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She’d dug deep and found the courage she needed. And it had been fun. A hell of a lot more fun than she’d ever expected. But the look on Finn’s face had been eye-opening. Addictive. And she had every intention of eliciting it again.
In the small kitchen of her suburban townhouse, her half-brother, Calum, mumbled a good morning between chews of his cereal. His dirty-blond hair was covered by a blue baseball cap, which he wore backward.
Ali, her half-sister and one year younger than Cal, greeted her in her usual chipper voice, “You slept in a little late this morning.”
Veronica’s older brother, Mark, glanced up at the clock above the sink. “Wild night?” He sat back in his seat and grinned
, his finger tapping against his coffee mug.
“Just out with some friends.” That was true, but she wasn’t going to mention she’d been with his friend laying the groundwork for getting him into her bed. Brothers just didn’t need to know those kinds of details.
She grabbed a mug from the cupboard and poured a cup of coffee. She sipped on the hot liquid—black. There was nothing better than that strong, bitter taste. Well, maybe there was one thing…
Keeping her brain on more pressing matters, she asked, “So, are we all ready for this weekend?”
The big move. Just the thought of it made her stomach flutter like it was Christmas morning. Mark had returned for a few weeks to attend Jack and Sterling’s wedding, and to help move their younger siblings to university.
“I am so ready,” Ali said with an exhilaration that seemed to radiate from her body over the last month. “I have all my lists prepared, and my suitcases are packed. I think I might need one more trip to the office supply store. I don’t think I have enough pens and sticky tabs.”
“How are we related?” Cal blurted between chomps of his cereal. “You’re such a nerd.”
“I’m organized. Not a nerd.” Ali flipped her blond hair over her shoulder and smiled. Even from the counter, Veronica noticed the tiny glint of happiness in her sister’s eyes. “Why don’t you tell Mark and V why you haven’t started packing, Cal?” Ali said.
“Shut up.” He lunged across the kitchen table and punched her in the arm.
She squealed and grabbed at it in pain.
“No fighting at the table,” Veronica reprimanded. She’d had it with reminding them of their manners.
In two weeks she wouldn’t have to anymore.
She smiled wide, but guilt nagged at her a little for having that uncharitable thought. Bad manners or no, she absolutely wouldn’t trade the last eight years with Cal and Ali for anything.
She’d been attending college when the Children’s Aid Society had dropped the bomb on her. Two bombs. Ali and Cal had been placed in foster care, but thankfully their former caseworker had done her homework and found the family connection. It seemed as though their dear mother had been repeating her old tricks. Mark had spent months trying to track her down but she had been long gone. So Veronica had tried to be everything to them that their mother wasn’t. But she hadn’t realized how heavy the responsibility of being a good mother had weighed on her—not until the reality of them moving out had hit her square in the jaw
She returned her attention to the present. The look on Cal’s face sent a warning tingle down her spine. Something wasn’t right. The fluttery feeling in her stomach grew heavy, like an anchor sinking to the bottom of the ocean.
“About that.” Cal peered at Ali and she nodded, urging him on. “I don’t think I want to go away to school.”
Veronica grabbed the edge of the counter to keep herself from falling over. “Say what?”
“I sent in a deferral notice.” He straightened and his expression grew stern, as if he were trying to exert some kind of dominance. “I’m not going to school.”
“Cal. You worked so hard to get in,” Mark said. He set down his mug and reached across the table, but Cal pulled away. The hurt in Mark’s eyes was evident at the teenager’s blatant rejection. Mark shrank back in his seat and didn’t push.
Their relationship had been strained ever since Mark left to take a job out west. Not that they’d ever talked about it—and the strain between them had grown into an elephant in the room.
In her mind she knew Mark’s move had been in everyone’s best interest. An opportunity he couldn’t pass up—not to mention the fact that the high salary was what was paying for their two younger siblings to go to the university of their choice. And while Veronica had sometimes been overwhelmed by raising her siblings all on her own, she knew in her heart the difficult decision not to go with him but to stay behind had been the right one. The thought of uprooting Cal and Ali from school, from their friends and sports teams, and from the normal life she and Mark had tried so hard to give them, just hadn’t been an option.
But Mark was right. Cal had worked twice as hard as Ali. Failing a year had put him behind, but he’d made them proud when he finally graduated.
Cal let his spoon fall into his bowl with a clang. “I just don’t feel right going. It’s not what I want.”
Veronica’s hand tightened around her mug. Not what he wanted?
“You’re going,” she ground out. There was no question. Yes, her immediate plans included being more than a mother—she wanted to start being more social, and increase her wedding planner business, too. But there was also the matter of Cal’s future. No way was she letting him ruin his whole future on a whim. Not after he’d worked so hard to get this far.
“V,” Mark said. “We shouldn’t push.”
