Page 71 of Together We Burn
“Nate, this is your Aunt Stefy,” she said as Nate’s backpack slid to the ground. “Stefy, this is your nephew, Nate.”
When his eyes looked up, I sucked in a breath. Nate was a head shorter than Chris and was her absolute double, with thick black hair, freckles that dotted over his nose, and large almond-shaped eyes. But they weren’t blue like Chris’s. They were green, the same emerald green as Ronan’s.
“Hi, Stefy,” he said sheepishly as he politely stuck out his hand for me to shake. I stared at it until Jake tapped my back, and my brain caught up with what we were doing.
With an unsteady smile, I took his small hand in mine and shook it, saying, “Nice to meet you, Nate.”
Alex jogged up beside us, Chris’s hat in hand, and Nate exploded.
“Uncle Alex!” he cried, dropping his bag strap and barrelling toward Alex. He jumped, wrapping his tiny arms around Alex’s neck as he spun them both in a circle, the boy laughing as Alex tickled his sides.
Uncle Alex.
“There’s my main man,” Alex crooned, his eyes filled with light happiness I’d not seen in a while as he placed Nate to his feet and stepped up to Chris, depositing her hat back on her head. He bent down, taking her in his arms and lifting her. She squealed and raised both her legs as he buried his head into the crook of her shoulder.
Feeling all kinds of awkward, I glanced at Jake, who was smirking at my sister and Alex’s interaction. Finally, Alex let her down, and I didn’t miss the slow brush of her hand down his chest or the way Alex’s hands lingered on Chris’s waist.
“Hey, baby girl,” he said, appearing to have forgotten that I was standing right fucking here.
“Hey, you,” she replied, her hand still on his chest.
What the fuck was going on?
I cleared my throat, and that seemed to snap them out of theirwe are the only two people alivereality. Alex dropped his hands, and Chris jumped back, fixing her hat nervously. I looked between my best friend and little sister, about to ask them what in God's sweet hell was going on, when Jake spoke.
“Hi, I’m Jake,” he said, holding his hand to Chris, who latched onto it, grateful for the distraction. As soon as she took his hand in hers, she tugged him forward and enveloped him like she had done to me.
“Ah, the boyfriend, right?” she asked once she released him, then looked from Alex to Jake, to me.
I opened my mouth to tell her she was wrong, when again, Jake said, “It’s a little more complicated than that. Stefany isn’t ready to accept that she’s mine.”
Little shit.
“Stefany?” Chris mouthed with an impish grin.
“So the younger sister is a hugger?” Jake asked, cupping the back of my neck and flexing his fingers into the bottom of my head. Almost like he was trying to relax me.
“When the only affection you got as a child was with fisted hands or the heel of a boot, hugging isn’t exactly second nature.”
Chris’s face paled as Nate’s eyes darted to his mom in confusion, and I realised what a monumental fuck up I’d just made.
“I’m kidding,” I said, looking at my nephew as his gaze studied me like I had two heads.
This is why I didn’t have kids. Never mind the fact that I’d never had a relationship that would have naturally progressed to the step of children, or the fact that my job could mean there was a chance I’d leave my child motherless. No, it was that they sort of freaked me out. I didn’t know how to speak to a child; I wasn’t good around them, couldn’t relate to them, and that was obvious from my child abuse bomb I’d just dropped oh-so unsubtly.
Alex picked up Nate’s bag and slung it over his back as he dropped his arm around his shoulder and playfully dug his knuckles on the top of his head.
“C’mon, let’s get you inside. You must be hungry from your drive.”
Alex led Nate up the porch stairs, and Chris looped her arm into mine as Jake brought up the rear.
“Soo… hewantsto be your boyfriend…?”Chris whispered, albeit loud enough that Jake chuckled at her question. Glancing over her shoulder, she wiggled her eyebrows at him and joined in laughing. Pulling my arm tighter, she stepped into the embarrassing little sister role way too quickly as she tossed over her shoulder. “Stefy’s never had a boyfriend before, Jake. I’ll have to make sure you’re good enough for my big sister.”
“I can assure you he’s not,” shouted Alex from the kitchen as I closed the front door. Chris’s light-hearted laugh filled the hallway as she took off her hat and plopped it on the side table.
“I’ll be the judge of that, Alex,” she replied, following the sound of Nate’s excited chatter about the latest computer game he andUncleAlex just had to play.
Jake’s hand curled around mine as he held me back.
