My chest ached. “Emma…”
But in the end, they listened.
My mom looked at me, then at Emma. She sighed—that long, defeated, maternal sigh. “You’re both adults. We can’t stop you. But you have to understand: this changes everything. Family dinners. Holidays. What do we tell people?”
For two years, I’d lived in a state of controlled chaos. Emma, my step-sister, had made it her personal mission to turn my life into a romantic comedy I never auditioned for. The stolen hoodies. The “accidental” walks into my room while I was changing. The way she’d lean over the kitchen counter, her voice a low purr, asking, “If we weren’t related, do you think you’d stand a chance?”
We were careful. Quiet. During the day, we were the same bickering step-siblings who fought over the remote. But at night, when the house slept, she’d text me a single emoji: 🍕 (her code for “my room, ten minutes”).
I learned things about her that had nothing to do with flirting. She cried during nature documentaries. She talked in her sleep—usually about me. She had a small scar on her ribs from a bike crash at twelve, and she’d let me trace it with my thumb while she hummed.
“No,” she whispered, tracing a line on my forearm. “It’s simple. You’re scared. I’m not.”
Emma hops off the suitcase, picks up my duffel, and hands it to me. “Last chance to back out,” she says.
