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Suddenly, the phone buzzes next to me. It’s an alarm reminding me to water my plants, and I need this distraction. I roll out of bed, pull on my terrycloth robe, and shuffle into my house shoes. Then, I grab my watering can and move around the apartment, visiting each of my houseplants. I’ve worked hard to make my place look like the vision boards I save on Pinterest: (faux) hardwood floor, crocheted rugs, minimalist art, and dozens and dozens of plants and greens. I even grow my own herbs at my kitchen windowsill, and the little pots are cute even if each plant only provides enough for one meal.
My interest in botany comes from my grandmother and mother. Both ladies keep extravagant gardens and grow veggies, as well as all sorts of gorgeous flowers. As a result, I’m used to the deep, natural flavors of fresh vegetables, and the scent of new-cut blooms on a daily basis. One day, I’d love to have a house where I can have a garden of my own, but right now, I just have this tiny little apartment with its south-facing ledge. It’s enough, though. It gives me peace, and the plants are my friends.
Then, the watering’s done and I shuck my robe and jump into bed. Like a crazy woman, I grab my pillow and scream into it for a good while before turning on my back and clutching it over my chest. OMG, OMG! I stare up at my ceiling, unable to get the image of Tim in that Chippendales outfit out of my head. If he wasn’t working as an EMT, I bet he could make a killing off of being a male stripper.
But did he recognize me? I clean up well, and it was dark in the Krazy Kat that night. Maybe he didn’t put two and two together? Who knows? I’m still reeling from the adrenaline of seeing him again, and the image of the handsome man, his chest bare and gleaming gets my lady parts going again. The knowledge of what we did together has me swooning, but then I stop short because there’s a secret I haven’t revealed: Tim and I used to be step-siblings.
It’s true. About a decade ago, my mom was married to Ed Carlton, a prosperous banker in Wyoming. It was great for me and my mom because we’d barely been getting by on her measly salary as a waitress. So we moved into Ed’s mansion after the wedding, which was a huge step up from the trailer we used to live in. But what I didn’t count on was Ed’s son, Tim. Back then, I was nothing but a kid, but Tim was already in high school. He was gorgeous even back then, and my girlish heart melted when I realized that he was going to be my new stepbrother.
I worshipped the ground he walked on, but the thing is that as a teenage boy, Tim barely noticed me. I was nothing but a knobby-kneed shadow with frizzy brown hair and braces, always with my nose stuck in a book. Meanwhile, Tim was already learning to be a man. He was a volunteer EMT at the time, and he’d started taking classes at the local community college, as well as working out regularly at the gym. Plus, he started seeing a nurse who worked at the hospital named Lanie. She was the bane of my life because he’d sneak her into his room late at night after our parents were asleep. The incredible thumping and banging sounds were utterly scandalous, not to mention the breathy moans and audible cries of, “Oh god, harder! Deeper!”
It sounds silly, but I was so jealous of Lanie. I wanted to be tall and buxom and blonde like her because I wanted to be with my stepbrother, as taboo as that sounds. So yes, I’ve had a crush on Tim since I was a child, but alas, things were not meant to be. My mom divorced his dad for some stupid reason a few years later, and I moved with Judy to Texas. We never saw Ed nor Tim again, although my fantasies always featured a handsome, broad-shouldered man with piercing blue eyes from that moment forward.
But everything comes full circle because I had an opportunity to open Amazing Blooms in Prescott, and I took it. The rent was reasonable, and I figured I might never get the opportunity again. But I didn’t look up anyone from my old life, and especially not my former stepbrother. What was I going to say? Um hi, remember me? The gangly, knobby-kneed girl whom you barely talked to? We never kept in touch after the divorce, not even via social media, so he likely wouldn’t have any idea who I am. But when I saw him at the Krazy Kat, everything came rushing back: Tim’s incredible good looks, the huge body, as well as the teasing glint in his eye, and the way he made Lanie moan and come so hard during my girlhood. He made me moan and come last week too, and it was the culmination of my dreams.
