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“Good morning, Noah. Did you have a nice night?” Clara asks enthusiastically when I step foot into the kitchen.
“Hmm,” I mumble, hoping she is astute enough not to try to bond with me so early on a Saturday morning.
Luckily, Clara’s focus is quickly diverted from me to her eldest daughter the instant Daisy waltzes into the kitchen all bright-eyed, wearing one of her the-sun-is-shining smiles.
“You look awfully chipper this morning,” Clara greets with a wide smile.
“That’s because I am,” Daisy announces, ruffling my already mussed hair, and grabs a mug out of the cupboard. “Nothing beats a full night’s sleep. Sorry I bailed on you guys yesterday, but I was exhausted. Was the movie any good?” she singsongs as she pours herself some coffee.
"Once you've seen one slasher movie, you've seen them all," I reply, knowing my remark will be enough for Daisy not to ask me about the plot of the movie since I haven’t the foggiest.
The moment I walked downstairs last night and saw Sky snuggled into a blanket, all I wanted was to either steal her away and lock her in my room or nestle her to me right there where her big sister could see. When Daisy demanded Sky share her blanket with me, I damn near skipped my way over to her. What happened next wasn’t planned, but I sure as shit don’t regret it. Making Sky come has become my favorite thing to do.
Unfortunately, Sky might have another opinion on the matter.
Shit.
How should I play this? Nonchalant? Like it was no big deal? Or should I tell her the truth? That she disturbs all of my dreams and I think of little else but her?
Fuck.
How the fuck are we going to go from here? Are we step-siblings that are supposed to hate each other?
Or have we crossed that invisible line on the sand that makes us something more?
I fill my bowl with cereal, my chest tightening as I count down the seconds until Sky shows up, so she can answer all these godforsaken questions running rampant in my head.
But Sky never shows up for breakfast.
And when she doesn’t come down for lunch either, my anxiety is replaced with frustration. By the time she shows her face around dinnertime, I’m pissed as all hell. So much so that I refuse to acknowledge her presence in the kitchen when she arrives and says hi to me.
Her forehead wrinkles in confusion, but it quickly vanishes when her mom starts talking to her.
"Hey, stranger. I thought you might be hibernating or something when you didn’t come out of your room all day. Let me guess? The muse was strong today and you couldn’t leave your writing cave until you got all your words down? Is that it? Will you let me read whatever got you all inspired?" Clara asks with pride shining in her eyes.
“Maybe. We’ll see,” Sky responds noncommittally, her cheeks blushing. "How was your shift last night, Mom?” she adds to redirect the conversation to a safer topic.
"Oh, good. You know, the usual. I'll just be happy when I get back on the day shift next week. With Curt not being home, I hate leaving you girls all alone at night."
"Mom, we’re all adults here,” Daisy interjects, rolling her eyes. “You don’t have to treat us like we’re kids anymore.”
"You will always be my babies to me,” Clara says, kissing her eldest daughter's cheek, and then pressing another one on Sky's temple.
With the blatant display of motherly affection, I immediately lower my gaze away from the Ames women. I hate it when Clara is this warm and loving to her daughters. It serves only to make me miss my mom more. Miss how I don’t have a parent that gives a shit about me like she used to. How Clara evidently does for her girls.
"Well, this baby has a hot date tonight,” Daisy croons. “And if it goes as well as I expect it to, I fully intend to prolong it to a breakfast date, if you catch my meaning,” she adds, wiggling her eyebrows.
"We all catch your meaning. Subtleness really isn’t your strong suit, is it, sis?” Sky retorts with a chuckle.
“Hmm. Can’t you postpone it, sweetheart? I really don't like leaving Skylar all alone at home all night,” Clara interrupts, completely bypassing her eldest daughter’s remark on getting some tonight. The woman sure does like living in denial lalaland.
“First, she's not alone. Noah will be here, too. And second, which part did you miss about we all being adults? Skylar's eighteen, Mom. Not eight,” Daisy says, quickly coming to her sister’s aid.
I don’t miss how Clara looks worriedly to me and then over toward Sky. Instead of saying anything that will only give sway to her concern, I keep my mouth shut and open the fridge to grab the leftover cannelloni from lunch and put it in the microwave. I lean against the counter, my head bowed, pretending to scroll through my phone while I wait for my food. All the while feeling the weight of Clara’s scrutinizing gaze on me.
“Okay. You're right, Daisy,” she concedes eventually. “Neither of you are kids anymore. No use being such a worrywart.” She smiles shyly at us both before looking at her watch. “Oh geez, is that the time? I better get ready if I don’t want to miss my bus and be late for my shift.”
“I can drive you to the hospital. It's on my way,” Daisy offers.
