Page 14 of Stepbrother With Benefits

F I F T Y T H R E E

- Madeline -

I was waiting by luggage carousel number eight when I saw my big brother step out of a sea of travelers with his big headphones around his neck, their royal blue color matching his Cubs T-shirt and making his short blond hair pop.

I was smiling so hard when his eyes found mine it's a wonder I didn't crack a tooth. I lifted a hand to wave at him even though I knew he saw me, and the happiness in his eyes filled my heart with warmth.

When he reached me, he hugged me so enthusiastically he lifted my feet off the ground before he set me down. "You look good," he said, searching my face like he wanted to make sure I still had all my original parts.

"So do you," I said. "How was your flight?"

"Good. Watched a few decent movies, ate some underwhelming food. Got what I paid for."

A loud beeping noise erupted from the carousel before it came to life, and we drifted towards the top of the conveyor belt. I had so many questions I wanted to ask him about his six months in London, I didn't know where to start. "Are you happy to be home?"

"Of course," he said, pulling his headphones off and swinging his backpack around to shove them inside. "Don't get me wrong, it was a great experience, but London's got nothing on Chicago." He swung his backpack on again and shifted his weight in his Nikes.

I exhaled my relief, thinking era hadn't been an exaggeration at all for how long it felt since I'd seen him.

"There she is," he said, weaving his way to the belt when his huge rolling suitcase came through.

I held my ground, relieved that things didn't feel awkward between us, and texted Quinn so he’d know to meet us outside door G on his next lap of the arrivals terminal.

"Thanks for coming to get me," James said, messing up my hair as we turned towards the door.

"Have to secure my favorite sister status somehow."

"Helps that your competition doesn't even try for the title."

"Good point,” I said. “She should totally pick up the tab for our lunch with Mom tomorrow."

"I'll conveniently forget my wallet if you will."

I pointed a finger at him. "Don't mock my signature move. There have to be some perks to being the youngest."

"Speaking of not going hungry, what did you decide to do with your job offer?"

We looked to the left and waited for a few taxis to go by before crossing the inner lanes of traffic to get to the pickup zone. "I decided to take it."

"Good for you."

I kept my eyes out for Quinn's car and found an empty patch of sidewalk so he’d be able to see us when he drove around the corner. "Like you said, I can always quit if I don't like it, but if I don't try, I'll never know what I might've learned or who I might've met."

"Beats calling people up to get their insurance."

"No shit." I shuddered to think of how I was rotting away in that dentist's office. Not that it was a bad job. It was actually kind of cushy. But it was so irrelevant to everything I was interested in, and it was keeping my options small, my dreams small. "Plus, I get endless inspiration for my blog at BELLE, and I think if I keep working on it, it could really be something great someday." When he didn't say anything, I stopped looking for Quinn's car and turned towards him.

He was beaming at me the same way he had after I hit the first and only home run of my little league softball career.

"What?" I asked, torn between liking the attention and hating that he still looked at me like I was an adorable little kid.

"I'm proud of you."

I smiled. "Thanks, bro. I'm proud of me, too."

"Who'd have thought Maeve would end up being the underachiever of the family?"

I laughed so hard I snorted. "Yeah," I said, piling on. "She's definitely the family slouch. Are we even sure she's not adopted?"

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