Page 10 of Unlikely You

“So now Amara is pissed and if I talk to Ruby she’s going to be even more pissed, so I’m not talking to either of them because who has time for that?”

“Not me,” I told her, holding back a smile.

“Anyway,” Ember said, as if realizing this was the longest conversation we’d had in months, “that’s what’s happening.”

“You don’t have any crushes of your own?” Ember had come out and said she was questioning her sexuality earlier this year, but she hadn’t landed on a label quite yet. Didn’t matter. She had a whole lifetime ahead of her.

Ember shrugged, but her cheeks were red.

“Oh, so you DO have a crush!” I said, grabbing her arm. “Tell me.”

Ember moaned and tipped sideways into a pillow. Her voice was muffled as she said, “Shut uppppp.”

“Tell me who it is, tell me, tell me,” I chanted, and she sat up, completely red and glaring at me.

“Leave me alone!” She flounced out of the room with her phone as I laughed.

“That’s what big sisters are for,” I called after her.

“What’s going on?” Ellie asked, taking Ember’s seat. I pulled her close in a hug and whispered in her ear, “Ember has a crush but she won’t tell me who it is.”

“Do you mean Mateo or Lyric?” Ellie asked, snuggling closer. At least one of my siblings still loved me. Archer was outside, the crash of the basketball on the backboard attached to the barn announcing his presence.

“Wait, who are Mateo and Lyric?” I asked.

Ellie rolled her eyes. “Don’t you pay attention atall?”

I hid a snort at how grown up she sounded.

“I guess not. I’ve had other things on my mind. Tell me what you know.”

Ellie had apparently been paying very close attention to Ember and gave me all the details of her many crushes. Seemed as if Ember caught crushes as easily as you could catch a cold and I thought that was adorable.

“But I think she doesn’t really like any of them. She’s actually in love with Bryn, but Bryn’s dating Harley now and Ember is really upset about it. So be extra nice to her, okay?”

This kid.

I kissed the top of her head. “You are the sweetest girl in the history of the world, and I love that about you.”

Ellie giggled as I ticked her in her ribs.

“Stop ittttt.”

“Never,” I said, kissing her head again.

“Fuck!” Archer yelled.

“Language!” I yelled back.

“Fudge!” he responded.

“That’s better.”

Siblings.

I checkedmy personal email later that day and found a message from Bibliofile. We sent messages back and forth all the time, but we also would send longer emails sometimes. Longer musings, clips from articles, all kinds of things. They were mostly a stream of consciousness and I loved it every time I got to open one. If I could have sent her letters, I would have, but this was the next best thing.

Mel,

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