Too Many Secrets

Chapter 38

 "Wait, Rebecca? As in a girl?" I ask, wide eyed.

"Yeah, of course. We usually see them twice a year because they live in England. They come for Thanksgiving, go to New York for a month, and then come back for Christmas."

"How old are they?"
"Az is 23, a year younger than Jake. Rebecca is 22, the same age as me, and Zeke is 19."

"Do they know about me?" I asked, kind of scared for the answer.

"Yes, they have been dying to meet you. Jake has declined like 100 offers for them to come over. He wanted you to adjust for a little bit before being thrown into everything so quickly."

"Oh," I pause, deciding whether or not I agree with Jake. It would have been nice having a girl around in the beginning. I shudder thinking back to my first period here, where there was not a singular appliance to use. "Yeah, I understand. It makes sense." For someone who only had a sister in their life for a little over a year, Jake is pretty good at it, Cole too.

"So when are they coming?" I ask.

"Should be around midnight. If you are already sleeping you can meet them in the morning over breakfast. We usually go out to a diner or something to get out of the house to help the cooks have their space."

"Yeah, I would love that." I can't help the glee on my face. Sometimes I hate meeting new people, it's scary, and you never know if they are going to like you or not, but with people that are actually related to me, it's not as stressful. I mean, I am still shaking with anxiety, but it's more excitement than nerves.

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"Can I come in?" Zach asks, knocking on my door.

"Yeah," I say, moving over on my bed to a sitting position.

"So what are your plans for this Sunday?"

"I'm not sure yet."

"Did you tell your friends anything?"

"What do you mean?"

"You didn't tell them it's your birthday?"

"What? How did you know?"
"I kind of guessed. You don't seem like the type of person who would go all out for birthdays." I sigh. "Don't worry, me either." I give him a look of disbelief. "No, really," he continues. "I love other people's birthdays, and I love giving them attention and gifts, but when it's my time of the year, I despise it."

"Did you have a bad experience?"

"Well, who's the mind reader now?" He nudges me.

"Do you want to talk about it?" I say, upset that anything bad has ever happened to any of my brothers.

"Not today. Right now I'm the one asking the questions."

"Rude," I joke.

"What do you want to do?"

"I don't know. This is going to be the first one without mom. Last year she was only with me for an hour, but she was still there."

"Tell me about it."

"Well," I smile, thinking about mom, "she came home after work at like ten pm. She was holding a giant cup of ice cream because she knows I don't really like cake. There were three candles, all pink. She walked into my room and started singing to me. I didn't know if she was coming home that night. She usually worked late Fridays, so it was a complete surprise. We sat on my bed for 40 minutes talking and eating ice cream together. After an hour she had to go back to work, but those precious 60 minutes were amazing."