Page 96 of Show Off

Drawing a breath, I open the door. Then take a step back. “It’s—”Wow, holy shit. “All of you.”

There’s Cooper and Gabe, Mari and Lauren, even Dean standing off to the side. I glance at my watch, but it’s only two thirty.

“What are you doing here?” Alone, without their spouses. “Dinner’s not until seven.”

Mari shifts to the front of the group. “We wanted to talk to you. Can we come in?”

I nod and step aside, watching my brothers and sisters file into my living room. Lauren and Mari and Gabe line up on my sofa. Dean leans on the wall as Cooper pauses beside me.

“Come here,” he says and pulls me in for a hug. “It’ll be okay.”

“I know,” I sniff into his shirt, holding it together as best I can. “Could you tell I broke up with Dal at the break?”

“We guessed,” Lauren says as Cooper leads me to the loveseat. It’s pushed close to the sofa, and she squeezes my hand as I sit. “Take it from your sister, who did the same thing in a very similar situation.”

I’d almost forgotten how Lauren and Nick split up. Nick thought he knew better than her how to handle a sticky situation, and Lauren—well, she’s a Judson. We’re determined to stand on our own two feet.

“Thanks,” I manage, glancing from face to face. “I take it you all saw.”

“Yeah.” Dean clears his throat. “Sorry you had to do that alone.”

“No,I’msorry.” I draw a deep breath, not sure where to start. “There’s something I’ve hidden from you for years. Something that makes me…” I search for the words, coming up empty. “Not like the rest of you.”

“Lana.” Mari’s eyes fill with compassion as she gets up and moves to the loveseat beside me. “Honey, we know.”

I blink. “Know what?”

“We don’tknow.” Cooper pulls a fidget toy from his pocket, fingers twirling the tiny wooden puzzle. “But we kinda guessed.”

I look from brother to brother, sister to sister, not sure we’re all saying the same thing. We’ve skirted this issue so long that nothing feels clear.

But I need to speak my truth out loud. “I’m your half-sister,” I tell them. “Dad’s not really my—my—” I stop there, because dammit. He’s still my father. “Biologically, Mom is my mother, but Laurence Judson isn’t technically my?—”

“It’s okay, Lan.” Kindness fills Gabe’s eyes as he looks into my eyes. “You are our sister. Period. End of story. Nothing else needs to be said.”

Relief floods my core, but Gabe’s wrong on that point. “No, something needs to be said.” I scan their eyes, none of them quite matching mine. “For years, I’ve known I wasn’t exactly like the rest of you. Biologically speaking, I mean. But I’m also younger. And just—different.”

“We’re all different, sweetie.” Mari’s arm goes around me, warm and secure. “Not a single one of us is the same.”

Coop puts a hand on my shoulder, looking down with eyes that see everything. “She’s right,” he says softly. “You guys are all straight and narrow, while I’m the alcoholic black sheep with ADHD.”

Lauren folds her arms. “I’m the foul-mouthed, overachieving, short-tempered bitch sister.”

“Oh, this is a good game.” Gabe leans into the sofa, arms splayed over the back. “I’m the dickhead who met my wife under false pretenses while running from paparazzi because a film I made got someone killed.”

There’s more rumbling from my siblings, a tacit agreement we’re completely different humans. But I can’t miss the elephant in the room.

“I just need to be clear,” I tell them. “Genetics aside, I’ve been lying to you for years.”

Lauren lifts a hand and strokes my arm. “Sweetie, we all have secrets.”

Cooper joins Gabe against the wall, stuffing his hands in both pockets. “We do?”

Dean punches him in the shoulder and Coop flinches. “I’m kidding, jeez.” He rubs his sore arm and gives me a wobbly smile. “We don’t have to know every little thing about each other.”

“That’s right,” Mari says, slipping into shrink mode. “Boundaries are a safe way to establish autonomy in the face of?—”

“I wet the bed.” Big brother Dean clears his throat. “Not recently, I mean. But way longer than most kids. It’s why I never had sleepovers in middle school.”

---