as I tossed my bag on the floor near the living room door. I turned a gentle smile on Kendra. “Good to see you too, sis.”
She scowled, then pushed her plate away from her and leaned back in her chair. “You’re not even going to tell us where you were?”
“I was working out.” I lifted the lid of the pizza box and glanced inside.
There were two slices left, which surprised me.
Normally they would have finished it off to spite me for being late.
I grabbed a slice and took a bite before either of them could steal it from me.
Around my mouthful, I said, “My boss called me into his office for a meeting, so I was delayed.”
I didn’t need to look at Kendra to know her eyes were shining with glee. She leaned on her elbows, nearly vibrating right out of her chair.
“I told you you’re not cut out for that job. You should have gone into nursing like the rest of the family.”
Pointing out that Mom wasn’t a nurse always went right over her head, so I long ago stopped trying. “He actually called me in to tell me I’m doing a great job.”
Kendra gaped. I gave a shrug, then shoved the last of my pizza slice into my mouth as I grabbed the remaining piece.
My sister let out a huff before pushing away from the table. She stood, leaning on her hands as she hovered over me. “Well, la dee da, Kolton Ashley Johns.”
Pointing out that my middle name was Ashton, not Ashley, was also something I stopped trying to do years ago. She did it to try to get under my skin, so I’d learned not to respond.
“Maybe you should go into security,” I said around another bite of pizza. “You might be surprised and like it like I do.”
That brought another scowl to her lips. Kendra didn’t like it when I had something of my own, and there wasn’t anything she could do to take my job away from me. That pissed her off more than anything.
“Yeah, I’ll get right on that, in all my precious spare time. Seriously, Kolton,” she said, standing tall and crossing her arms in front of her, “I don’t know why we bother coming over here all the time, seeing how little you care. You don’t think I have more important things to do?”
I swallowed down my final bite, then gripped the edge of the table as I lifted my gaze to hers. “I didn’t ask you to put aside your important things to come here every other night.”
“And who would take care of you then?”
“I’m twenty-five. I am capable of taking care of myself. Just think, if you didn’t come over all the time, you could, I don’t know, find a boyfriend? Go out on a date?”
She narrowed her eyes at me, and I held my breath. Before Kendra could say anything, Kacie spoke up. “He has a point. When’s the last time you were on a date?”
We all knew the answer to that question, but Kacie and I also knew better than to point it out.
A year ago, this past September, when her baby brother told her he was never going to be a nurse and took a job at a security company.
Kendra turned her scowl on our sister, and I would have felt bad for Kacie if I wasn’t so fucking giddy that it wasn’t directed at me.
“Come on, Kacie, we’re obviously not wanted here.” She grabbed her coat off the back of her chair and was out the door before she’d pulled it on. Kacie followed, though with a little less hostility and a wave over her shoulder before she stepped out into the cold.
“Don’t let the door hit you on the way out,” I muttered under my breath before finishing with, “Love you, too.” I glanced at the empty pizza box, then down at my stomach that felt more than a little sick.
Pushing aside the urge to vomit up those two small slices of pizza, I cleaned up my sister’s plates and threw away the box.
Then I turned on a little Sloane Rivera, singing and dancing while I made myself a salad and tried the impossible task of putting my sister and her insults out of my head.