Page 17 of Matchmaking the Rival

Everly: Hey, call me when you're home. I'm up with heartburn again.

I made a split-second decision. Her house was on the way to my apartment. I could stop by for ten or twenty minutes.

I cleared my throat. “I'd like to change my address."

The driver looked at me in the rearview mirror, clearly displeased. I wasn't his favorite person tonight after having made him wait while saying goodbye to Cade, that was for sure.

"Ma'am," he said lazily, "you can't change the address. You already put it in the app."

"Please? I need to drop by somewhere first."

He huffed again, clearly annoyed. “Fine. Where do you want to go?"

I gave him my sister's address. At the same time, I texted Everly.

Meredith: I'll do one better. I'll stop by.

Everly: Oh, sister time. Good. Derek is sleeping.

It was only nine o'clock in the evening, but Derek worked in construction, so he always woke up early. I arrived at my sister's house fifteen minutes later. She was sprawled on her couch, watchingThe Vampire Diariesagain. It was one of her guilty pleasures.

"Season three, I see."

"Yeah, it's my favorite."

It was mine as well. She was eating one of the muffins I'd bought her today. I sat at the foot of the couch and started massaging her feet.

"I'm also looking at cheap moving companies for our parents," she told me.

"No way. I told you I’m handling that."

"But I can help. I feel so useless all the time."

"Don't even think about it. I’m handling everything with Mom and Dad. You need to relax and take care of my niece.”

Our parents had had a few rough years. After losing their business, they couldn’t make their payments on the house, which was why they had to sell it. A large portion of the money they made from the sale went into settling the debts from their business. I was helping them with the rent for the new house until they could get back on their feet.

“But you’ve got a lot on your plate with the new job.”

“I'm warning you, Everly, or I'm taking all these goodies back."

The last thing I wanted was for my sister to worry about anything. She'd had some absolutely shitty years with fertility treatments, and now she was finally looking forward to some peace and quiet, enjoying the time with her baby. I hadn't been able to do anything for her these past few years, but I could help my parents. Even though Everly was the older sister, I was used to handling everything, and I didn’t mind in the least. I had this covered.

"Huh? You can't," she said.

"These things are really good," I said, munching on a muffin. It went way beyond not using sugar. They also didn’t use wheat flour. I had no idea what the ingredients were, but it was delicious.

"How were things with Cade tonight?"

"Outlandish. I feel like I'm different around him."

She giggled. "Yeah, it was like that in school too."

"I know, right? I was trying to be a completely different person for him, and yet he never saw me as more than his dork friend when we were young. But now it’s different. I’m constantly teasing and challenging him. Fighting, even.”

My sister yawned. Her eyes were sleepy.

“Why did you let me come over if you’re that tired?” I asked her.

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