by S. E. Rose
Hell, I was always jealous of a lot about the Moore family.
By the time I get home, I’m in a funk. I don’t know how to feel about Clark or the internship.
“How was it?” Stella asks as soon as I enter the house.
I shrug. “Good, I guess. I mean it was just the first day, so lots of tutorial stuff.”
“You guess? Come on, you were so excited about this. What will you be working on? Do you get to work with any cute astronauts?” she asks with a grin.
I laugh. “No. But I do get to work on the moon project.”
“Really?”
I nod. “That part is cool.”
Frowning, she follows me to my room. “What part isn’t cool?”
I groan. Stella is way sharper than I give her credit for; she always sees through me. “The part where I am paired with Clark Moore.”
“Oh. I know you’ve generally said he was a jerk to you in high school, but what exactly happened to make you hate him so much?”
I toss my bag on my chair and take a seat on my bed. “Too many things. I don’t know. It’s all become so convoluted over the years. I suppose I wasn’t so nice to him either. I just wanted to be the best and I worked so hard at it, and then Clark would come along like a little puppy, being all cute and funny, and he wouldn’t work at all and would still get the same awards as me, the same good grades. It was frustrating.”
“And you like him,” Stella states.
My head whips up to look at her. “I…” I trail off because I can’t believe she’s calling me on that.
“Admit it, you like him. I saw you kiss him at the club. And I know it wasn’t just for show to get away from that guy. You like him.”
I sigh and fall back on my bed. “I did once. I really, really liked him. But now…I don’t know.”
“Well, I do. You like him. And the sooner you admit that to yourself, the better,” she says as she walks to my door. “And, Meg,” she adds as I prop myself up on my elbows to look at her, “it’s clear that he likes you too.”
Chapter Eleven
Clark
I sink into a lounge chair at Garrett’s house and pop a marshmallow on a stick.
“So, the internship is going well?” Lanie asks as Ash runs around the yard chasing fireflies with some jar that Di gave him. He claimed to be “too old” for doing that until Kent told him he did it until he was in college.
“Yeah,” I state. I stick my marshmallow over the flame until it’s encrusted in black and I pop it into my mouth.
“Ew. How do you eat them like that?” Di asks as she turns hers in slow motions over the flame.
“You’re wasting precious time,” I point out as I grab another.
Brixton looks over at Ash. “I give him thirty minutes before he crashes from both the running and the twenty marshmallows we just fed him.”
“You’re on,” Kent interjects, “I give him twenty minutes.”
“Forty-five,” Garrett says.
“People, focus!” Kylie yells.
Everyone stops and stares at her.
“Mom. Dad. Anniversary. Remember?” she says as she puts her marshmallow on a graham cracker.
“You could fly them down to my island,” Levi offers again.
“Uh, you could fly me down to your island,” I say.
He laughs. “Bro, you know you can go whenever. Just let me know.”
I grin. I’m rooting for Kylie to marry this one. He’s a keeper. And not just because he owns an island. I like him, a lot.
“Home reno, for sure,” Kent states. “That house is in massive need of an update.”
“What if we sent them to ComicCon while we renovate?” Lanie suggests.
Di frowns. “But that’s like forever away. We could get them tickets for it, I suppose. When was the last time they went?”
“For their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary,” Kent answers.
“Right. I forgot about that,” Di says.
“You forgot about Mom dressed as Superwoman? Or you purposefully blocked that from your brain because of the trauma? I was a kid and I still remember it,” I state as I roast another marshmallow.
Kylie swats me with her marshmallow stick. “Focus, you nerd.”
“My friend owns a construction company. I got a quote, and to remodel the kitchen, breakfast room, and family room, it would cost about eighty thousand dollars,” Kent states.
I drop my stick. “Eighty thousand!”
Kent sighs. “Yes, what, you think kitchen remodels are cheap?”
“Uh, no, but all those television shows do it for like twenty,” I say.
“I’m not giving them some cookie-cutter kitchen. It’s gonna be epic,” he says.
“Oh, Jesus. How epic?” Tabby asks as she rubs Vera's back. Vera is passed out in some sort of weird wrap device that’s affixed to her like a mummy.
I zone out as Kent rattles on about countertops, appliances, and strange things that I didn’t even know you could put in normal kitchens like a built-in ice cream maker. Who does that? Oh, wait, my brother who has an ice cream obsession. I’m shocked he hasn’t put one in his own kitchen.
“I think we should make sure it’s super user-friendly,” Lanie says because she’s practical as fuck.
“Duh,” I say.
She glares at me and I give her my patented cute smile. She rolls her eyes.
“OK, so we are sending them to the island?” Levi asks.
There’s a round of shrugs.
“Where else could we send them?” Di asks.
Everyone is quiet as we think.
“Europe?” Di suggests.
More shrugs.
Kylie pulls out her phone. “I got it,” she says. We all turn to her. “Antarctica. Oh shit. They wouldn’t be able to go until after Thanksgiving.”
We all groan.
“OK, I got it. Churchill, Canada,” she says triumphantly and sets her phone down.
“Dad would love it, but Mom would hate it, aside from the polar bears,” Lanie says.
“Ugh! Why do they have to be so fucking opposite?” Kylie groans.
Something I read online comes back to me. “How long do we need them out of the house?” I ask Kent.
“He said he could double up the crew and get it done in 3-4 weeks.”
I grin. “A cross-country RV trip.”
They all stare at me like I’m crazy.
“I’m serious. Dad’s been talking about it for years. And there are a ton of parks Mom always wants to visit.”
“True,” Di says.
“And what’s Dad’s favorite thing to do?”
Everyone groans and my grin widens.
“Exactly. And if we buy them park passes, then they can spend like three weeks traveling around. Dad has ridiculous amounts of time off that he never uses.”
“Do you seriously think they’ll leave for a whole month?” Kent asks us.
Lanie cocks her head to one side, contemplating the question. “Maybe. I mean if we have them leave on like a Monday and only miss three weekends. Dad has enough leave built up for sure.”
Lanie’s point about weekends is a big one because my parents freaking love hosting their weekly parties.
“We could take turns hosting it,” Lanie says. “I mean, one weekend at my house, one here, and one at Kent’s.”
Kylie rolls her eyes because she and Levi are holed up in an apartment until he finishes the house he’s building behind Kent’s property.
“What if we send the grandparents with them?” Kylie suggests. “They’ve all always wanted to go. It’ll get Mom and Dad to agree to it and then we’ll talk them into hitting up a bunch of parks. I’m sure Nana, Gran, and PopPop will agree to help us.”
Everyone starts smiling because we know that when all three of our living grandparents get behind a plan, it is impossible to fail.
Kent turns to me. “Looks like we got ourselves a plan. House remodel, check. National parks for Mom, check. Amazing star-gazing opportunity for D
ad, check. Dream road trip with their parents, check. Good work, C-Dog.”
I fight the urge to smirk because I love when I come out of left field with a plan that saves the day. None of my siblings would admit it, but that happens more often than not.
I look down at my phone and am surprised to see a text from my dad.
Dad: Just a heads-up, the rumor mill is saying that this year they are choosing a winning team from the interns. Wanted to let you know. I hear you are paired with Megan. I hope that’s a good thing.
I groan more with each word I read.
“Are you in labor?” Kent asks, laughing.
“No,” I grumble. I turn my phone around, so he can read it.
“Shit. I guess it’s time you and Megan kissed and made up.”
I feel my face heat and am thankful for the darkness. The last thing I need is my brother asking me why I just blushed. My siblings know we aren’t friends anymore, but they don’t really know all the details. Lanie kept saying we just outgrew each other. Di always says that we’ll be friends again someday.
“I guess so,” I mutter. Vera stirs and starts crying.
Tabby sighs and begins to get up, but I stop her. “Let me,” I offer.
“You don’t have to ask twice,” she says. “I think she just needs to be walked a bit to fall back asleep. Here, I’ll take this off and you can walk her.” She pulls Vera out and hands the wailing kiddo to Kent.
She untangles herself carefully from the contraption that Vera is in and places it on my shoulders, showing me how it works, plopping Vera back inside it, and fastening her in before patting my shoulder. “Thanks.”
I grin and look down at my niece who’s momentarily stopped crying as she assesses me. “Come on, stinker. Let’s get you back to sleep.”
I walk toward the front of the house. I need to get away from everyone for a few moments and process what Dad just told me. A million feelings are swirling in my head right now. Can Megan and I get over whatever shit happened before to beat out the other teams? And what about these brewing feelings I’m having for her? What the fuck is that about?
“What do you think, V-bug?” I ask my niece as I kiss her forehead.
She looks up at me. She’s still sniffling but her tears have stopped and she’s looking around as we walk.
“I just don’t know how to unravel all the shit between us,” I state. “You know what I mean?”
Vera coos at me.
“I knew you’d understand,” I say, grinning at her because she’s just fucking cute and you can’t help but grin at her. She grins back at me.
“Come on, sleepyhead. Stop fighting it and go back to sleep. Trust me, one day you are going to regret not going to bed early.”
She yawns and I pat her back as she slowly lays her head against my chest. I lean down and kiss the top of her head.
I walk the empty streets of Banneker as I ponder my future, with Megan in it.
Megan
I sigh as I listen to my sister rattle on about some project at her job. It’s her birthday week and she wanted to have a small family party, so here I am. I should be studying. Instead, I’ve been mentally going through the checklist of assignments I have to work on during this entire meal and dessert.
“Hello?” Connie’s voice pulls me out of my mental task.
I look over at her and she’s glaring at me. “How. Is. Your. Internship?”
I glare back at her. “It. Is. Fine.”
She rolls her eyes. “You’ve barely said one word all night. I thought you’d have a million interesting NASA things to talk about.”
Our mom is in the kitchen wrapping up the leftover cake for us to take home. Dad is still sitting at the table watching us like we are alien creatures. Dad is the silent type. Unless you get him talking about his favorite vineyard or which micro-brewery has the best ale. Then, clear your calendar because you’ll need the time.
“Yeah, sport, how is the internship?” he prods.
Mom’s head pops back around the corner. “I want to hear about it. Give me thirty seconds.”
I wait for her to come back in and take a seat.
“It’s good. As you know, I’m working on the Mission to the Moon project,” I start and then pause as I realize I’ll have to explain who I’m working with because if I don’t, they are going to eventually find out and it’ll be weird. “Clark Moore and I are partnered up to help double-check design elements on this rover device they want to use to gather samples and whatnot.”
As soon as I say Clark’s name, they all look at each other. I groan internally because Clark is a bit of an “elephant in the room” when it comes to conversations with my family. When we stopped hanging out, my parents started questioning me like crazy. I would make up excuses. Then, I started complaining about how arrogant he was and how I wanted to get an award he won or how I got the part in a class play and he didn’t. Mom once asked why we had become so competitive with each other. I just said we were, and she didn’t press it. I suppose it must be weird for them. I mean Connie is only a few years younger than Kylie, so they used to play a little bit as kids. And my parents and Clark’s parents have always been friends. But Clark and I, we were two peas in a pod. I never really thought about how the end of our friendship might have affected the rest of our family members.
I frown and look back up at them.
“Anyhow, I think it’s going to go well.”
“You’re working with Clark?” Connie asks, her mouth hanging open in shock.
I shrug. “Yeah, I mean we have the same major and we both want to work at NASA, so I guess we were bound to cross paths eventually.”
“Uh, didn’t Mr. Moore write you a recommendation letter for that?” Connie inquires.
I nod.
“And you were competing against his son for a spot?”
I shrug again.
“Is that like, ethical?”
I glare at my sister. “Yes. And besides, we both got the internship. There were six spots. It’s not like we were competing for one spot.”
“Well, it all sounds very exciting,” my mother says. Mom is an accountant. Although after Dad’s store started doing well, she went part-time so she could help him maintain the books. She’s the chatty one in the family, always making small talk about anything.
“It is. It’s a great opportunity and I like the team I’m assigned to,” I state. I push back from the table. “I’m so full. That was great, Mom. I think I want to take a walk before I head back. Connie, do you need help getting stuff out to your car?” I ask.
She shakes her head as she looks at the gifts on the table. “I got it. I should probably head home. My friends want to meet me for drinks later.”
“Well, happy birthday,” I say as I awkwardly hug her before going outside. Connie is so different from me. She’s bossy. She’s very outgoing. I think she’s the main reason I got into the sorority. She’s an alumnus. It’s like the only thing we have in common. I glance down the street and decide to head toward Main Street. I like to walk by the old houses on the side streets. Something about the way they are all filled with unique character and so lovingly restored makes me happy.
I listen to music as I let my mind wander. A movement in front of me draws my attention and I stop in my tracks.
Clark Moore is walking toward me with…a baby strapped to him. I feel my eyebrows rise as I take it all in.
He’s talking to the baby. I pull my earbuds out of my ears. I can’t hear what he’s saying but he leans down and plants a kiss on the baby’s head and she curls up against him and closes her eyes. She’s holding on to his finger with her little hand. Now, I’m not a huge baby person, but the sight of Clark with this little human is…fucking hot. And the fact that he’s so gentle with her is turning me on in some weird way. I shake my head because now he’s like ten steps away and not paying attention to where he’s going.
I clear my throat and he looks up at me. His eyes widen.
“Meglad
on?” he asks as though I’m some mirage.
I roll my eyes. “Seriously?”
He grins. “Old habits die hard. Besides, it’s a great nickname.”
“Who’s the sidekick?” I ask, motioning to the sleeping baby. Now, I’m ninety-nine percent sure it’s his niece. She’s bundled in enough pink that even in this dim streetlight I can most definitely tell she’s a “she.” And, I can’t imagine Clark babysits for fun, so it has to be a relative.
“This is Vera, my niece. Kent and Tabby’s little girl,” he says quietly. He kisses her head again. “I’d introduce you properly, but it’s best not to wake the sleeping beast.”
I grin. “Probably a wise decision.”
I look around us. “Are you…babysitting?”
He shakes his head and motions back toward the direction he came from. “We’re over at Di and Garrett’s place. Vera got cranky, so I offered to take her for a walk.”
“Oh.” I look around because I don’t know what else to say to him.
“You want to walk with us?” he asks, his voice still low. Something about his normally deep voice being lowered makes me shiver and not from fear. “You cold?”
I shake my head. “I’m fine and sure.”
I turn and we start walking. Clark points out various things as we make our way around the block. The old Westin house that a young couple just bought and started restoring. The Grambles’ historic brick colonial that used to have a fountain in the front yard. We reminisce about who used to give out the best Halloween candy and which friends lived in which houses and what they are up to now. Eventually, we end back up in front of a purple Victorian house not far from where we started.
“This is Margaret,” he says.
I furrow my brows. “Who is Margaret?” I ask, looking around.
He laughs and points to the house.
“I don’t get it.”
“The house is Margaret.”
“The house has a name?”
He nods. “It’s Garrett and Di’s place. I mean, it was Garrett’s and then Di moved in, but since they are getting married soon, I guess it’ll officially be Di’s home too.”
“When’s the wedding?” I ask.
“Di decided to go with Valentine’s Day because—”