Page 88 of Fresh Canvas
“Why? Because you’d be jealous of my instant stardom?” she breathed.
I shook my head, suddenly overcome by everything that washer.
I love you, you know that?
The words echoed in my mind. My lips parted, a sudden breath of courage filling my lungs, but an abrupt doorbell buzz interrupted me as Amantha cried out, “Hallelujah! Food!”
Her weak attempt at pushing my heavy chest off of hers was adorable.
I shifted to let her escape and watched her bare feet run down the hallway. I grinned, loving the way she was so comfortable around me. Amantha had never tried to be anything but herself.
She flung the door open after the first knock. “Oh. Um, hello?”
Bewildered, I rushed to the hallway, skidding slightly in my socks as I stopped dead in my tracks. The person at the door wasn’t holding any Thai food.
Instead, my nosy little brat of a sister stood beaming at us.
Camilla.
twenty-three
AMANTHA
“What areyoudoing here?” Val glowered over my shoulder at the woman. It wasn’t until the stranger opened her mouth to argue that I noticed their resemblance. Her eyebrows furrowed the same way Val’s did, though her brown irises were rimmed with gold instead of flecked. The woman whom I assumed was his sister, Camilla, gestured wildly as she spoke.
“What did you expect,Valentine? You gave me no choice. If you would have?—”
Val tugged me inside and began shutting the door in his sister’s face.
“Val!” I shot him a look of warning, grabbed the door handle, and forced it back open. “Remember how we’re working onnotbeing a jerk?”
A sunny smile blossomed on Camilla’s face, revealing an adorably tilted front incisor. “Thanks. He can besucha jerk sometimes,” she said.
I laughed. “The biggest. Come in! You must be Camilla.”
We strode past a grumbling Val, chatting away.
He sulked down the hallway after us. “So, I’m guessingyou’re missing your own children’s football game?” He clucked his tongue disapprovingly.
The words wafted toward Camilla, who completely disregarded them while she beamed at me.
We claimed the couch, leaving Val to the brown leather armchair in the corner. Anticipation wiggled in my stomach. Being introduced to a member of Val's family—albeit forcefully—felt important.
And this wasCamilla. Val had spoken so highly of her.
Camilla tossed her long, dark curls over her shoulder and said, “I’m so excited to finally meet you!”
Val snorted. “Finally? I literally told you about Amantha a few hours ago.” It was as though he heard my stomach drop, because he smiled gently at me and said, “No, it’s not like that. I’m more than ready for you to meet my family. I just wasn’t ready forher”—he glared at his completely unaffected sister—“to meet you. She’s clinically insane, so ignore anything she tells you.”
Camilla didn’t bother taking her eyes off me to raise a middle finger in Val’s direction.
I giggled, then turned back to her and said, “I’m happy to finally meet you too! And I’m sorry, but did I hear you call himValentine? Is that a nickname or something?”
Val’s eyes flashed a dangerous warning at Camilla. “Don’t.”
Camilla lit up like a firework on the fourth of July. “You didn’t tell her?!” Her glee burst out before Val could utter another word.
“Val’s full name is Valentine!”
