Page 9 of Stepping Up

“Logan is my only biological son,” he started to say. I could certainly see the resemblance between them, though Logan had yet to soften into his father’s happy-go-lucky air. Somehow, I doubted he ever would. Dwight continued, “But I adopted Nate a long time ago, and I love them both just the same.”

“Like Heidi from school,” Ella piped up, looking to me for approval. It took a minute for me to remember her friend who’d been adopted out of foster care, and then I smiled at her, patting her knee under the table.

“Exactly, Ella. Smart girl,” I told her, and she shrank a little under the compliment, letting out an embarrassed “Mom!” under her breath. Once, she would’ve clung to me and given me kisses even with company around, but my little girl was growing up.

“I don’t know this Heidi,” Nate piped in as he pulled up a chair beside me. “But if she’s friends with Ella, I bet she’s pretty cool.” He shot a wink to Ella that made her giggle.

As we finally started dinner and Mom and Dwight started to regale us with stories of how they met on their romantic singles’ cruise, I stayed pretty quiet, having exhausted my social battery for the day hours ago. Luckily, Nate was able to keep the conversation going, and he even showed a surprising penchant for getting my daughter to open up. He mixed his regular brand of lighthearted humor with some toned-down, age-appropriate flirtations that had Ella fully starstruck by him, and hell, at least my little one was having a good time. And it was good to see that even after all this time of knowing him, Nate could still surprise me by revealing that he’s secretly great with kids.

Logan took a page out of my book and stayed mostly quiet as we ate, his golden-hazel eyes inscrutable and closed-off as always. But I couldn’t deny that he wasn’t quite fitting into the jerk box I’d stuck him into in my head. He was always polite, complimenting my mother on her home and her cooking in understated ways that felt more genuine for their lack of fluff. Logan outside of work had a calm, stable kind of energy that he'd honed into an intimidating sword when he was in boss mode. I preferred this version immensely, especially when he started to reveal himself as a family man.

Dwight, Logan, and Nate had an enviable family dynamic. There was nothing flashy or overly-sentimental about it, but I could feel the deep love and support they had for each other, especially in the way Logan seemed to watch over them all. The ultimate big brother—paternal, even with his own father. Family was an even bigger priority to him than business, and I could see that in how he turned all of Dwight’s praises back onto him, thanking his father for giving him the tools to become the man he was today. It was beautiful, really, how family oriented Logan was. It humanized him, and it even made him more handsome, somehow.

I felt my tired mind starting to fall into habits I’d learned from my emotional, romantic mother as I watched all of this unfold. Silly fantasies started to pop up in my brain. I could imagine Logan as a dad, teaching his child—or, if I was honest, mine—how to ride a bike with a cool, patient focus. Logan, Ella, and I sitting down for a smaller, more intimate family dinner, cosplaying as the nuclear family I’d always quietly wanted for Ella and myself. Logan, a safe place to land. He already filled that role for his own brother, clearly.

Enough of this, I scolded myself internally. I took a sip of the wine Nate had skillfully poured for us, tuning back into the conversation just in time to almost spit the red liquid out of my nose.

“My youngest son sure would love to be here and meet you ladies,” Dwight said, fully shattering any sense of comfort I’d started to find. “I wish he could have made it tonight, too.”

“There’s another one?” I blurted out, and I clamped my hand over my mouth in shock. Nate shook with quiet laughter beside me. Our all-girls, no-boys-allowed home was being overtaken by not three but four men. We were outnumbered. I put down my wine glass with a shaky clink, deciding I’d had enough destabilization today for one lifetime, thank you very much. Mom looked like she wanted to trade me in for a newer, nicer daughter. But could she really blame me for being on the verge of fainting right now?

Dwight, however, simply chuckled. “Oh, Jodie. You didn’t give your daughter any information to go on, did you?”

“It slipped my mind,” my mom mumbled, a little embarrassed even as her new husband patted her hand on the table with affection.

“I have three sons.” Dwight addressed me again, clearing it all up at last. “Just the three, so don’t worry. My youngest, Bennett, has been working out of the country, which is why he couldn’t make it to dinner tonight. He’s a doctor.” His mustache stretched out over his wide, proud smile. “He’s been working in Sierra Leone, helping children in need over there.”

“We get it, Pop,” Nate half-laughed. “Ben’s your favorite. Hey, maybe it’s better he’s not back in town just yet. Give us two a fighting chance.”

Logan cracked a grin at Nate’s joke.

But I wasn’t in the right state of mind to acknowledge the slipping of Logan’s cold façade. When I apparently had a visible reaction to that “yet”, Dwight addressed me again.

“He’s coming home soon, so you’ll be able to meet him. He’s about your age. I think the two of you will really get along.”

The logical part of my brain realized that somebody who administered healthcare in the developing world couldn’t be so bad. Maybe if I’d had a full night’s sleep to consider it, I could even admit that he sounded like a good guy. But right now, faced with the prospect of four whole new men in my life whom I didn’t ask for, I couldn’t be less excited to meet the mysterious stepbrother number three.

5

NATE

“I’ll wash, you dry,” Carly told me begrudgingly as we stood in the warm glow of her mom’s kitchen. Dinner had finished up minutes ago, and I could tell my friend was overwhelmed by the way she scurried off to do dishes the second she was free from social obligation. Hell, who could blame her? This was a big change for me, too. There was too much weirdness afoot with trying to accept and settle into a new family dynamic—and the added element of my having the hots for my new stepsister didn’t help. That was a side of blended families that old sitcoms like The Brady Bunch had never bothered to talk about.

Dutifully, I picked up the kitchen towel that was hanging on the oven door handle, examining the cute pattern of chickens Carly’s mom had clearly picked out with a raised brow. Carly noticed me noticing them.

“No wisecracks on the decor, mister. Remember, you’re a guest.”

“Ah, but I’m not, am I?” I teased her, moving to stand beside her at the sink. I couldn’t help but nudge my shoulder against hers, even though with our height difference, it was really more a shoulder-elbow bump. Any excuse to touch her, really. “We’re family now, Carl.”

It was like I could hear the deep, exhausted sigh she wanted to release even though she held it back. She couldn’t quite hold back her feelings, though—Carly’s lovely face was always open, vulnerable despite her toughness. It was something that could have kept me up at night if I were the type of man to be that affected by a woman.

Luckily, I wasn't the type.

Regardless, it stung a little how her face couldn’t help but crumple into a grimace. Something about her apparent distaste for our new family arrangement felt like a rejection. But I did what I did best and bounced back. They called me Nate Young, the Bounce Back Kid.

Okay, that wasn’t true. But mostly because I would be more suited to a much cooler nickname.

“I should be offended,” I told her flippantly. “But instead, I’ll choose not to take that face you made personally.”

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