Page 3 of Sing Me Home
My entire family was open-mouthed. Mom gave me a sad smile as if to sayit’s going to be okay.But her eyes told the truth. She had as much regret as me.
Throughout high school, I’d wanted to confess my feelings to Charlie. Mom told me to wait. She wanted me to make sure that my feelings were going to last. We were all Duprees, even if Charlie and Theo had been adopted by Ashton when he married Tally. And our families were neighbors. If Charlie didn’t feel the same, it could cause some weirdness between everyone.
So I’d waited.
Apparently, too long.
I opened the sliding glass door, shut it behind me, and walked toward the pool, forcing my lungs to slow down, tears burning my eyes.
Three seconds later, I heard the door open again. I turned to see Charlie coming out wearing a glower that said she was going to fry me.
I rolled my eyes. Bring it on.
She slammed the door shut so hard I thought it might come off the tracks. “What is your problem? You just embarrassed me in front of Lorne!”
“Lorne?” I guffawed. “You married a guy named Lorne? Who wears SpongeBob undies and whose hair is greasy enough to lube an entire tractor? Bro doesn’t even know how to shower, he’s in there gawking at the ceiling fan like he’s wondering how it’s flying without wings, and you think he can support you as a husband?”
I bent over, laughing. I’d hate myself later. But right now, it felt good. She’d hurt me, coming here, married to someone else. Hurt me worse than any of my words were going to hurt her.
Her eyes turned down, ashamed and angry. “It’s none of your business.”
How could she say that? If it was anyone’s business, it was mine.
“Was your goal to find a man whose only job requirement is ‘must have access to Wi-Fi and a PlayStation’?” I tilted my head like I was genuinely trying to figure out how she’d become this dumb. “Seriously, blink twice if you’re being held hostage by the Dollar Store Post Malone. It’s the only rational explanation for any of this.”
Without warning, she reached out and popped me in the side of the head.“Stop acting like a jerk.”
My nostrils flared and my eyes narrowed, but it was all a cover for the emotional landmines that kept detonating inside of me. In a few minutes, I’d be nothing but ruins. In pure desperation, I snapped, “You can’t stick with anything anyway.Crafts,college…” I enunciated the C sounds. “You know, anything that takes seriouscommitment. You’ll be divorced in a year.”
“Take that back!” she yelled, a tear slipping onto her cheek.
No. She needed a wake-up call before she destroyed her entire life. I propped my hands on my hips. “Not until you admit you’re an idiot!”
“I hate you!” She stomped her foot. “You’re the worst cousin ever!” She sobbed, tears flooding her cheeks.
The wordcousinfelt like the most hateful swear word in existence coming out of her mouth.
“How many times do I have to tell you, I’m not your stupidcousin?” I shouted.
My refusal to admit we were cousins—because we weren’t, technically—always drove her crazy. But today? Her entire body vibrated with fury. Her glare shifted from a smoldering ember to a raging wildfire. And her neck was splotchy, which meant she was about to murder me.
I took a large step away from her to give us a little distance.
Her jaw clamped and her head tipped to the sky. Then she roared, lunged, and shoved me.
Crap! How’d I get so close to the pool?
I teetered, my arms flailing, trying to grasp…anything. There! My fingers fisted around the bottom of her shirt. But it wasn’t enough and I fell sideways, taking her with me.
The splash wasn’t that surprising. If anything, it felt good. I was still in my swim trunks from the photo shoot. It was the fact that she’d pushed me in that shocked me.
I burst through the surface, sputtering. “What the?—”
She dove for me, fists flying. Thankfully, my arms were longer than hers. Just enough that I could hold her by the shoulders and none of her blows landed. It was comical that she thought she could do any kind of damage. She had twigs for arms.
The more I held her off, the angrier she got. So finally, I stepped out of the way, letting her fall face-first into the water. I shoved my hair out of my eyes and laughed. I had to release the tension somehow.
When she came up, she was standing in the shallow end. The water hit at her waist. Her tank top clung to every curve, her pale blue bra visible through the thin white fabric. The heaving of her lungs, only exaggerated…everything.
