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Chapter One
Four weeks later...
Haley Weston rushed into the kitchen with her laptop open and held it up to her parents. “It’s here! It’s finally here!”
Her mom stirred something in a pot at the stove.
Her dad pulled plates out of the cupboard to set the dinner table.
Cody sat at the breakfast bar reading some report. He worked with Haley’s dad at the company they owned together, but he was close enough to all of them to be family. “What’s here?”
Her sister Natalie walked in and sat next to Cody. “What is it now?”
Haley ignored Natalie’s exasperation and turned the laptop to Cody, who always encouraged her in everything. “The DNA test I took in biology class. I got the results.”
“You did what?” her dad asked.
Her mom turned the stove off and faced them. “I signed the permission slip. The kids took one of those DNA tests to find out their ancestry and traits. It sounded educational and fun.”
“The results show where my DNA comes from across the globe. That was kind of boring, because we mostly know where we comefrom.” She bounced on her toes, her excitement building again. “But there’s something even better.”
“What?” her dad asked, moving closer to look at the report.
She pointed to the mind-blowing revelation in black and white on the screen. “I have a sister.”
“Duh.” Natalie rolled her eyes.
Haley sneered at her older sister. “Anothersister.”
“What?” Her mom sounded confused. “Nate?”
Her dad took the laptop, held it closer, and stared at it. “This can’t be right. No way.”
“It is,” Haley assured him. “DNA doesn’t lie, Dad. Someone named Summer Sutherland Weston is my half sister.” Then it hit her: in all her excitement, she hadn’t thought it through. “Wait. That means—”
“Your father has another child he didn’t tell me about,” her mom accused, looking both hurt and angry.
“Because I didn’t know.” Her dad’s face paled.
Cody winced and tried to look like he wasn’t witnessing all this.
Haley’s stomach tightened. Maybe she shouldn’t have blurted it out that way.
Her dad looked stunned and shook his head. “This can’t be right. Why wouldn’t she tell me? Why didn’t Summer come looking for me? She has my name,” he said, his voice filled with wonder and a question all at the same time.
Mom planted her hands on the counter, leaned in, and stared hard at Dad. “I take it you know her mother.”
“Sutherland. Jessica Sutherland. We were together one summer.”
Haley grinned. “That’s why she’s named Summer.” She loved how it fit together. Her dad, some girl he fell for, a summer of fun and love. She caught herself in another daydream. Her mom often told her to not get so excited and spin such wild stories in her head—and out loud.
Her mom did not look happy about any of this. Haley should have thought of that and done this privately with them.
Too late.
She hoped her mom understood she hadn’t meant to spring this on her like this.
Everyone always said Haley was too young to understand such relationships, but she thought it kind of cool and normal to be young and fall in love—again and again. Until you find the one.
