Page 106 of The ABCs of You & Me

I take her lead peering around, expecting to see his head above the crowd, but he’s nowhere to be seen. I stand. “I’ll be right back.”

His uncle is nowhere to be seen either, and as I make my way to the house I can hear elevated voices.

“She only said what everyone else was thinking,” Foster says, and I stop dead, leaning into the side of the house.

“She thinks she has the right to walk into this party that I paid half for and get lippy with me? If you were more of a man, you’d have put her in her place.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I lean forward the tiniest bit in time to see Foster’s mom put her hand on his uncle’s arm.

“Phil, not now. Let’s go back and have some more food. Everyone seems to be really enjoying it.” Her attempt to defuse the situation sets my teeth on edge.

“Oh, that’s right, Mom, protect him and his bullshit views from any kind of confrontation.”

“Foster!” she exclaims, her hand clutching at invisible pearls.

“What’s going on?” Cass whispers from behind me, making me jump.

I shake my head and shush her, not taking my attention off the three of them.

“No, Mom, it’s fucking bullshit. He’s treated us with nothing but contempt since we were kids and has only gotten worse in the last five years. He acts like Cass is less than human because of who she is. He makes constant remarks about my job, which I happen to love, by the way.”

“That’s not t?—”

“True?” Foster shouts. “That’s nothing but the truth. And if he’s not making those comments you’re commenting on how I could have done so much more. Been so much more. But I’m happy. I love my job. I make a difference in the lives of kids who society deems to be unworthy in some way. My students smile every morning when they see me, and the only thing that comes second to is when Sophie smiles at me. Yes, the first person who stood up to your nonsense, Phil,” he seethes. “She’s brilliant and kind and everything you could never be because your heart is full of hate and bigotry. She’s the polar opposite of who you are and what she did, what she said, only makes me love her even more.”

Love her even more.

Love. Her. Even. More.

“Did he just—” Cass starts.

“Shhh.” If Cass wasn’t here, I’d have assumed I was hallucinating what he said.

“I knew you two were too good at pretending,” she squeals, without keeping her voice down, and I watch in horror as Foster, his uncle, and his mom look in our direction.

“Can’t even fight without having backup hiding around the corner, eh? Pathetic,” Phil sneers.

Hate is not something I generally feel toward other human beings on a regular basis. But right now my whole body is filled with it. When I look at Foster, he’s in shock. Wide eyes stare back at me, and I have the sudden urge to apologize. Apologize for listening in and for sneaking around. Apologize for setting this whole thing into motion and potentially ruining the entire party.

“Foster, I—” I begin, but he shakes his head to stop me as he begins walking my way.

He takes my face in his hands and looks down at me, his expression softening the longer he looks. “I’ve gotta take care of one thing, okay?” I nod, unable to look away. “Did you hear everything?” I nod again. “So you heard that I…” I’m nodding before he can even get the words out, already worried he’s about to tell me he didn’t mean it. “Then you should know I meant it, okay? I love you, Sophie Hore.” The kiss he plants on me isn’t one that should be seen by others. He should be kissing me like this behind a closed door so we can keep kissing. Just as I think I may start climbing him, he pulls away. “Cass,” he says, looking past me at his sister.

“Yeah?” she asks, a hint of mischief in her voice.

“Would you mind holding Soph back? She looks about ready to take matters into her own hands.”

“I don’t need to be controlled, Foster.” I pout as his hands fall, and Cass wraps her arms around me from behind. “She’s tiny. If I wanted to get away, I could, easily.”

“Try me, Soph, I dare you,” Cass taunts, and I let my shoulders drop, utterly defeated. “Okay, big brother, go get ’em.”

Foster drops a kiss on the tip of my nose, turns, and marches back to his mom and uncle.

“Mom, if you want the two—no, three of us—to ever show up at a family event again, he can’t be there. He shows up and spreads his toxic worldview around, and I’m done with putting up with it. I’m done with doubting my career and whether or not I’m enough. I’m done wondering how the hell I could possibly prove to you that I’m doing what I want to do and that I don’t want to be an engineer or lawyer. I’m so over trying to convince you that there’s so much more to happiness than a piece of paper from a school and the issuer’s name on a paycheck. Cass is happy in her life. Hell, look where you are right now. This is because of her. She’s amazing at her job and she loves it, and that should be enough.Weshould be enough.” He looks back at me and for the first time since we arrived, he looks content. “I’m where I want to be in every aspect of my life, other than standing next to this complete hodenkobold.”

I try and fail to catch the cackle that bursts out of me and don’t even care when I see Foster’s smile.

“What the hell is a hodenkowhatever?” Cass whispers.

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