“What?” Why?” he asked as he followed me out of the bedroom.
“Because he likes seeing his son so happy, and I’m like the daughter he never had.” I sighed.
“You have got to be kidding me.”
The moment we arrived at Richard’s and Christine’s apartment, nerves flooded my body. What if the girls didn’t like me?
“Stop fidgeting,” Asher spoke as he knocked on the door.
“I can’t help it.”
“They’re going to love you,” he said.
I had expected Richard or Christine to answer. But when the door opened, a beautiful young girl with long brown hair and big brown eyes stood there.
“Hello, there.” Asher smiled at her.
“Hi. You must be my sister, Everly,” she said as she stared at me. “I’m Emily.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Emily.” I smiled at her.
When we stepped inside, we were greeted by Richard and Christina. Over on the couch was they’re youngest daughter, Laurel.
“Laurel, come here, sweetheart,” Richard spoke as he held out his hand to her. “I’d like you to meet Everly, your sister.”
She looked like Emily with the same brown eyes, except her hair was blonde.
“It’s nice to meet you.” She gave a shy and unsure smile.
“It’s nice to meet you, too.”
“Come on, Asher. Let’s go get these burgers on the grill and leave the girls to talk.”
I gave Asher a nod to let him know that I was okay, and I went and helped Christina in the kitchen. When the burgers were ready, we all gathered around the table to eat.
“Laurel just found out she got a full-ride scholarship to NYU.” Richard smiled at her.
“Wow. Congratulations, Laurel,” I said. “Your parents must be very proud.”
“Thank you, and they are. I’m excited that I’m going to make something of my life, unlike some people.” She looked at Emily.
“Shut up, Laurel.”
“Emily, that’s enough!” Christina spoke in an authoritative tone.
“God. I can’t wait to get the hell out of here!” Emily shouted as she threw her napkin down and ran to her room, slamming the door behind her.
I swallowed hard as I looked at Asher. He was feeling just as uncomfortable as I was.
“Kids,” he spoke.
“I apologize,” Richard spoke. “She’s been giving us a lot of grief lately.”
“Lately? Try her whole life,” Laurel said.
“That’s enough, Laurel,” Christina scolded her. “I’ll go see—”
“Let me go talk to her,” I said. “Sometimes it’s easier to talk to someone you don’t know.”
Christina gave me a nod, so I went down the hall and lightly knocked on Emily’s door.
“Go away,” she shouted.
I slowly opened the door and stepped inside.
“Hey.” I smiled at her. “Can I come in?”
She just sat on her bed shaking her head with tears in her eyes.
“You’re already in, aren’t you?” she spoke with an attitude and I couldn’t help but smile. She reminded me of myself at that age.
“Why are you so upset?” I asked as I sat down on the edge of the bed.
“What? You think because now that you’re my sister, you just get to butt into my business?”
“No. But I know that sometimes it’s easier to talk to someone you barely know.”
“I just can’t stand them. Everything is Laurel this, Laurel that. They always loved her more because she’s the smart one and I’m the dumb one.”
“That is not true.”
“How do you know? You’ve known us for like five minutes.”
“You don’t go to college?”
“No. I tried community college for a while and it just isn’t for me. I always hated school.”
“Me too.” I smiled. “High school was really tough for me.”
“What do you do?” she asked.
“I’m a life coach.”
“Did you go to college for that?”
“No. I completed a training program online and became certified. Now I own my business and have plenty of clients.”
“Wow. Good thing you didn’t know our father when you were doing that. He would have disapproved. Life is all about college, girls. You’ll never get anywhere in life without a good solid college education.”
“You love photography, don’t you?”
“Yeah. How did you know?”
“Can I see some of your pictures?”
“Sure.”
She reached under her bed, pulled out a large photo album and handed it to me.
“I taught myself everything I know about photography.”
“Wow, Emily. These are amazing. You have a really good eye.”
“Tell that to my parents. They tell me it’s just a hobby and not a career.”
As I held her book in my hand, images flowed through my mind.
“It is your career. This is what you’re meant to do. You need to follow your passion, Emily. Not what your parents want you to do. Don’t tell them I said that.” I smiled.
“I won’t.” She laughed.
“How badly do you want this as a career?”
“Bad. It’s the only thing I’m interested in. Except guys, of course.” She grinned.
“Stay away from them. You’re young and they’ll only complicate your life. You need to do you first, before you get involved with anyone else. Deal?”
“Deal.” She smiled.
“I can help you. I am a life coach, and I know I can get you on the right track.”
“Are you serious? You’d help me?”
“Of course. Isn’t that what sisters are for.” I placed my hand on hers. “I’ll talk to your parents.”
“Thanks, Everly.” She gave me a hug.
“You’re welcome. Now, pull your big girl panties up and go out there and apologize to them. I know it’s hard. But you can do it.”
“Fine.” She huffed.
We went back out to the dining room and sat down at the table. Asher placed his hand on my knee and gave me a smile as Emily apologized to her parents.
After we were done with dinner, the girls decided to go out for ice cream while we stayed back and visited for a while longer.
“I have no idea what you said to her, but she has never apologized to us before,” Richard said.
“Listen, there’s something I need to discuss with you. It’s about Emily and her photography.”
“Uh.” Christina rolled her eyes. “She thinks that she can make a decent living off that. We told her she couldn’t, and she needs to decide what else she wants to do.”
“Have you seen her photos?” I
