Stepbrother Dearest(33)

As he reluctantly let my mother hug him, his eyes darted over to me and stayed there. I couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but I was pretty sure it was along the same lines of what was running through my own head.

This reunion   was never supposed to happen.

After Mom let go of him, Elec’s companion went over to hug her. “Mrs. O’Rourke, I’m Chelsea, Elec’s girlfriend. I’m so sorry for your loss.”

“Call me Sarah. Thank you, sweetheart. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m sorry it had to be under these circumstances,” she said as she rubbed my mother’s back.

My eyes landed on her French-manicured nails. She was petite, and her body shape was similar to mine. Her long blonde hair cascaded down her back in beachy waves. She was gorgeous.

Of course, she was.

My insides felt like they were twisting.

Elec slowly walked toward me. “Greta…”

The sound of my name rolling off his tongue had momentarily taken me back seven years in an instant.

“Elec.” I got up from my chair. “I…I’m so sorry…about Randy,” I stuttered, and my lips started to tremble. It felt like all of the breath left my body when he stood in front of me, and I inhaled the old familiar smell of clove cigarettes and cologne. So much time had gone by, but emotionally, it still felt like yesterday.

Like yesterday.

The only difference was that the person who left my bedroom that day was still essentially a boy, and the person before me now was clearly a man.

I looked up at him and marveled at how he’d grown even more handsome. My favorite characteristics were still there but with some changes. His gray eyes still glowed, but now it was through those black-framed glasses. He still wore his lip ring, but had a little more facial hair now. A black pinstriped shirt that was rolled up at the sleeves hugged his chest, which was now bigger, even more defined.

He just stayed looking at me. I finally reached out to hug him and felt his warm hand on my back. My heart was beating so fast, it felt like it might stop altogether. One thing that apparently hadn’t changed was the way my body instantly reacted to his touch. Just as I closed my eyes, I heard a voice from behind him.

“You must be Sarah’s daughter. You two look like twins.”

I separated from him suddenly and held out my clammy hand. “Yes…hi, I’m Greta.”

She didn’t take it. Instead, she smiled sympathetically and hugged me. “I’m Chelsea. It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry about your stepfather.” Her hair smelled as I expected it would, a clean, delicate scent to match her apparently sweet personality.

“Thank you,” I said.

The tension in the air was palpable as the three of us just stood there in awkward silence.

Clara walked in carrying a pot roast that she’d garnished with asparagus spears on an oval plate. I used the opportunity to escape from the situation and offered to help her bring in the rest of the items, leaving Elec and Chelsea standing there.

My nervous hands fumbled with the silverware Clara tasked me with gathering from the drawer in the kitchen. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before reentering the dining room.

Greg was talking while I walked around distributing the flatware. A case of the butterfingers got me good as forks and spoons kept slipping out of my trepidatious hands.

With nothing left to do, I then sat down across from where Elec and Chelsea were sitting. My eyes stayed glued to the reflection of my face on my plate.

“So, how did you kids meet?” he asked them.

I glanced up.

Chelsea smiled and looked adoringly over at Elec. “We both work at the youth center. I head up the after school program, and Elec is a counselor. We started off as friends. I really admired how good he was with the kids. They all love him.” She placed her hand on his. “Now, I do, too.”

I could see from the corner of my eye that she leaned in and kissed him. The black dress I was wearing suddenly felt like it was suffocating me.

“That’s very sweet,” Clara said.

“Elec, how is Pilar taking this?” Greg asked.

“She’s not doing well,” he said abruptly.

I looked up upon hearing him speak. He hadn’t spoken the entire time since saying my name.

Chelsea squeezed his hand. “We tried to get her to come, but she didn’t think she could handle it.”

We.

She was close to his mother.

This was definitely serious.


“Well, it’s better off then that she stayed back,” Clara said.

Probably uncomfortable at the mention of Pilar, my mother took a long sip of her wine. She knew she was the number one reason for Pilar not showing up today.

Chelsea turned to me. “Where do you live, Greta?”

“I live in New York City, actually. I just came into town a couple of days ago.”

“That must be exciting. I’ve always wanted to visit.” She turned to Elec. “Maybe we could visit her sometime? We’d have a place to stay.”

He nodded his head once, looking extremely uncomfortable as he played with his food. At one point, I could feel his eyes on me. When I turned to look at him to confirm it, our eyes met for a quick second before he shifted his gaze back down to his plate.

“Elec never told me he had a stepsister,” Chelsea said.