Falling for his Step-Sister by Alie Garnett
Chapter Ten
Catchingup with the older woman was way easier than convincing her to hire her. Not that Buzz could boil water, but she knew where to get food that a chef made. After all, she was related to two, one of which she still lived with since Lucy hadn’t moved out.
Getting Harper to give her a raving recommendation had been easier than Buzz had thought it would be, but only because Buzz wrote it herself. No way was she telling her sister that she was going to be a chef to see if some woman was actually her mother … their mother.
Buzz hit ‘send’ on the fake recommendation and resume she took straight from Harper’s desk. That will teach her to not give up her room and move all her stuff out, Buzz thought to herself. Once it was out there, she didn’t feel a moment of regret about the lie because if it was her mom, she deserved to be lied to, and if it wasn’t, well, she wasn’t a nice person anyway.
Buzz had told the woman that she could start on Monday. After talking to Judith for a few minutes, she knew she would have gotten the job with nothing other than being able to start quickly. The woman had hinted at starting that very day, but Buzz wasn’t ready for that. Besides, Sera was getting married between then and now, and no way was Buzz missing her mom’s wedding for her actual mom.
Pacing across the back room of the cathedral one more time, she watched Maby and Lucy, the twins identical in their blush dresses, fuss with Sera’s vail. The room was full of Lovelys in blush, except for the one in white. Only Sera would have every one of her kids in the wedding, all except Agatha, who didn’t wear dresses or blush. She was in a black smock dress and looked so uncomfortable that even Buzz thought she should just go home. Yesterday she had stated she was coming down with something, and Buzz knew she was completely sick today. The sweat was almost rolling off of her.
Buzz tried to avoid getting too close to her sister for fear she would catch it, so she went over the other thing on her mind: Jonas. Not that he wasn’t always there, just a good enough memory to make her hot and bothered. She had hoped that he wasn’t going to the wedding, but even if he was, there was no way he’d miss her. She was fourth in line by the bride; hell, she was walking up the aisle alone.
Dying her hair would have pushed her sisters to suddenly ask questions since she had always been known as the redhead—it was how they introduced her. Harper was the blonde, the twins were brunettes, and Agatha and the two little girls shared a shade of black that Buzz longed for today.
“Stop pacing,” Lucy stated and laughed; it was usually her with the restless energy that was moving around the room.
“Sorry, I didn’t realize.” Buzz sat in the closest chair.
“Buzz is just worried that she’ll be next and hasn’t found a man yet.” Harper walked over to her and fixed a few strands of her hair. Looking down at her, she said, “You’re cute, Buzzy. Your day is coming.”
“Shut up. I don’t need a man.” She knocked her sister’s hands from her hair, then checked to make sure nothing had been moved.
“Not every woman needs a man, Harper,” Emma stated, looking up from her phone. This was wedding number three for the girl in just over a month, and it seemed the sullen teen wasn’t so much into them.
“That’s right, girls. Nobody needs a man. We’re strong enough to make our way through life as independent women,” the bride added as she fluffed out the widest wedding dress Buzz had ever seen. When she thought about Disney princesses, this is exactly what she thought of. The words themselves didn’t match the picture.
“Just relax, and you’ll find the right one. Look at Cliff and me,” Maby stated, turning to her sister quickly to make her dress fluff out.
“You stole Cliff from Lucy,” Harper accused her sister.
“I did not. They are not attracted to each other; he is attracted to me.” Maby pointed at herself.
“Maybe if you hadn’t jumped him, they could’ve had their slow burn,” Buzz stated, knowing that ganging up on Maby was more fun than worrying about sexy men ruining her mom’s wedding.
“They aren’t attracted to each other. Tell them, Lucy.” She turned to her twin.
“I don’t know. I think Cliff and I could have had a future.” Lucy sat down next to Agatha, who frowned and scooted away from her.
Buzz was sure the action was because the words could cause a fight, and Agatha didn’t want to be in the middle of it. An oddity in itself since she was usually very willing to fight at any moment.
Maby threw her hands in the air and headed out of the room, probably to see her husband. The couple had only been together for a few months, and Maby was still easy to rile up about it. It didn’t help that Lucy had been against the pair in the beginning. Or at least when she found out since the entire family knew before Lucy did.
“I hope this lasts until summer. She is so easy right now,” Lucy stated what everyone was thinking.
“Is there any way I can get married without you five fighting? I think I had you all sign a contract stating no actual fights two weeks before and until midnight of the actual wedding.” Sera pointed at her suitcase that was on a table, which held said contracts. That’s what happened when a lawyer joined the family. Contracts!
“Just having some fun, Mom,” Agatha replied, though she hadn’t been involved at all.
“No more fun; This is my wedding, girls. I’ve dreamed of this for years. My. Damn. Wedding. And nobody is having fun at my wedding! Wait.” She stopped and went back over her words.
“Your wedding is going to be perfect no matter what, Sera,” Agatha said, getting up and walking over to her. “I’m not going to hug you,” she warned and took another step away from the bride. “You’re marrying Harrison; that is the only thing that is important here. That you and Harrison finally get your happily ever after. Now just relax and enjoy everything that you’ve planned and dreamed of.”
“Okay.” Sera looked up at the ceiling as she said it, and Buzz knew she was trying to stop the tears from falling down her face and wrecking her makeup.
“Don’t cry.” Agatha scowled.
“I’m not,” Sera’s thick voice said to the ceiling.
Everyone knew she was. Even Violet brought her a tissue so that she could dab at her eyes. Violet was the only one in the room who actually looked good in the dresses their mom had chosen for them. Being a cute little kid helped.
Maby rushed back into the room flushed and happy, announcing that the wedding was about to start. Buzz knew the real reason why she was flushed. The fact that Lucy had to fix her hair, and Harper had to fix her dress meant that Cliff had convinced her he loved only her and that she didn’t steal him from anyone.
As the concert pianist started playing the “Wedding March,” Buzz waited in the second-longest line she had been in this week. First up was Emma, who had somehow hidden her phone in her cleavage, which Buzz had just noticed she had when they were trying on dresses weeks ago. When had that happened? Emma had a bigger chest than Buzz did! Then it was her turn since they were going in order of age.
Buzz half expected murmurs to start once she stepped into the room, but she was met with near silence. All eyes were on her, but her eyes were focused on the priest in front of the room. Next to him was Harrison, who was just watching his kid in front of her.
Buzz was happy he had taken on the dad role with gusto. She’d been surprised when she had found out that he was not only Violet’s dad but Emma’s as well. It seemed that Sera had met him twice over the course of her life and happened to get knocked up both times—then hidden the fact for two different reasons.
But since he’d found out, he had been the best dad ever: taking them places, having the three all stay overnight at his place, and buying a house with Sera that she, not him, exactly, loved. All because he wanted to make sure the kids were happy. He wasn’t even rushing the kids to move from the house they had been raised in. Or Sera, for that matter.
After the honeymoon, the big sisters would have to force Sera to move in with her husband and take her kids with her since the new house was theirs as of yesterday. Even Buzz could see that Sera was never moving on her own. She had one excuse after another about not doing it.
At the front of the cathedral, she turned and scanned the attendance for one face. For the entire time the twins and Harper slowly walked up the aisle, she looked but didn’t see him.
A rush of relief washed through her, followed instantly by disappointment that he wasn’t there. She admitted to herself that she wanted to see him again. As her mind flashed back to her time with him, she was nearly too distracted to watch Sera float down the aisle behind Violet.
Nobody could deny that all her planning was paying off; nothing was left to chance, and it was perfect. From the vows, right through the dance to the happy couple being taken away in a horse-drawn carriage at midnight, everything was all Sera.
Once the hoofs clip-clopped away, she and Agatha gathered up Violet and Emma and headed home. The day had been exhausting. Both kids had fallen asleep in the car, as had she, which was okay because Agatha drove. Not much was said as everyone shuffled to their bedrooms. Buzz took Harper’s that night. With how Kaine was looking at her all day, there was no way she was coming home. When and if Lucy came home, Buzz didn’t know.
By noon the next day, Harrison and Sera were back and dressed like normal people and picking up the girls and their suitcases to head out for their honeymoon. The plane was leaving in the afternoon, and it was all Harrison had wanted from the wedding: time with his family. The trip was all him, which involved tears from his new bride as she said goodbye to the two women who were in the house and awake: Buzz and Agatha.
Once the front door closed, she started to get ready to start her career as a chef—or a fake chef, because she was never going to be a real one. Then she had a week to find out if Dr. Judith Rowley was the same woman that had walked away forever from the same kids Sera barely could leave for a week.
Telling herself it didn’t matter didn’t stop Buzz from needing to know.
