Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 24257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 121(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 24257 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 121(@200wpm)___ 97(@250wpm)___ 81(@300wpm)
I get up and brush my teeth grimly. Oh shit, I look so frazzled today with my hair out to there and a pallor to my skin. I don’t feel like eating breakfast, which is also a rare thing for me, and that’s enough to prove that I need to talk to someone about this. But there’s only one person I can talk to, and all I can do is pray that Jenny will pick up her phone when I go into the backyard and dial her number. I take a seat on the glider as it rings, staring out at the cloudless blue sky and wondering, not for the first time, how the hell I ended up in this situation.
I could almost cry with relief when I hear the sound of her voice.
“Hey, girl. What’s up?” she asks, her mouth full of food. I begin to reply, but she cuts me off. “Wait, wait, wait. Don’t tell me. It’s about the hottie from the other night, right? Let me guess: you want his number. Well, I hate to break it to you, Frankie, but you’re out of luck in that department. Although maybe I could call Cassie and ask her…”
“Jenny,” I say, “Jenny, hang on a second. That’s not why I’m calling you.”
“Really?” She sounds surprised. “You just seemed super confused about the whole thing yesterday.”
“I was,” I reply. “I am, I mean. I’m still confused. More confused, actually. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”
“Really?” I can practically hear the intrigue in her voice. “Do tell, girlfriend. You know I’m always here for you.”
I sigh, closing my eyes momentarily.
“You’re not going to believe this,” I tell her, trying to psych myself up to deliver the news. Somehow, revealing this to someone else makes the whole thing feel more real. “Like, seriously. This is just plain crazy. There’s no other way to say it.”
“Well, quit drawing it out, already!” Jenny mumbles as something crunches in the background, sounding impatient. “You know I live for gossip. What is it? Is he married or something? Are you pregnant?”
I blow out a stream of air.
“No, and no,” I answer. “Remember how I told you my mom has a new fiancé? Well, I met him yesterday.”
“Oh my god,” Jenny drawls. “That guy is your mom’s new fiancé.”
“No!” I shriek. “Eeew! He’s way too young for Gertrude!”
“Just saying,” Jenny giggles on the other side. “You know, there is such a thing as a cougar. Your mom could be a good cougar.”
“No no no!” I almost scream again. “Hunter isn’t my mom’s fiancé. He’s my mom’s fiancé’s son.”
There’s a long moment of silence on the end.
“No. Way. Are you shitting me? That’s almost as bad.”
I sigh.
“I know,” I say glumly. “He’s going to be my new stepbrother.”
“Holy shit,” she says, disbelieving. “That’s just… wow. I could not have called that in a million years.”
“Me neither,” I say, chewing my fingernail as I watch a squirrel bound across the backyard. It scurries up a tree and disappears into the branches. “And they’re both coming over again this afternoon. My mom wanted me and Hunter to get to know each other better before the wedding.”
“Well,” Jenny says coyly, “I doubt you two can get to know each other better than you already have,” she titters.
“Jenny, please,” I moan. “This is serious.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she says. “So what are you going to do about it?”
“I don’t know,” I admit. “That’s why I called you. I couldn’t just sit here without doing anything. Not without telling anyone.”
“Okay,” Jenny says, her tone businesslike. “All right. I get that this is a wild situation, and I’m sorry - it’s kind of my fault that you’re in this mess. But my advice would be to just keep going like everything is normal.”
I raise my eyebrows.
“How am I supposed to do that?”
“Look, you guys are meeting up to get to know each other, right?” she asks. “So I say you do exactly that. Talk to him. Learn more about him. It will probably be awkward, but at least maybe you can get past the elephant in the room, you know?”
I scratch my forehead, mulling it over.
“I guess you’re right. But still, I don’t know how I’m even supposed to pretend to be normal around him. He-” I lower my voice. “He took my virginity, for god’s sake.”
“I know,” Jenny says cheerfully, “and it will be weird at first. But who knows? You might have more in common with him than you think. Just give it a shot, okay? See what happens. Worst case, summer’s over in a couple months, and you can get far away from him when you go back to school.”
I sigh. I have to admit she has a point.
“Okay,” I tell her. “I’ll try. Thank you, Jenny.”
“Let me know how it goes,” she says merrily, and hangs up.