I detested dealing with raw meat.
A knock came at the door not long after that with the pizza delivery, and soon Evelyn showed up with a case of beer.
I smiled and moved as fast as I could toward her, wrapping my sister in a hug.
She laughed and hugged me back, her arms moving around my waist. Her brown eyes were light with happiness, and her brown hair, which she had always left long, was now cut into a short bob. It had been months since I last saw her.
Unlike Ethan and me, Evelyn took after our dad, with her big brown eyes and brown eyes. The only things she got from our mom, the only things my sister and I shared, were our fair skin prone to freckles and our slight frames, though I was much leaner than my sister, having spent years as a trained athlete. I also had a few inches on her.
The only thing Ethan and Evelyn had in common was their hair color.
I always wondered if Evelyn ever felt left out among the three of us, since there was no doubt Ethan and I were related, while Evelyn and Ethan, much to her and my brother’s dismay, were often mistaken as a couple whenever the three of us hung out.
“How are you, brat?”
I rolled my eyes at the nickname. I didn’t even know when my brother and sister had giftedme the name.
“I’m doing well. You don’t have to worry.”
She pulled away from me slightly, as if trying to figure out whether I was lying or not. I wasn’t.
I felt good.
Something I hadn’t felt in three long years.
“I’m glad to hear that,” she said softly. When I pulled away, Ethan took my spot and wrapped Evelyn in his arms. He nearly engulfed her with his large frame.
My brother was one hell of an intimidating man when he needed to be. Nearly covered from neck to toe with ink, the only thing soft about him was his eyes.
But I’d seen them harden once with the intention to kill—when Ethan found out Evelyn’s first boyfriend had been cheating on her. It was one of the most terrifying moments of my life, though I had only been fourteen at the time, so that might have had something to do with my skewed perception.
Even so, I was glad I was never on the receiving end of that death stare.
“How are you, sweetheart?” Ethan asked.
Evelyn smiled at Ethan. I was happy to see the tension between them was gone. “I’m good. Elliot and Ensley keep me busy.”
Ethan laughed at the mention of our niece and nephew. Whereas Elliot was a dream, with his quiet demeanor and gentle disposition, Ensley was the complete opposite. If her kids were keeping her busy, it was mostly Ensley’s doing, though I didn’t see that as such a bad thing.
Ensley felt secure enough in her parents’ love to express herself any way she wanted, and she had Elliot, her protective older brother, in her corner.
Elliot, on the other hand—though I wasn’t sure how much he remembered the events of his earlier years before Evelyn came into his life, and I wasn’t sure if this was the reason—was the most reserved little boy I had ever met.
That was, before he got to know you.
Ethan nodded the floor by the kitchen island.
We sat on the floor with the box of pizza between us. I purposely picked the spot by the edge of the island to help lower myself on the floor.
I hadn’t bought any large furniture for the place yet. The only thing I had brought with me from Massachusetts was my bed.
I didn’t have any furniture to take, considering I’d spent my first year back in Massachusetts living with my dad in the house I grew up in—the house Evelyn had worked so hard to save—and the other two years had been with my brother in Boston, not far from my dad in Swampscott.
Evelyn looked around the small apartment.
It must have looked different from what she was used to.
Though we didn’t grow up rich, Mom and Dad had done well for themselves. The house we lived in had six bedrooms and a few acres of land. Our parents lucked out, and they’d found the place before the insane real-estate market had gone up. After Evelyn left our childhood home, she spent a few years in a small apartment with her friend, Katie, before she moved to New York and became a live-in nanny for her now husband.