New Step Brother, New Family, New Life? Thanks for Nothing, Dad

Dad rushed into the foyer from the direction of the kitchen, smiling grandly as he did so. I realized that the ground floor smelt of honey-baked ham, sweet potatoes and green beans. I knew that the potatoes and green beans were home-grown. The calluses on my hands proved it. Anyways, my dad was a fantastic cook, so it smelt great.

Dad opened the door quickly as Smokey and I stood off to one side like “nice young ladies,” as Grandma Marie would say. The woman behind the door was absolutely gorgeous. She had long curly blonde hair reaching a little ways past her shoulders and piercing dark blue eyes. Her dress was form-fitting and black.

“She looks kind of like a skank,” Smokey whispered beside me, so quietly I knew no one else could hear her. I stifled a loud giggle, covering my mouth with my hand. Dad shot a harsh glare in my direction but I just shrugged it off.

“Ricky!” the woman, Anne, squealed as she wrapped her thin arms around his neck. Yep, Ricky, short for Richard, was my father. Anne pranced into the house in her stilettos and looked around in awe. She seemed nice… in a weird “I’m-a-blonde-bimbo-who-doesn’t-know-a-damn-thing-about-farms-or-working-or-anything-really” kind of way.

Smokey gasped from beside me. I turned to look at her in confusion and noticed she was looking at the door again. Standing in the doorway was a guy who was incredibly handsome. He wore a crisp suit and had chestnut colored hair complimented by blue eyes. They were the same as Anne’s so I interpreted him to be Ethan. He was pretty much as gorgeous as his mother.

And totally not my type.

Dad glared at me again over his shoulder and nodded his head to Ethan. He was leading Anne into the living room to give her the grand tour of our awesome home. I sighed and turned to Ethan, a pretty much fake smile on my face. I walked over to him and stuck out my hand.

“Hi, I’m McCartney,” I said as he took my hand and shook softly. Smokey shook her head and trotted over to my side with a similar fake smile. She half-waved to Ethan.

“And I’m Smokey.”

“I’m Ethan,” he said with a low chuckle. I couldn’t help but notice him glance up and down our bodies, obviously checking us out. That pissed me off a smidgen.

“Ok, pal, our faces are definitely up a little higher than that. And if you’re going to be my step-brother, that’s just disgusting,” I said, frowning angrily. He shrugged and his smile switched into a smirk.

“I know. But I’m not her step-brother,” Ethan said, gesturing to Smokey. I glanced at my bestest buddy, and she had a look of anger and disbelief on her face. She scoffed and crossed her arms over her chest, glaring daggers at him.

I looked out the foyer window for a second, watching the cows graze for a bit in the midst of the semi-awkward silence. Then my gaze drifted back to Ethan. He had stepped inside and shut the door. Smokey stepped around him and locked the door, something she did every night. Smokey is all about the safety and protection thing.

Back on topic.

“So…” I said, struggling to make conversation, “Do you like the farm?” I smiled. Just thinking about the whole farm with the horses and cows and crops made me think of my mom which in turn made me smile.

“No.” That one word tore me from my thoughts of happiness into a pissed off version of me. “It smells horrible and is way too much work,” Ethan continued with a snobby shrug. I glared at him, suppressed the urge to punch him in the face and turned on my heels, stomping into the kitchen.

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Dad and Anne finished with the Fantastic Tour of Funness not too long after Ethan said the forbidden words and so here we all sat at our country style dinner table. I had been right about the food, although I left out a dessert of apple pie. It had been Mom’s recipe.

Dinner was pretty much delicious. But I didn’t really eat very much from the tension I felt in the air. Smokey and my shared tension, that is. I bet we seemed hostile and rude to Anne and Ethan. Oh well, they were kind of stuck up anyway. Not my kind of people at all.

“So, McCartney, Smokey, are you ready for the wedding? I told Ricky here that you two should be our bridesmaids. I bet you both would look beautiful in soft red dresses like I picked out. Of course, the wedding is at the end of the summer. But I need a girl’s opinion on some of the plans,” Anne rambled with an incredibly bright smile of perfectly white teeth.

Wait, did she just say the end of the summer? Really, that soon? I glanced at my Dad harshly. He was quickly pummeling my respect for him into the dust.

“Sure, sure. Sounds great,” I muttered through clenched teeth.

“I would love to,” Smokey said politely, though I could hear the tense edge to her voice. The dinner became quiet again. After serving and eating the pie, the dinner table remained a bit quiet except for the small talk among my father and Anne.

“McCartney,” Dad’s low voice snapped me from my thoughts, “Why don’t you show Ethan around the house since he and Anne will be moving in with us soon?” And the bombs just keep dropping. I knew better than to ask when, so I stood and nodded to Ethan. I felt bad for leaving Smokey in the kitchen, and I shot her a pained look. She returned it with a barely noticeable shrug. Then I turned and left the dining room, not really caring if Ethan followed or not. This wasn’t just going to be a long summer.

This was going to be a long life.