Stranded with My Stepbrother

Chapter 38

“The difference is we’re not blood related,” Caleb explained.

“So? She’s your sister. You’re her brother. If you weren’t acting like it, I’d smack you both upside the head,” my father complained. “We’re all a family now, and we’re going to act like one. Maybe we should all have gotten lost in the woods.”

“I don’t recommend it,” Caleb muttered.

My father glowered at him and opened his mouth to say something, but Jeanie put her hand on his arm again. “Let’s just get in the truck and start for home,” she suggested.

Grumbling under his breath, my father nodded and headed for the driver’s seat.

Caleb and I squeezed into the back next to some gear while Jeanie took the passenger seat.

“You really should let Caleb sit up here because of the leg room,” Jeanie said to my father, even as she was buckling her seatbelt.

“The boy can suffer. ‘Stepsister’ ‘stepbrother,’ ugh. It’s like they’re trying to piss me off,” my father grumped, starting the Suburban.

Caleb pulled a scratchy flannel blanket out of the back of the Suburban and draped it over us as the Suburban slowly began to warm up. We bumped along the gravel road, holding hands under the blanket while my father openly held Jeanie’s hand up front.

When we had to stop for a logging truck, Caleb’s grip tightened, both of us remembering the tense day we’d had with the illegal loggers.

“Damn those things kick up a lot of dust,” my father groused as we pulled back onto the gravel road, enveloped in a dirt cloud.

I didn’t know how my father saw anything at all, and wondered if he actually COULD see anything the way we bumped and bobbed into every deep pothole on the road.

The way Caleb’s breathing began to wheeze, I realized he was feeling claustrophobic. I squeezed his hand and stroked his thigh with my thumb.

It calmed him a bit. Caleb squeezed his eyes shut, pretending to sleep.

“Asleep already? Wonder what has the boy so tuckered out,” my father mused.

“Probably carrying all the gear back and forth,” Jeanie said, smiling back at us. “You should take a nap, too, Jacey. We were up very early this morning.”

“True,” I agreed. I closed my eyes, but, like Caleb, only pretended to sleep.

“When do you think we should tell them?” Jeanie asked after a while.

My father chuckled. “Would have been on Jacey’s birthday, but that got screwed up.”

“I still don’t know how they’ll take it,” Jeanie said. “I’m still worried it wasn’t the best idea. I’m going to need help, and your work schedule—”

“Jacey’ll come home on the weekends,” my father replied dismissively. “And seems Caleb’s going to be staying with us for at least a year before he gets it together and goes on with his medical degree.”

“True.” Jeanie was silent a while, then continued. “Do you really think they won’t mind?”

“Of course they won’t mind. They’ll be thrilled to have a little brother or sister to take care of,” my father assured her.

Caleb’s grip on my hand tightened so much it hurt. I’d dug my other hand into my thigh, anger sparking through me. My father and Jeanie were having a baby, and expecting US to take care of it?!

“I don’t want to ruin Jacey’s college experience—” Jeanie began.

“Then don’t,” Caleb said suddenly, his eyes flying open. His cheeks were flushed with rage, and I squeezed his hand several times, but it didn’t seem to help. “Grow up, Mom. It’s your baby. You take care of it.”

Jeanie hitched a sob. “You’re not happy about the baby?”

“About being a live-in babysitter while I’m trying to work, and Jacey’s having her first year of college? Not so much, no,” Caleb snapped. “And stop twisting this around. You want me to see Jacey as my sister? Fine. But that makes you her mother. And no real mother would sacrifice the happiness of one child for another.”