Not Yet

Chapter One

Ali

Five years old

“Is that a castle?” I squeal as I unclick my seatbelt before my mom can get the car fully into park.

“Ali-bug,” she scolds me, nodding pointedly at the seatbelt.

“Sorry!” I shout as I open the car door and jump out.

“You live in a castle, Mr. Hawthorne?” I ask, running toward him.

I’ve known Mr. Hawthorne for a while now. He was my mom’s boss at work. I think he owns it or something. I jump toward him and he leans down to catch me midair.

“David,” he reminds me as he lifts me up.

“You live in a castle, David?” I ask again.

It’s hard to remember to call him David. Everyone else calls him Mr. Hawthorne, even Mom when she’s at work. The only time she ever calls him David is when we’re alone with him or she’s talking to me about him. I get to see him bunches since my mom has to take me into work with her sometimes. He lets me play in his office, and when we order lunch he always sneaks me dessert.

“I was thinking about living here.” He smiles at me. “But a castle needs a princess.” I know he’s teasing me. I also know this isn’t really a castle, but it looks like one. Not only that but there’s so much land everywhere. Mom and I don’t have a yard so we have to drive to the park if we want to play outside.

“Sorry, Mommy,” I say before she can scold me again. I got out of the car too fast but it was a castle and I got excited.

“Do you know of any princesses, Ali?” David asks me.

“Not a real one.” I scrunch my nose as I think and remember that David always calls me a princess.

“You’re not my princess?” he asks.

When I look at my mom I see she’s biting her bottom lip.

“Yours?” I ask, not understanding what he means.

“Well, I’d like you to be, if you’d give me that honor.” I look at my mom to see what she says.

“David and I want to get married, Ali-bug.” I squeal as I throw my arms around David and hug him tightly. “Well, that was easier than I thought it was going to be,” I hear my mom say with a small laugh in her voice.

“Do we get to have a wedding and live in this castle?” David’s whole body shakes as he tries to cover a laugh. “Does that mean you’ll be my dad?”

I’ve never had a dad before, but I sometimes secretly pretend David is mine. He’s always so sweet to me and my mom, and we don’t have any other family besides the two of us.

“If you want me to be.” I nod my head and I feel my braids wiggle. “But you know I have a son, princess, so I’ll be his dad too.”

I think back to the picture that sits on his desk of the boy with dark hair. I’ve never met him before but I’ve heard David talk about him.

David turns a little and I see the same boy from the picture standing in the entryway of the house and he’s watching us. David puts me down on my feet as the boy walks over to me.

“Drake, this is Ali.” Drake looks just like David and I smile at him. He studies me for a second and it’s the same face David makes when he’s staring at his computer screen at work. After a moment he holds his hand out to me and I take it, but he doesn’t let go like you’re supposed to.

“You wanna play?” he asks.

He doesn’t look like he plays. He’s in a button-up shirt and pants and he’s so clean. Maybe that’s why he looks so much like his dad. They dress the same. I don’t normally like playing with boys because they don’t want to play with my dolls. He might though.

“Yes,” I agree and I let his hand go. I run back to the car to grab my backpack then rush back to him and unzip it. “I have Barbies.”

He stares at the Ken doll I hold out to him and for a second I think he’s going to tell me no. But he reaches his hand out and takes it and nods.

“Okay,” he says and I smile even bigger.

Not only am I getting a dad but I’m getting a brother, too. This is the best day ever.

Chapter Two

Drake

Nine years old

“Guys, I said bedtime half an hour ago,” Carmen says as she comes into my bedroom.

Ali and I have been playing the new Mario game since we ran in the door from school. She got it for her birthday last week and we’ve almost beaten it.

“Mom, come on, we’re almost to the end,” Ali pleads and I back her up.