Page 40 of Where It Begins

Violet nearly trips on her way outside, but I grab her arm to keep her from going down.

Siphoning leaves out of the pool with a net is Miller.

He’s dressed in a t-shirt with a hockey logo, board shorts and a baseball cap. He looks like any teenage boy, except broader. The kid is nearly as thick as his dad and he’s only seventeen.

Sidney and I exchange nervous smiles. It doesn’t matter how into each other we are, we can’t take it to the next level if our kids don’t mesh.

CHAPTERTHIRTEEN

STEPSISTER POTENTIAL

Miller

I glance up at the sound of the screen door sliding closed. This is it. The big introduction. I’m about to meet my dad’s girlfriend’s teenage daughter. This could go one of two ways; good or not good.

The first thing I notice about Skye and Violet is that they’re basically carbon copies of each other. Except Violet is a little shorter than her mom. And obviously younger. They have the same long, dark, wavy hair. The same body type. The same mannerisms, even.

I set the net in the holder and wipe my hands on my shorts. Dad smiles as I approach, but he’s doing that thing where he taps on his leg, a sure sign he’s nervous. That makes two of us.

“Hi Skye, you look nice today,” I say.

“Hi Miller, thank you.” Skye looks just as nervous as my dad, and her eyes keep darting to her daughter. “Miller, this is my daughter, Violet. Violet, this is Miller, Sidney’s son. He’s in high school, too.”

Violet lifts her hand in an awkward wave, then pushes her glasses up her nose. “Hi. It’s nice to meet you.”

I wave back. “Yeah. You, too.” I wish my best friend wasn’t already in training camp this summer. He’s ultra-smooth with the ladies where I’m not. Not that I need to be smooth with my maybe-future-stepsister, but not awkward would be a good start.

“Miller, why don’t you take Violet to the pool house so she can change into her bathing suit, and you can grab her a soda while you’re at it?” Dad turns to Skye. “You can get changed in the house and we can bring out that delicious-looking cheese tray.”

Skye beams at my dad. “That sounds great. Violet, is that okay with you?”

Violet shrugs. “Sure.”

My dad and Skye disappear inside, leaving me alone with Violet.

“Whelp, this is nice and awkward, isn’t it?”

I grin. “Yeah. Kinda. Want me to show you the pool house?”

“Might as well, since I’m pretty sure our parents are about to get their bone on.”

I glance toward the house. “Seriously?”

“Based on the way they were eyeing each other, yeah.” Her slides slap the deck. “Let’s move away from the house so we don’t hear anything that will result in us needing therapy to recover from.”

I follow her across the patio to the pool house. “You’re tiny,” I observe.

“Or maybe you’re just unusually large. How old are you?”

“Seventeen.”

“How tall are you?”

“Six-two and a half.”

Violet snorts. “Like you need to add the extra half inch when you’re already over six feet. I’m barely five-four. I need every single one of those inches to count, partial or not.”

“Bet you can fit in any backseat without a problem.”

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