Page 29 of Shortcake
I looked around my studio apartment that I’d been living in for a few years. Sure, it was small, but I loved it. I liked the fact that it was cozy. And that prevented me from buying too much superfluous shit. What items I furnished it with were quality. I spent the money to buy what I loved and that was it.
It had my bohemian chic flair to it with a touch of rocker girl.
It was perfect.
And now, after several years, my lease might not be renewed. Just the thought made my head pound and my chest ache.
I groaned, crossing to the window. I’d intended to look out at the lake, but instead, I found myself staring at the main house beside me. Higgins had lived there himself my first year renting, but then he downsized and moved into a condo unit within the retirement community two towns away.
A small U-Haul truck was parked in the driveway. I vaguely remembered seeing it there yesterday when I left for work yesterday, but I hadn’t thought much about it. Higgins had so many damn Airbnb renters in and out of there, I just sort of assumed he was refurnishing the place or staging it for different real estate photos.
Dammit. Maybe I did need to work on my observation skills.
My phone buzzed against the counter where I’d left it, my brother calling me. I swiped my thumb across the screen. “Hey.”
Wow, my voice was rough. I sounded like Stevie Nicks after a bender.
“Rough night?”
He had no idea.
“You could say that.” I shrugged even though he couldn’t see it and reached up to grab my oversized coffee mug. It had a cartoon hedgehog on it and pretty cursive that read: Don’t be a prick.
“So…” Finn’s voice faded suspiciously in that way it always did when he had something to ask me, but he didn’t know how to approach the topic. Usually, he’d just wait until I dragged it out of him.
But not this time. Nuh-uh. Man up, baby bro.
Not taking the bait, I lifted the coffee pot and filled my mug, patiently waiting for him to go on. After several silent beats, I couldn’t take it anymore and pushed by saying, “Riveting, Finn.”
“Haylee and I had a Zoom call with Hope last night and she seems really cool and she mentioned multiple times that you’re the only sibling who hasn’t responded to her messages.” The entire sentence was out in a sweeping single breath.
My heart pinched inside my chest, blood running cold through my body.
Hope. The half-sister none of us knew we had until recently. I thought I always wanted a sister… but not like this.
Somehow, my feelings of betrayal, of jealousy, didn’t sprout from Finn talking with Hope. I knew he was going to… eventually.
It was Haylee.
One of my best, closest friends had chatted with a sister that I hadn't even met yet. Did Haylee laugh at her jokes? Did she find her sweeter? Funnier? Cooler than me?
Were they going to meet up and would Haylee show her around town?Mytown?
Even though rationally I knew I was overreacting, my stomach twisted with the thought, eyes welling up with tears.
“Say something, Addy,” Finn said. Addy. Not Shortcake. Because we were no longer in silly sibling mode.
What in the hell was I supposed to say to this?
“I’m just… not ready,” I finally answered.
“Okay,” Finn said. “But when will you be ready? There’s kind of a timer going here.”
My eyes cut to the unopened wedding invitation sitting at the top of a pile of mail.
My father’s wedding invitation, to be exact.
A wedding that will be, what, his fourth wife? Maybe fifth?
