AllFreeNovel
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I cry like a lagoon when I cut onions. Not only is it a bad look, but I’ve learned several times over that it’s a terrible idea to chop with your eyes closed. I was lucky my fingertip grew over the wound. I can’t feel the edge of my ring finger, but I wasn’t using it for much anyway.
“I’m on it,” Terence says and whips a knife out of the block. Cass and I instinctively take a step back. “Oops, that was a bit too enthusiastic.”
“Alli,” Cass says, pointing in my face, “backyard. We’ll set up.”
“Set up what?” Terence asks.
“Never you mind.” Cass loops her arm through mine, and we head into the yard. I don’t know what she’s thinking, but with Cass, the possibilities are wide. Maybe she’s decided to write that avocado cookbook she’s been talking about for ages, or maybe a patient offered her a part in a movie. That’s happened before.
She pulls the sliding glass door shut and checks that Terence isn’t looking. “Spill it.”
“Spill what?”
She gives me the look. It’s the look a big sister gives when she knows something and knows I know more than I’m telling.
“It’s a boy.” She says it like it’s fact. How does she do that?
I look away. “No…”
“A man, then. Don’t split hairs!”
I twirl my hair. “Don’t you ever wonder where that expression came from?”
“No.”
“I mean, why not ‘split a coin’, or ‘split a toothpick’?”
“Alli.”
“It could have been anything, but they picked–”
“Alli!” She grabs a hold of my arm and guides me farther from the door. “Are you trying to keep it from Terence?”
Now, this is something I can work with. “Yes. I don’t want him to know.”
“I totally get it.” She leans in closer. “Someone special then.”
“Very.” I try to swallow, but my mouth is suddenly drier than the Sahara. “I’m not ready to talk about it.”
“Because it’s new or because it’s big?”
“Because I’m not ready.”
“I get it, little sis. This can wait until we’re home.”
The back gate flies open. “What can wait?”
“Hi, Dad,” Cass and I say in unison.
“What am I?” Mom rushes out from behind him. “Chopped liver?”
“Aw,” Cass gushes, “you’re wearing your matching polo shirts!”
“Don’t remind me,” Dad mutters. “She didn’t tell me she was putting hers on.”
“I think we’re cute.” Mom kisses his cheek. “And if I had told you, you would have changed right away.”
“You bet, I would have.”
