1
Libby
“Take the apron off, Libby.”
I look down at the apron I still have on from this morning. It’s my favorite one. It’s black and dotted with little pink hearts. It has a giant bow that ties in the back and the bottom has layers of ruffles. I made it myself. Sewing is my second-favorite thing to do. Making pies is my favorite thing.
Reaching around the back, I pull at the bow, letting it loose from my waist. Then I pull it over my head and toss it into the trunk of Nicole’s car.
“I think you cut these shorts too short,” I tell her, getting a good look at them.
When I rolled out of bed this morning, I grabbed the shorts Nicole had made me last night from a pair of jeans that I was going to throw out. They’d become so worn I didn’t want to wear them anymore, even though they were my favorite pair, I loved the way they fit my hips, and that is hard to find when you have a lot of curves like I do. Nicole told me she could save them, but now I’m not so sure that was true.
“That’s how they’re supposed to look,” she tells me.
The wind blows, and I feel the breeze against my bottom. I turn, trying to look at my butt. I shake my head and take off my long-sleeved flannel shirt and tie it around my waist to try and cover it up. But that now only leaves me in a thin tee for a top. At least nothing is hanging out of that, except a little cleavage. Okay, maybe a good bit of cleavage. I wear the baggy flannel shirts to hide my chest, which can be practically obscene at times. It’s easier to hide the girls away instead of fighting them. Nicole rolls her eyes at me. She’s always trying to get me to show off my body more. We both joke about how we’d kill for things the other has. I’d die for her legs, and she’d murder someone for my boobs.
“Grab the boxes,” I say, ignoring her.
I love Nicole, but she’s a little more boy-crazy than I am. She likes to dress to get their attention, whereas I try not to be noticed. She’s always done up and in clothes that are as tight as possible. I have to say, though, she always looks beautiful. From her long blonde hair, to her flawless skin and bright blue eyes. She has all the boys in town chasing her, but she never stays interested in one for long.
I’m not boy-crazy at all. Maybe that’s because I’m man-crazy. One man to be exact, but he doesn’t even know I exist. Well, that’s not entirely true, but I seem to annoy him more than anything. When he does come into town, he stays as far away from me as he can get, and that’s probably for the best.
I’ve got it bad for my stepbrother, Jasper Lewis.
Sometimes I can catch him at a good time when he’s here. Get him to watch a movie or play a game with me, but it never lasts long. All too soon I’m annoying him and he’s leaving the room. Then the next day, he’s gone from the house and I’m left with an empty feeling. No matter how hard I try, I always seem to set him off. Each time it breaks my heart that he can’t stand to be in a room with me anymore.
Maybe I should take a page from Nicole’s book the next time he comes to town. Maybe I could make him not think of me as his annoying little stepsister anymore. I could wear something like these shorts and take my hair down from the messy bun it’s always in. I could put on a little makeup, and maybe even flirt a little. Maybe then I could get his attention. Get more than that dark annoyed look he gives me. The one he’s been giving me since I was thirteen and his dad married my mom. At first I thought he hated the fact that my mom married his dad. It was no secret they had money, and my mom and I didn’t come from much. But Ned had swept us both off our feet and taken us in. Then I saw that Jasper was always so sweet to my mom and even thanked her for how much his dad had changed since she’d come into his life.
Grabbing a stack of boxes, Nicole follows me into the Sunshine Diner. Its mid-morning on Sunday, and a rush will be flowing into our small town soon. There aren’t many places to go around here, and Sunshine is one of the most popular. A small part of me takes pride in that because I know people from towns over come here just to get a pie.