Jaret came back the next day, around noon.
“Look, I lost my temper last night. I’m sorry. As I’m sure you can understand, this is just a little bit stressful,” he told me, flashing me a smile that made me melt inside.
God, why couldn’t he have just one flaw in his face? Just one little thing that I could focus on that wasn’t perfect?
I opened the door wordlessly and let him inside.
“Listen. I just want to tell you. I get it if you don’t want me to know the kid. I get it if you just want to keep the dad anonymous. But I’ll take care of you. And I’ll take care of it. Him or her, I guess I should say.”
“Thanks,” I replied.
“Believe me,” he said. He went back out to the other side. For a second, Jaret looked like he wanted to say something. Then he stopped. He turned around and walked down the hall.
Just before reaching the stairs, however, he stopped.
“Can I take you out to dinner?” he asked. “Tonight?”
I wasn’t expecting that. Wasn’t expecting it at all.
“Sure,” I replied. We could go out as brother and sister, right? Of course we could.
“Awesome. I’ll come get you at seven. You pick the spot, you know Durham a lot better than I do.”
“I’ll see you then,” I heard myself saying, and closed the door.
I leaned back against it, my heart pounding against my chest for some reason.
This wasn’t a date. He’s just asking you out to be nice. Because you’re the mother of his baby. It’s not a date. Not a date. You can’t even go on a date with him anyway. He’s your stepbrother.
Should I text Lisa?
And tell her what? That I was going on a date with my stepbrother, my baby daddy?
No, of course I couldn’t. I couldn’t even tell Lisa that I’d slept with Jaret.
And it’s not a date, anyway.
I scolded myself for thinking that in the first place, and then for what I realized was true – I wanted it to be the case. I wanted it to be a date.
Why? So I could prove that there was something special about me, that I wasn’t just another one of his hit it and quit it girls? Of course there wasn’t. I knew that. I knew that both times I’d slept with him.
So why couldn’t I get that idea out of my head?
I tried to convince myself that I’d spend an hour and a half trying to find the perfect outfit for dinner with Lisa, with Kathy, with Lee, with any other guy, but I knew it wasn’t true. I was trying to perfect the “look like you’re not really trying, that this is just a normal night” look, but it was taking forever.
Eventually I settled on a pair of jeans, wondering how long I was going to be able to wear them for, along with a nice beaded tank top. Casual, but not too casual. I hoped. I slipped on a pair of gold flat sandals to complete the look, and once I looked at myself in the mirror, I decided it was perfect.
I looked like I’d just thrown on whatever, but at the same time looked pretty damn glamorous. I had just enough time to fix up my hair and add some natural-looking makeup when there was a knock on the door. Jaret was here.
“Damn, you look hot,” he exclaimed when I opened the door, openly looking my body up and down.
I blushed.
“You’re not supposed to say stuff like that, I’m your stepsister!”
“Yeah, well, it’s true. So where are we going for dinner?”
“Bull Street. It’s a short drive from here, we can take my car.”
“No, believe me, mine is better.”
“You don’t even know what I drive.”
“Knowing you, it’s a blue Corolla, ten years old.”
I rolled my eyes. It was only eight years old, and it was green. It was also very fuel efficient.
“Besides,” he continued, “it doesn’t matter. Mine is better.”
I followed him down the stairs and out the front door. Jaret was right. His car was better.
I’d never actually seen a Tesla in real life.
How on earth my stepbrother had managed to rent one on such short notice was beyond me.
“Wow,” I whispered, not able to help myself.
I was never the kind of girl to be super into cars. As evidenced by the fact that I drove an eight year old Corolla. If it got me from point A to point B, that was good enough. That Lamborghini at prom with Pat had been the first real expensive car I’d been in, and also the only one.
But even I had to admit, the electric car was sexy.
I stepped into the passenger seat, gingerly, as if I was going to break something if I sat down like a normal person. Jaret got into the drivers seat and turned on the car.
It was basically completely silent. It was strange, pulling away from the curb without the noise of a gas engine.
As we drove past, I noticed people staring. I knew it wasn’t just the fact that it was an electric car: this car cost over $100,000, and it looked it.
Jaret just couldn’t help but show off in every aspect of his life, could he?
“So how’d you get the car?” I asked. “Your dad’s pretty liberal with his money with someone who doesn’t speak to him.”
“I don’t use my dad’s money,” Jaret replied, flashing me that cocksure grin once more. “I paid for this myself. I’m considering buying one, so when I saw at the airport that one company was renting it, I totally jumped on that.”
The car rental must have been hundreds of dollars a day. I wondered how Jaret was able to afford it if his father wasn’t helping him.
Ten minutes and a few terrible directions by me later we were seated at Bull City Burgers, an awesome little restaurant in the city centre. Perfect for a casual dinner between two siblings. Two siblings who were definitely not on a date. So I kept reminding myself.