Chapter 12
“Stephanie, nice bike.” Her oldest brother, Aaron, came out from the house onto the deck. In his hands were two beers, and Steph knew that neither were for her. He’d never shared. It was something he had yet to learn.
“Had to replace the one that you drove over last time we were all here.” She said it was the truth, she couldn’t exactly ride that one again.
How fast her brother had been going when he had hit it, she’d never know.
But he was reminded every time he paid his car insurance because of the higher rate because of an avoidable collision.
Because despite his pleas, she filed a claim against him.
That was how she was able to afford her new bike.
“That was an accident, you know that. It was so small I couldn’t see it. This one is a bit bigger, and you didn’t leave it in the middle of the driveway this time. Smart move on your part,” Aaron grumbled, though they were the exact same size.
“Is Laura still holding court in the living room?” She asked and took a sip of beer. Her sister bragged about everything to anyone.
“Oh yeah, we are up to Shane’s promotion and Jolie’s kindergarten grades. Which I didn’t even think they had, grades? She's five. But luckily for Laura, top of her class.”
“She probably went out of her way to find a kindergarten class that gave out letter grades. She doesn’t know if she approves unless it is graded.” Stephanie snatched the extra beer from him.
“She doesn’t change at all.” He settled into the chair across from her, looking out at the water.
“Mom said Courtney’s coming this weekend.” Stephanie wanted to talk about with someone who would be interested. Because her mom had clammed up every time, she brought it up since the first time.
“Calvin’s Courtney? No way. I thought she was dead. That’s when I thought of her at all, which was almost never.” Her brother seemed just as surprised as she had been, though he had picked up on who Courtney was right away.
“I have no idea where she’s been all these years. Don’t ask Mom, because she doesn’t know. Also, Mom doesn’t seem excited to actually have her here. Just like back when we were growing up.”
“She has to be messed up, right? She ran away from home at seventeen. Doesn’t that mess a person up a little?
I remember Dad spending the rest of that summer on the phone with her mom weekly, asking about her.
He hated it.” Aaron asked quietly. It seemed he knew more about that time than she did.
But he was Courtney’s age, so maybe more aware of things going on around him.
“I don’t know. Maybe. Maybe we should all be hiding our wallets before she gets here.” Stephanie chuckled, but after all these years, she could be doing anything. Or nothing at all.
“Why would Calvin even want her here now? She was annoying back then. She stayed with us twice, and we had to pretend she was one of us when she wasn’t? Calvin wasn’t even her dad.”
Stephanie could only nod. She couldn’t remember how often the girl came, but it was always around Calvin’s birthday and in the summer.
When she was there, they couldn’t do anything, not even go out on the lake in Calvin’s boat.
She could remember summer vacations that had to be arranged around Courtney’s schedule.
“Hey guys. You hiding out back here?” Dylan came out from the house empty-handed.
He pulled up a deck chair next to Stephanie and slouched down into it.
This weekend was going to be a tough one for him since his girlfriend didn’t make it.
So far, there's no word as to why, but she was sure by the end of the weekend Dylan would say. Right now, he seemed edgy, and she wouldn’t ask in front of Aaron.
“Good news that dad’s going to be alright. Mom was calling me daily there for a while,” Dylan said to them, as if it wasn’t the cancer scare that had them all there for the weekend.
“Me too.” Stephanie added in surprise, even if her mom had actually said she didn’t talk to the boys and Laura was too busy. Which left Stephanie to lean on. Had that been true?
“I heard nothing.” Aaron leaned back with a grin, like it was a good thing his mom never called him.
“I guess we know who her favorites are, don’t we?” Dylan pointed at her and sat down in the chair across from her.
Aaron gave him the finger before dropping his hot piece of gossip. “Courtney’s coming. You know that kid Calvin’s goddaughter.”
“No way! Courtney, I thought she was dead.” Dylan shook his head at the news.
“I know, me too.” Aaron agreed with a nod.
“You know what would be awesome? Playing a few old pranks on Courtney. Remember how we used to do that? She fell for almost every one of them.” Aaron stated and chuckled.
“We can’t do stupid shit, Aaron. We’re adults.” She told her brother they were all adults and should act like it. Make Courtney feel welcome for once instead of like an outsider.
“Who are all living under their parents’ roofs again for a few days? I'm not saying anything big. Just little things. To annoy her. To remind her of the fun we used to have together.” Dylan agreed wholeheartedly. It seemed she wasn’t going to win this one.
“My vote is no. We’re adults.”
“Adults who remember how annoying she was and probably still is. What harm would it cause, anyway? That she doesn’t come around for a dozen years again? She’s not a part of the family. Never really was,” Dylan said, and Aaron nodded.
“Just don’t do anything that will put anyone in danger.” She went along with it. It was going to be a boring weekend if she didn’t.
“All right, I’ll talk to Laura later, see if we can get us four of us all involved again. The Bexley’s against the world.” Dylan got up from the table.
“Make sure you don’t spill the beans to Mom and Dad. I'm sure they would ground us for this. No matter how old we are.” Aaron called after him.
Dylan gave them a thumbs up as he passed Calvin and Laura’s husband coming out of the house.
They were deep in conversation about golf and men who played the game professionally.
Something she had no interest in and never had.
Not that that would mean Shane wouldn’t want her input on the conversation, since she was an athlete of a sort, as he would call her.
“I’ll go see Mom.” Getting up, she announced, mostly because Shane was as annoying as his wife, and a woman’s ass wasn’t safe around him. After finding out about Christopher’s leering, she wondered if Laura knew about his handsiness? Maybe she needed to be told.
Inside the house, she heard her mom and Laura talking.
Dark heads together, they were in the middle of a discussion about foundation.
Something she didn’t care much about, sure she used it occasionally, but she had never had the urge to talk to her mom about the different brands.
Or as Laura was doing, telling her what brand to be using.
Toddler in her arms, her sister looked more and more like their mom every time she saw her. Even her mannerisms were like Marlene's. Which didn’t bode well for Stephanie, who favored the woman even more than Laura did.
The toddler staring at her must have alerted the mother that someone else was in the room, because her sister and mom both turned her way. Laura rushed her for a hug, toddler and all. “Stephanie, I didn’t even know you were here.”
“I was on the deck enjoying the sun and the water.” Hugging her sister, she didn’t mention she knew Laura was there because you couldn’t miss the commotion her little family made. At the time, she let her mom fawn over them and kept her distance. No need for the comparisons to start.
The toddler shied away from her, because she hadn’t seen her since she was a few months old.
Stephanie hadn’t had time in the last two years to take a trip to see her sister, and her sister rarely took the time to come home.
In fact, she had a five-year-old son somewhere that she hadn’t seen but three times in his life.
Which meant the kids didn’t know her from Adam.
“I was just telling Mom that we need to get together more. Just us girls. I barely see you. How is your yoga thing doing?” Her sister asked, as if she didn’t know it was a gym.
There was no need to remind her sister that she was a business owner. Her sister either didn't remember or care. Either way, she always made it sound like Stephanie was wasting her time in her chosen profession. That it was more of a hobby than anything.
“Great, we’re at about seventy percent membership right now. It seems the city was in the mood for a women’s only gym.” Smiling, she loved talking about her business even if she was making up everything she told her. But her sister never needed to know that they were struggling.
“Who do you look at in an all-women’s gym?” Laura wagged her dark eyebrows suggestively.
“Since you aren’t supposed to look at anyone, you can pay attention to your workout routine.” She suggested, but knew her sister didn’t go to a gym to work out. She was there to socialize.
“Boring. I go to a family gym, and still there isn’t enough eye candy to enjoy. I mean, I'm married, but I'm not blind.” Laura giggled again as there was a loud knock on the front door in the other room.
As one, the three women and toddler in the room turned to the door and stared for a moment, as if they had no idea how to respond to a knock on the door. After another heartbeat, Stephanie knew that nobody was moving, so she had to do it.
Quickly, she walked over, opened the heavy wood door to a blonde woman and was taken aback.
She was no stranger at all. Though the azure blue blouse, white linen capris and strappy sandals were very different, more feminine, but this was definitely the woman who had slipped out of her bed a week ago and vanished.
Looking Court over from head to toe, Stephanie was shocked she hadn’t realized then what was glaringly obvious now in the light of her being at the house. Court was Courtney Morrissey, who was then and still is her stepdad’s best friend’s daughter.
Court, it seemed, was just as surprised as Stephanie was because she just stood staring at her despite everyone else in the room looking at her.
Standing in the doorway with a gym bag and briefcase thrown over her shoulder, she didn’t move.
Stephanie just didn’t know if Court was surprised to see her there as a family member or because she’d ghosted her just last week and never expected to see her again.
Remembering exactly how Court had treated her made Stephanie decide she was most definitely in for playing tricks on her this time around. She deserved it for not having the decency to tell her goodbye. It wasn’t going to be big, just something subtle, like a trip.
Stephanie opened the door and stepped out onto the front step, shimmying over to let the woman in, which would be better for the trip.
It was more awkward than she had thought it would be.
As Stephanie tried to position herself, Courtney brushed past her to step into the house.
A brush that caused her body to break out in goosebumps as she looked into the azure blue eyes as it happened.
The eyes dropped, and Stephanie licked her lips, knowing she was looking right at them.
Because she was looking at Court’s soft, full lips at the same time.
Her entire concentration was on those lips and what they felt like, tasted like.
Not her own two feet, which had somehow gotten between Court’s, who stumbled gracefully into the house.
The entire room was silent as Court righted herself and moved away from the door and Stephanie.
As the silence stretched, Calvin came rushing in from the back of the house.
Courtney’s reaction was to take a step backwards away from the man, but backed into Stephanie and squashed her against the now closed door.
Not that Stephanie was complaining, because she liked it far more than she should.
Which was going to be a problem. Ghosted or not, she wanted her back in her bed. Something that won’t happen again, because they were now family.