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CHAPTER1
MONICA
Upon pulling into my parents' driveway, I take a deep breath, bracing myself for the chaotic scene that awaits me inside. With the Mitchells and my brother's family, there will be more than ten of us crowding around my parents' dining table.
I walk into the house and head straight to the screened-in back porch.
"Monica!" Lyla yells, and she and her brother, Caden, rush over to me from where they had been coloring.
"Hey guys!" I exclaim, bending down to give the two a hug. If there's one good thing about having a brother who is eighteen years older than me, it's getting to hang out with my niece and nephew.
"Mon, finally! We saved a seat for you.” My mother points to the outdoor table that is large enough to accommodate both my family and the Mitchells. They've been close family friends ever since my brother was a kid.
The friendship between my brother, Tyler, and his best friend, Jared, brought our families together. They have been inseparable since before I was born, and their bond has only grown stronger as they've aged. Though Jared and Tyler are eighteen years older than me, they've never let an age difference stop them from teasing me, no matter how immature it may seem.
While Tyler and Jared have always had a strong friendship, they have been a thorn in my side in the way only a big brother and his best friend can be. The only reason I tolerate Jared is because of his son, Archer, who, instead of running up to me like Lyla and Caden, remained off to the side, quietly coloring.
"Do I have to sit here?" I ask in jest, pulling out the chair next to Jared.
"I have no problem with you finding another seat," Jared tells me with a grin, earning an eye roll from me.
"Would you two stop it?" Maureen, Jared's mom, chastises from where she sits, pouring herself another glass of lemonade. “How is your job search going, Mon?” Maureen adds, trying to change the subject.
“It’s ok,” I shrug and shoot Jared a side-eye. He has a smirk on his face that makes me scoff under my breath.
Jared is as much of an older brother to me as Tyler is, but an older brother figure I could have done without. By the time I was born, Jared and Tyler were already graduated and on their way to college. But they never seemed to be too far, always finding a chance to come back home and be with family. Sometimes, I think they specifically came back home to terrorize me.
The most irritating thing about Jared is that he's gorgeous, and he knows it. But admitting it makes me wish for the ground to open up and swallow me whole. Over six feet tall with dark brown hair that looks almost black, which he keeps swept out of his face in a style that is both sophisticated and effortless, he could be a model. Broad shoulders and a tapered waist give him the body that any man would be envious of. His hazel eyes only add to his appeal, helping to soften his, at times, stoic demeanor. I wish he was ugly. Someone so irritating shouldn't look that good.
"Yeah, Monica, you really need to stop it. You're twenty-five now," my brother scolds, pretending to be serious and earning an encouraging laugh from Jared. The occurrence is a common one. Though it's annoying, I've gotten used to it over the years.
"Will you stop picking on your sister?" Tyler's wife, Maria, says kindly. I'm not sure why such a compassionate soul like Maria decided to subject herself to the antics of my brother, but I'm glad she did. She makes being around Tyler and Jared much more bearable.
"Okay." Tyler pretends to hang his head dejectedly before letting it shoot up to look at Jared.
"Don't worry, I got this," Jared says to Tyler before turning to me. "So, Monica, you still seeing that guy?"
I roll my eyes at his words. "Are you still seeing that girl?" I bite back. Tyler's eyes widen, and he struggles to hold in a guffaw as Jared's eyes narrow and the amusement falls from his face.
"Not cool," he mutters.
"Now Monica, that wasn't nice." My dad looks at me sternly.
"He started it," I say, but I'm sure my protest makes me sound even more like a child, rather than like an adult trying to defend herself. Despite my chastisement, I grin, knowing I got the last laugh.
Looking at my brother, I see him giggling with Maria. She has tempered him down when it comes to picking on me. For Jared, however, it seems like he's only ramped up recently. During last month's family dinner, he wouldn't stop kicking me under the table. It drove me insane. I wanted to wind my own leg back and send it into his shin. His strange behavior is because of his divorce from his ex, Jessica, which was finalized a few months ago.
That had been a shocker. Jessica and Jared made it to seven family vacations before calling it quits. She had been nice enough but was always very standoffish and prickly, no matter how long she had known us.
Despite my behavior today, I don’t argue with Jared nearly as much as I did as a teenager. However, just seeing him fills me with an immediate sense of annoyance. I can’t quite pinpoint when Jared started to antagonize me. It must have been during my later teen years when his snarky comments stung me the most.
Even after he got married, Jared always seemed to be around. Our parents had lived next door to each other for almost forty years, so it wasn't new. But his presence became more noticeable as I got older. On occasions when our families would get together or he just came over to visit with Tyler, he’d always point out that my shorts were too short or inquire whom I was going to meet up with, as if he was my father. These small comments would drive me insane, and I usually always had something snarky to say back.
“Why don’t you tell us what the surprise is?” Jared turns to my mom, putting a kind smile on his face, like the poster boy he pretends to be.
“Eager, aren’t we?” my mom replies with a smile, never having a bad thing to say about him.
He was at the top of his class all throughout high school and college, and Jared now owns a successful software development company. While it is arguably cool, I also find it insufferable. The guy who used to gang up with my brother and throw me fully clothed into the pool shouldn’t get to be so perfect.
