Page 42 of Lavender and Lust

I can’t help but smile at the irony of Dad’s statement and looking up at the smile on Owen’s face, it’s clear he finds it amusing too.

“Oh, I’m so happy for you both,” Elena croons, clutching a hand to her chest and beaming at us with happiness. “Hopefully, this means less fighting now?”

My father and Owen both snort at the same time.

“Unlikely,” my father muses, then takes another sip of his coffee.

“Wait, hold up.” I put my hands up, suddenly remembering what we had just walked into. “Let’s address the elephant in the room here. You two?”

My eyes bounce back and forth between them, and Elena’s cheeks flush pink. “Well…” She wrings her hands in front of her. “We a—”

“We’re getting married,” my father cuts in, and my jaw plummets to the floor.

Elena plonks her hands on her hips and shoots my father a scowl. “I was trying to ease them into that gently, Joe.”

My father shrugs. “May as well rip the Band-Aid off in one go.”

Well, that answers the question of what my father has been up to for the last six months, and while I’m happy for them, I can’t seem to get over the shock of seeing them together. That and the fact that my father doesn’t have a shirt on because Elena just so happens to be wearing it.

Ew.

I stare at them in stunned silence for a moment, then slowly turn my head to look up and see Owen staring down at me with a mischievous twinkle in his eyes. My nose wrinkles as I wonder what the hell is going through his mind right when a devilish grin suddenly spreads on his face.

“Well, hello, stepsister.”

The End.

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