Page 24 of Stepbrother For Christmas

Tick-tock.

As the minutes tick by I get increasingly upset at the traffic.

“What time does Emma’s bus leave?” my dad asks.

“It left fifteen minutes ago.”

“But—”

“Her cousin Christina drove her to the bus station in Glenwood Springs.”

“Oh. Sorry, son.” He pauses like he just realized something. “You really wanted to see her off, didn’t you?”

I don’t answer his question. “Um...let’s check the traffic report,” I mutter before reaching over and turning on the car radio.

Suddenly the radio reports: BREAKING NEWS: At least 15 people are dead after a Greyhound bus overturned on the highway right off of Glenwood Springs. Officers at the scene said a suspected drunk driver hit the bus head-on.

“What? No!” I shout. “Dad, can you please text Carol?”

He gasps. “Christ, you don’t think—” He doesn’t finish the question, he just pulls his cell phone out and texts Carol.

“I just want to know if anyone’s heard from Emma since she boarded the bus and it left the station in Glenwood Springs,” I explain before driving through the median to get home.

“You’re going to get a ticket driving like that!” my dad shouts when he sees me cut over two lanes.

“I know, I know. I’ll pay it. I just need to bypass all of this traffic in time to get home.”

“Shit,” my dad replies. “Carol just texted me that she hasn’t heard from Emma since she left the station.”

I blow out a breath. “Me either.”

“Do you think that she might’ve been on that bus that had the accident?”

Suddenly the conversation that I had with Emma about her having bad luck and being a jinx comes to mind. She believes in it so much that—

NO! There’s no such thing as being jinxed.

She’s not bad luck!

She’s safe and all of that other stuff is just a manifestation of her anxiety or purely a random coincidence.

Still, panic creeps into my brain regardless.

“I hope not,” I answer quickly.

Thirty minutes later, we pull into our driveway and I rush into the house like a madman.

Then I smell food and hear some voices coming from the kitchen.

“Did you guys buy the boat?” a familiar voice asks.

“Boat?” My muscles go limp and my knees nearly buckle. “Emma! Oh thank God! I thought you left. I thought—”

“Christina and I decided to catch some last minute Christmas sales at the mall. We also wanted to hang out and catch up with each other. So I changed my ticket for the evening bus back to campus. I tried texting you, but my phone died and—”

I don’t let her finish her sentence. I just rush over and cup her face with my hands. Then I pull her to me and kiss the life out of her.

“Chase?” Emma whispers against my lips, her eyes as wide as saucers.

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