I followed-no, hid-behind Luca as we walked along the breezeway and through the side door.


    “I look like four-day-old shit,” I mumbled as we walked inside.


    My ratty hair was still down in tangles. I hadn’t washed my face that morning and I was adorned by the all the charm and mor of an old t-shirt and gym shorts.


    “Very cute four-day-old shit,” Luca whispered back to me.


    I followed him closely into the kitchen. As I peeked around Luca’s shoulder, I made eye contact with a


    woman who looked to be in herte-forties. With bronzed skin, dark hair and green eyes just like her son, I knew immediately who she was.


    She smiled widely and ran over.


    “Hi! I’m Ana, Luca’s mom. It’s so nice to finally meet you,” she said, grabbing me.


    I picked up on the slight ent entwined with


    her voice. She pulled me into a tight hug, all of the awkward tension melting away as she did so. I returned the hug and smiled as she pulled away.


    “I’m Carrie, it’s nice to meet you too.”


    “I’m sorry toe over unannounced like this,” she said, looking at Luca.


    “I figured you were never going to let us meet her, at this point.”


    Luca just shrugged, walking further into the kitchen where two girls sat at the countertop and one stood at the oven.


    “Carrie, these are my girls,” Ana introduced.


    “This is Aubrey and Torrey, the twins.”


    The two identical girls at the countertop, who were hovered over aptop, waved and smiled.


    “And this is Norah, the oldest behind Luca.”


    The girl who stood next to the oven smiled and came over to hug me.


    I returned the smile and hug.


    “It’s nice to meet you all.”


    “Hanna’s around here, somewhere,” Ana said, looking over into the living room.


    “She’s probably pouting,” one of the twins remarked, still looking at theptop screen.


    Ana rolled her eyes and walked out onto the deck through the open doors.


    “Philip!” She called down.


    “How much longer on the burgers?”


    “Five minutes!” I heard the reply below.


    “We decided to make lunch while we were here,” Ana told us, walking back inside.


    “She’s been nning this for two days,” Norah said, now staring into the oven to monitor whatever was cooking inside.


    “You don’t have to out me like that,” Ana scolded her.


    Ana looked over the twins’ shoulders at theptop.


    “Can you put that away? You can look at dressester.”


    One of them closed theptop.


    “What are you looking at dresses for?” Luca asked with a confused expression.


    “Our birthday party,” one of the twins replied, in a tone that indicated it should have been obvious.


    “We’re turning eighteen at the end of the month,” the other twin rified for me.


    “We’re having a massive party.”


    “The eighteenth birthday is a big one,” I said, sitting down at the other end of the counter.


    “You’ll be legal. I had a big party when I turned eighteen, too.”


    Luca shot me a re as both girlsughed


    “How old are you?” I asked Norah.


    “Twenty-one,” she replied, now pulling a sheet cake out of the oven.


    I deduced by their ages that they were Luca’s half-sisters.


    “You’re mid-twenties?” One of the twins guessed.


    “Twenty-three,” I nodded.


    Ana looked at Luca.


    “You’re an old man,” she told him.


    He scowled.


    “It’s a five-year age gap,” he said defensively.


    “Want to share how much older Philip is than you?”


    She smiled as she yfully shot him a side-eyed re.Text property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.


    “Nope.”


    “Eleven vears.” a twin answered for her.


    “Momma wanted a sugar daddy,” the other twinughed.


    “And a sugar daddy she got,” I heard a voice say.


    I looked over to see a man with graying brown hair walking up the staircase from the basement with a te of hamburgers piled high.


    “Splenda daddy,” Ana corrected him, taking the te.


    He faked offense.


    Turning to me, he smiled an extended a hand.


    “I’m Philip, it’s nice to meet you.”


    I shook his outstretched hand and smiled.


    “Nice to meet you, too. I’m Carrie.”


    Philip put his hands in his pockets and let out a sigh.


    “So you’re stuck with Luca for the rest of your life, huh?” He asked.


    I couldn’t help but let out a breathyugh at the exasperated tone he used.


    “Sounds like it,” I replied.


    “I’ll lift a prayer on your behalf.”


    “She’ll need more than one,” Norah said, poking Luca in the stomach.


    Luca swatted her hand away.


    “Where is Hanna?” Philip asked, looking around.


    “I think she’s in the living room,” Ana said, putting cheese on a few of the hamburger patties. Philip strolled over to the living room and stopped at the edge of the couch.


    He reached down and began to tickle a pale foot that hung over the edge.


    I saw her legs il as she kicked at his hands, making himugh.


    “You’re being rude,” I heard him whisper.


    “You need toe and say hi.”


    There was no response given as he turned and began to walk back into the kitchen.


    I quickly turned back around in the chair, pretending like I hadn’t been eavesdropping.


    “Cheese?” Ana asked me.


    I nodded, encouraging her to p a slice of Colby Jack cheese down onto a hamburger pattie.


    “Okay, people!” She said, beginning to pull tes out of the cab.


    “Time to eat.”


    Everyone scrambled over to the countertop and began to fill their tes; putting hamburgers between buns, squeezing out ketchup, spreading mayonnaise, and loading up on potato chips.


    Luca handed me a te.


    “You’ve got to get it while you can with this family,” he told me.


    I could tell he was trying to hold back a smile, but I couldn’t constrain mine as I took the te from him.


    “Torrey, Dr. Pepper me,” Norah said, holding out a hand.


    I didn’t know what this meant until one of the twins slid a can of Dr. Pepper across the countertop into Norah’s hand.


    “Dr. Pepper?” Torrey asked me.