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“Do you have pictures of her?”
“Yes, she sent me these while I was away this past week.”
He hands me his phone. On it is a picture of a beautiful young woman with sandy colored shoulder-length hair and his very eyes. I scroll to the next image and it’s of her on the beach with another gorgeous woman but this one is older; both have curvy figures. I can only guess that this is Vivian. I feel a pang of jealousy as I gaze at the screen. Vivian fills out a bikini better than I do. A few more pictures and I hand the phone back to Noah.
“She’s lovely.”
“You’ll like her. I hope you can be friends since you’ll be her stepmother.”
I think about that. At twenty-nine, I didn’t expect to be a stepmother to someone only twelve years younger than me. But then again, Noah is almost seven years older.
“When do I get to meet her?”
“She wants to come down next week. I was thinking of having her visit a couple of weeks before school starts to stay with us. She’s going to be staying in a small apartment with one of her friends from Boston who’s also attending NYU.”
“So, she won’t be staying with us full time?”
“No, she doesn’t need me hanging over her shoulder. She deserves to experience college life away from her parents.”
I agree with that. I couldn’t wait to get away from mine when I went to college. It was only across the river, but it gave me a sense of freedom and got me away from Megan and Emma’s drama.
“She can join us for dinner every so often.”
“I’m sure she would like that. Thank you for being so understanding.”
He kisses me on the cheek, and when he does, I’m indifferent to it. Why? I never felt that way about his kisses. Usually I crave his touch but not tonight. I guess it’s because I’m tired, or maybe it’s something I can’t put my finger on.
Chapter 15
I’m in the kitchen, eating a small container of vanilla yogurt when Megan walks through the door. I haven’t seen my middle sister in months. She’s gorgeous and her hair looks lighter than its usual strawberry blonde and a lot longer, down to her lower back. I look at her green eyes with envy since I have light brown. She seems to have matured since I last saw her.
“You’ve lost weight.”
“Yep, twenty-two pounds. No more eating ice cream at night with Jeremy.”
“Megan, I’m sorry about your break-up.”
“He was an asshole. He didn’t deserve me, and I’m glad I found out now before it had gotten serious.”
Gotten serious? They had been dating for over two years. Jeremy was kind of geeky, but he had a great sense of humor. I know he loved having my beautiful sister on his arm when they went to company functions. Jeremy was an executive for a hedge fund. I wonder how it went all wrong, but I don’t want to open up her healing wound by asking.
“So, what are your plans?”
“I’m moving to Manhattan. Nolan extended an offer to me this afternoon.”
“That’s wonderful. Congratulations. Big changes for you. Did you tell Mom and Dad?”
“Not yet. You know how they get. All weepy that I’ll be leaving the nest. I haven’t lived in the nest for three years.”
She flips her blonde locks out of her face and starts chewing on her thumbnail.
“When do you start at Nolan?”
“Two weeks. I’m giving a week’s notice at Darwin and taking a week to move and enjoy the city. We can hang out more now that I’m going to live in Manhattan.”
“I’d like that. We haven’t spent a lot of time together in months.”
“Tell me about your new job. Mom said you’re working for JC?”
