Page 9 of Forced to Share
Mom came into the room, glaring daggers at my sister before joining me at the coffeepot. “Good morning, kids.”
“Not kids anymore,” I sighed as I took a sip.
Mom patted my cheek and moved around me to put cream and sugar into her cup. “You’ll always be my babies.”
I grabbed a plate from the cupboard and loaded it full of scrambled eggs and bacon before popping some bread into the toaster. While I waited for the toast to pop up, I watched Jeremy and Leah closely.
They were so odd. Not that I would ever consider my sister in that way—or any woman for that matter—but Jeremy didn’t seem overly caring that she seemed to suffer this morning. He sort of went about his business like she wasn’t even there. Obviously there was something between them if they were engaged, and I just wasn’t seeing it yet. Then again, he hadn’t been overly touchy-feely with her the night before, either.
As I stood at the kitchen island, buttering my bread when it finally came out a little more black than brown, I kept my eyes glued to them. Leah didn’t bother with her food. She’d occasionally lift her fork and poke at her eggs, but wouldn’t actually eat them. Meanwhile, Jeremy’s plate was cleared, and he was standing from the table to take his plate to the sink. I’d even noticed that back in college. Thevery few times he’d stayed over. The guy was always quick to clean up after himself.
He left the kitchen shortly after, leaving Leah at the table. She didn’t seem upset by it, but after a few minutes, she got up, leaving her food, and followed him up the stairs.
“What are you thinking about?”
I jumped at my mom’s question. How did you answer that without exposing someone? It was more than obvious at that point that Jeremy wasn’t out and that he intended to keep it that way.
“That was weird, wasn’t it?” That wasn’t too telling, right?
Mom looked at the table where Leah’s breakfast still sat. The space next to hers was completely cleaned, like no one had ever been there.
“Maybe just a little. Your sister sees something in him, so we’ll have to give him the benefit of the doubt.” She shrugged her shoulders before taking her cup of coffee with her.
Even when we were kids, Mom always took her coffee back to bed with her. She’d curl under her blankets with a book for a few hours before she had to get up and get moving for the day. It was nice to see that some things never changed.
After finishing my food, I cleaned up and went back to my room. It was oddly quiet in the house for it being just three days before Christmas. There was no point in waiting to give Mom her gift, and as I’d suspected, she hadn’t kept the popcorn garland tradition going without me and my sister.
I pulled the plastic bags out of my suitcase, checking once more that nothing was crushed. Amazingly, everything had survived a cross-country flight. Realistically, I wanted my sister to do this with me, but she’d still been so out of it. She hadn’t seemed all that excited when I’d brought it up over the phone, either.
I carried the handmade garland down the stairs and approached the tree. Mom always had a theme. Most times it was always something that worked with our handiwork, and this year was no exception. The tree was decorated with red and gold balls, with little gingerbread men ornaments interspersed. There were bright red bows on the boughs, and Mom had opted for the clear twinkle lights this year. The popcorn and cranberries would be a perfect complement.
The long strands stretched across the living room floor as I laid them out to make sure nothing was tangled. It also made it so that I wasn’t completely paying attention. When I looked up again, I wasn’t alone in the room.
Jeremy stood against the doorway watching me as I continued to fuss over the Christmas decorations.
“What are you up to?”
His question shouldn’t have bothered me, but it had me tensing up, wanting to shove all of it back into bags and not let him see something that was so precious to me and my memories.There was no avoiding it. He would be part of my family from here on out if he was really marrying my sister, and I needed to get used to having him around.
“Growing up, this was something Leah and I would do every Christmas.” I picked up a strand of garland and lined it with the top of the tree, slowly looping it over the branches. “Except, we made it together. This was my special surprise this year.”
Jeremy entered the room, picked up the other end of the strand, and moved around the tree with me. Something fluttered in my chest, but I tried not to hope that this was anything more than it was.
“I’m sure she’ll be sad she missed this. She took some medication and went back to sleep.”
I let out a small laugh as I continued around the tree until I needed to pick up another strand.
We continued like that until there wasn’t any left, and the tree was covered. We hadn’t spoken anymore, but it hadn’t been necessary. Somehow we’d worked like awell-oiled machine, maneuvering around each other like we’d been in sync for decades. It was strange that there was that natural connection between us, but some of that could have also been thanks to his connection to Leah. Twin perks and all that.
Just as quickly as those good feelings came, they washed away. I really liked Jeremy Praytor, and to know that it was my sister that ultimately won him over in the end? When I looked over at him again, he was admiring the tree, pushing that strawberry blond hair from his eyes and smiling. It was impossible to feel sad when he looked so at peace. I wanted to be happy for Leah, even if it meant I couldn’t have what I wanted.
“Do you think my parents will like it?”
I didn’t get to hear Jeremy’s response because Mom beat him to the punch, making me jump about fifteen feet into the air. How did she keep doing that?
“Austin Bennett, what in the world...”
Mom had her hand over her mouth as she entered the room. Her eyes welled up a bit with tears, and I wanted to pull her into a hug.
