Page 9 of The Facade

We made it to the formal dining room where my dad and mom were seated by each other in front of the huge windows that overlooked the back terrace. My blond-haired, blue-eyed father sat at the head of the table still wearing his suit and tie from work. My brown-haired, brown-eyed beauty-queen mom wearing one of her designer dresses was seated beside him. Nash and Carter were at the other end of the table across from one another, leaving the spot across from my mom and the seat at the other head of the table open for Mack and me.

“Ah dang,” Mack said under his breath. “Looks like I won’t be able to play footsie with you during dinner after all.”

“What?” I looked up at him, my eyes wide.

He bent closer again and spoke in a voice no one else could hear, “I told Carter to put me across from you since I like being close, but apparently he didn’t like that idea very much.”

“Yeah, I imagine not.”

While Nash couldn’t care less about which guys at school may or may not be interested in dating me, Carter on the other hand had always been super overprotective of me when it came to guys—so overprotective that I was pretty sure he scared most guys away from even thinking about asking me out.

Or at least that was what I told myself in order to feel better about the fact that I was a junior in high school and had yet to go on a single date.

Mack had picked up on Carter’s whole protective-older-brother vibe a long time ago and frequently teased my brother about taking me to the falls—AKA “make-out point”—many times in the past. To which Carter would tell him to back off and never lay a finger on me, as if I was some porcelain doll princess who would break if I was ever taken out of the glass box I lived in.

The first time Mack had said he wanted to take me on a date, my heart had skipped a beat, because I’d naively believed that my middle-school fantasy about my brothers’ hot best friend was going to come true—the one where he actually saw me as more than the kid sister he’d never had.

But when it happened over and over and it became clear that the thought of actually being interested in me was only a joke to Mack, I resented their banter more and more.

Like, was the thought of dating me, or having any sort of romantic relationship with me just comical to Mack?

I didn’t know.

He probably never even thought about it that way. Probably only saw it as a fun way to get a rise out of my brother since Carter took things way too seriously sometimes. But since I had wanted him to see me differently at one point—to see me as a girl he would actually want to take on a date—him making a joke out of it stung a little.

Dinner was delicious,as usual. After dinner, my mom and I took our horses out for a ride while all the guys played a round of basketball with my dad.

After brushing down Starlight, my Camarillo White Horse, and chatting with my mom, I headed upstairs to get ready for bed.

When I made it to the top of the stairs, I noticed Mack sitting alone in the lounge area at the end of the hall.

“Where are Carter and Nash?” I asked, stepping into the room.

Mack looked up from his phone. “Carter just got a call from Ava and went to whisper his sweet nothings to her in his room.” Mack made a face like he still wasn’t sure how he felt about my brother and his newly found sister’s relationship. “And I think Nash said something about running lines in his room to prepare for his audition.”

“So why are you still up then?” I looked at the time on my watch. “It’s ten-thirty. Isn’t it past your bedtime?”

“Yeah, I know I should go to bed.” He sighed and leaned back to stretch with his hands behind his head, the bulge in his biceps accentuated with the movement. “I was just thinking.”

“Thinking?” I asked, curious what might be on his mind. “About what?”

“My mom.” He tossed his phone onto the cushion beside him. “I guess I’m a little conflicted about her going in for treatment tomorrow.”

“You are?” I took a seat on the end of the large sectional opposite him. “What are you conflicted about?”

Mack rarely opened up to me about how things were going with his mom. He liked to put up a good front—put on a happy face for the world. But I knew it couldn’t be easy on him.

He let out a heavy breath, his shoulders drooping. “I guess I’m not sure it’s worth it to keep trying to find something that will keep her here longer.”

“Y-you don’t?” I furrowed my brow.

“Not that I don’t want her to be here for forever,” Mack hurried to say. “I definitely wish we could kick her tumor to the curb and saysayonara. But…” He rubbed his cheek with his palm. “I just don’t know how fair it is to keep putting her through treatments.” He sighed and glanced at his hand resting along the back of the couch. “Her headaches and seizures are only getting worse. She spends most days in bed. She’s not really herself so much of the time and she’s miserable. I guess it feels a little selfish to have her stay here for me and my dad when her quality of life is so low.”

So it was worse than I thought.

“She’s herself sometimes, too. Like today when she left with my dad, she was doing pretty well. She even made a joke about kicking my butt if I didn’t behave while I was here. But…” He shrugged. “It’s just hard to know what to do.”

I tried to imagine what it would be like to be in Mack’s shoes. To know he was only working with maybe a month or two to be with his mom if the new treatments didn’t work.

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