Anti-Stepbrother

This time the reprimand came from my dad. “What is with you?”

“Okay.” Sheila spread her hands in the air. “This is enough. It’s obvious our family has some concerns to air, and I think we should have our first official family meeting tonight. We have a suite. We can talk about this at the hotel, but can we enjoy the meal first?”

Kevin still hadn’t sat back down.

She pointed to his chair. “Can you sit? Can you be civil for the next hour?”

Picking up his cloth napkin, he tucked it back on his lap and looked at me, a frosty chill in his eyes.

That would’ve scared the crap out of me three months ago. But now, I just smiled at him and pulled my napkin from my lap. I held it in the air between our chairs before I dropped it, letting it fall to the floor, and I lifted my chin, my smile reinforced.

If he wanted to fight, game on. I had no problems sparring with him, though my stomach did all sorts of gymnastics.

He snorted. “Really?”

“What? It slipped.”

He shook his head, leaning back in his seat. “Is this what you’d imagined for family dinner, Mom?”

Sheila frowned at us. “Not exactly.” She picked up her menu and gave both of us a meaningful look. “How about we order? Okay?”

We did exactly that. After ordering, all of us made a point to be polite as we talked and ate for the next hour.

My dad’s job was going well. He was getting promoted to the level below the company’s CEO. Sheila’s last shift had been hard. They lost the patient. Kevin talked a little bit about Maggie, relaying that her father ran the hotel where Sheila and my dad were staying. Everyone was surprised by that, but no one asked any more about Maggie. Then all eyes turned my way. It was my turn to ’fess up to something.

I could’ve said my classes were going well. I’d gotten high scores on all my tests so far. Mid-terms were in two weeks. There was the flamingo flocking to mention, or the fact that I was becoming good friends with my resident advisor, the same Avery they’d met. But considering my audience, I decided to go another route. We’d finished eating, but perhaps we wouldn’t be getting dessert

“A guy I’m friends with punched Kevin,” I announced. “Twice.”

Sheila’s head shot forward. “What?!”

I heard my dad suck in a quiet breath.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Kevin growled.

“Honey, someone hit you?” Sheila asked Kevin.

“Summer.” I could hear my father summoning me from across the table.

“Yes, Mom. But I’m fine.”

“Summer.”

“Why were you hit?” Sheila paused for a moment. “Did you hit him back?”

“Summer. Look at me.”

“I’m fine, Mom. I really am. He didn’t hit me the second time.”

“Who is this guy?”

“A second time? There were two separate occasions?”

“Summer, you will answer me.”

“Mom, I am fine. I swear. Both times were my fault, anyway.”

“Are you dating this guy?”

“Your fault? What’d you do?”

“Look at me.”

“I didn’t do anything. Well, I might’ve said some things I shouldn’t have.”

My father fell silent, seeming to give up, but I felt his gaze on the top of my head. I twisted my hands together in my lap.

“You were being a jackass, you mean?” Sheila sat against the back of her chair with a thud. “Why am I not surprised to hear this?”

Kevin snorted.

I looked at my stepmom. “What do you mean?”

“What, honey?” She looked over at me.

“You’re not surprised Kevin was a jackass. Why do you say that? You say that like it’s a normal thing.” I looked at him. “Is that normal?”

His eyes closed to slits, and his hand formed a fist on the table. But then his shoulders lifted on a deep intake of air, and he forced his hands flat on the table.

“There were problems before you and your father moved in, yes.”

“Kevin!”

He ignored his mom. “When you moved in, those problems got pushed to the back burner.”

“No, they didn’t,” Sheila countered. “I had no idea how you felt.”

He looked to her now. “You did too. I screamed at you the night you told me they were moving in.”

She drew in a hissing breath. She’d twisted her cloth napkin into a knot, her knuckles white. “There was no screaming—”

“There was, Mom!” He pounded the table. “I was screaming at you. I yelled like a spoiled four year old throwing a fit. I’m admitting it. Why won’t you?”

She turned away. “Because it’s not true.”

Kevin shook his head. “This is ridiculous. You can’t even admit to reality.” He regarded my father and me. “I didn’t want you guys to move in. I didn’t want my mom to remarry. I didn’t want a new sister. I’m sorry. It’s nothing against you two, but she’d just divorced my dad six months earlier, and I knew that if two new people moved into the house, everything else would be shifted to the back. And that’s exactly what happened. Everything was all about her new husband, making everything great with her new marriage, and when she felt that was stable enough, she moved on to the new daughter.”

Those words punched me in the chest.