Page 46 of Buckle Up, Buttercup

I throw both of mine in the air. “Wait a second. Am I dreaming right now? This can’t be happening, can it?!”

A sister? A fucking godsdamned sister? My parents gone for years? What in the ever-loving shit is happening?

“Umm, I’m hungry,” she says softly, eyeing the half-eaten burger on my plate. “Can I have your burger while you finish freaking out? I haven’t eaten all day.”

Jack and Jasper burst out laughing, and Jasper pats the seat next to him.

“C’mere, honey. Sit by Uncle Jasper, and we’ll order you your own thing.”

She takes a seat, looking nervously at me until Jasper hands her a menu. I’m still staring at the three of them in utter disbelief when Jack lifts his drink to mine, clinking it. “Congrats on the surprise sister, dude.”

A million thoughts fly through my mind at once. How do I know she’s really my sister? How do I know the letter’s not a fake? Could this be some weird stalker fan thing?

“We need to see the sheriff,” I mutter.

Petra’s mouth drops open, and she frowns like she might cry. “Why?!”

I run both hands through my hair. “Just to verify some details, okay? It’s not that I don’t believe you, but it’s better to be sure, right?”

She purses her lips. “And when you figure out I’m really your sister, you’ll take care of me, right? Because Dad said you would, and it was a lot of travel from Brazil. It’s taken me, like, two whole days to get here.”

Jasper gasps. “They let you come by yourself?”

The girl shrugs, still eyeing my burger.

One of the Jays says something else, but time and space blur into television fuzz in my brain. I can’t find words. I just kissed the woman of my dreams for the first time. I just promised to be in her corner. I just told her I was hers. And now I’ve got a surprise kid sister literally dropped onto my doorstep for fucking years.

Leaning forward, I press my forehead to the table and pray for peace of mind. This can’t be happening.

“Just give him some processing time, sweetheart,” Jasper says confidently. “You shocked your big brother. You probably knew about him, right?”

“Oh, yeah,” she says with a laugh. “I knew he didn’t know about me, but I guess it didn’t really sink in until right now. I thought they’d have said something when I was on the way.”

I lift my head. She sounds a little heartbroken. “Grab some food, Petra. We’ll figure all of this out, okay?”

She nods just as the minotaur waitress reappears at our table.

Half an hour later, I’m still in shock as Petra licks burger juice from her fingers. Jack and Jasper have her in stitches, but I’m still staring at her trying to decide if we look alike. When she turns a crooked smile on me and I notice the same dimple in her chin that I got from my father, it all hits me like a ton of bricks.

I’ve got a one-bedroom apartment across the hall from my fucking mate, who I just started pursuing. One nest. No extra room. I don’t even know where Pine Gulch’s elementary school is or what grade Petra would be in. I don't have the first clue what to do with her while I’m in games or at practice. Who babysits in Pine Gulch? I don’t fucking know. And I cannot add another thing to Bluebell’s to-do list.

When dinner is done, I call the sheriff to verify he’s at the office up the street. Petra follows me there in silence, her footfalls impossibly light as she hops in and out of the railroad tracks.

“How come you don’t believe me?” she asks when I grab the door handle.

I sigh, dropping to my heels and clasping my hands together. “You caught me by surprise, little one, and I’d like to verify all of this. Imagine if a random kid came up to you on the street and said they were your sister.”

She frowns, shooting me an exasperated look. “I’d obviously be excited, and then I’d ask them to go play.” She crosses her arms and taps her foot. “Dad said you’d be, what was the word? Kerfluffled. Is that what this reaction is?” She waves at me.

I purse my lips. My father is the only monster in the entire world I’ve ever heard use that word.

Fuuuuck me.

Rising, I grab the door and open it. “Let’s go, Petra.”

Inside his office, Sheriff Rygold sits behind his desk with both big feet up on it as he reads the newest issue of the Gulch Gossip, the one with me on the skyball pitch on the front.

Petra runs up and grabs it right out of his hands, scanning the words. “Oh my gods, Hadrian, this is so cool! You’re in the newspaper!”