AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Everyone looked happy.
Which made him feel old. And jaded.
Susie walked up to the table, holding his and Juliet’s drinks.
“Here you go,” she said cheerfully, sliding the drinks in front of him. As she did so, she took a closer look at him and raised one of her eyebrows. “Everything okay?”
“You know Juliet and I are step-siblings, right?” he asked, curling his fingers around his glass and drawing it closer to him, though he didn’t take a drink yet.
A little smile curved Susie’s lips.
“I’m pretty sure after that Roulette night, everyone here knows that you and Juliet are step-siblings, if they didn’t before. Though, there might be some newbies who don’t.” She tilted her head at him. “Why?”
“It doesn’t bother you?”
“Why should it bother me? You’re not hurting anybody. That’s pretty much the rule for the club. You’re not causing any harm.”
“What if we were though? Our parents don’t know. It could hurt them if they found out.”
“Ah.” Rather than responding right away, Susie leaned her hip against the table, crossing her arms over her chest thoughtfully as she considered the ramifications of his confession. “Family is hard. Especially parents and their expectations. On the other hand, how many choices have you allowed your parents to make for you?”
Orlando blinked. He hadn’t thought about it that way.
Obviously, he didn’t take Cameron’s opinion into consideration at all. But his mom had made her opinion known on more than one occasion. She hadn’t liked it when he’d gone so far away for school. She’d been thrilled when he’d made his home near hers, and then disappointed again when he’d taken a job that involved a lot of traveling away from that home.
She hadn’t liked how little he’d shown up for holidays when he’d been avoiding Juliet.
And throughout all of it, she’d loved him. Lawrence had been understanding and supportive of pretty much everything, though he’d also made it clear he wished Orlando would come around more often, for his mom’s sake. But it hadn’t negatively affected their relationship.
Sure, there had been a few times his mom had had to get used to the change, like when he’d gone away to college, but she’d adjusted.
“It’s not the same though.”
“It’s not entirely the same, but the same underlying principle is there. Your parents either respect your choices or they don’t. Sometimes it takes them a little longer to come around about a particular choice.”
“I think the bigger concern for all of us would be what happens when Juliet and I break up.” He spun his glass in his fingers, the cold condensation sliding across his fingertips.
“Then don’t break up.” Susie grinned and Orlando immediately shook his head. Like it was that simple. “No one knows what the future is going to bring, Orlando. You two could break up and everything would be fine. You could tell them, and everything could blow up. You won’t know until you try.”
“How many couples actually ‘make it’ when they don’t have our problems?”
“How many do? Or when they have more problems than you?” Susie shook her head. “If you’re always looking for things to fall apart, instead of trying to make them work, then things are likely to fall apart. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy.” She glanced over at the bar. “I’ve gotta get back to work, but if you need to talk some more tonight, I’m here.”
“Thanks, Susie.”
Unfortunately, he wasn’t sure what he needed. He just hoped like hell that he could figure it out.
CHAPTER TWENTY
JULIET
“So that’s that.” Juliet sighed, rubbing her hands over her face, careful not to mess up her makeup as she did so. Emma was a good listener. She hadn’t interrupted once while Juliet had done a speed-through of her and Orlando’s relationship up till now. “And now we know our parents see us as siblings.”
“Or maybe they were just trying to keep the focus off you,” Emma offered up. Her expression was still full of sympathy, though she was also smiling with amusement. Juliet wasn’t offended. One day she’d probably think it was funny too. And she knew that when she told Brooke about the evening, her bestie was going to be howling with laughter. “Parents are protective of their kids, and they wouldn’t want you forced into doing something you were uncomfortable with. They would have no idea that you were perfectly comfortable.”
“Well, perfectly comfortable with kissing each other in private, definitely not in front of our families.” Juliet considered the notion. It was possible her dad and Mona had seen how she and Orlando had both negatively reacted to the suggestion, misunderstood why, and then moved to help them out.
Somehow, she hadn’t considered that angle.
