“You are too much!” Shayna laughed, shaking her head. “You two are gonna give me a heart attack!” I grinned at Brian from across the table. He smiled back. Just then, the waiter came up to our table.
“Would you like anything for dessert?” he asked, looking around the table.
“Coffee, black, no sugar,” Kevin, Brian, and I said in unison. Our eyes widening, we looked at each other in amazement.
“Yep!” Kristin piped up. “Definitely family.”
“That was scary,” JC laughed, squeezing my knee under the table. The waiter shook off his shock and looked at the others.
“Anyone else?” They shook they’re heads. It only took a few minutes for the waiter to come with our coffees. I took a sip and sighed, leaning back against JC’s arm which was draped over the back of my chair.
“Alex, I don’t mean to bring up a bad subject for you,” Kristin said, cautiously, “but when are you going to meet Kevin’s family? I mean, you’re going to do it sometime, right?” Biting my lower lip, I looked at Josh.
“I think you should do it soon,” my brother said, squeezing my hand. “It’ll get it off your conscience. You know you. You’re better off jumping into something before rationalizing it first.”
“You mean like when I drove dad’s car without a license?” I asked, grinning. Josh rolled his eyes.
“No, I mean like the time you formed Galaxy,” he shot back. My grin turned into a soft smile.
“Whenever you want to meet them, I’m here for you,” Kevin said. “Hopefully it won’t be in the middle of a tour, though.” The table was silent for a few moments. Everyone was thinking of the possibilities of the upcoming future.
“I’m not sure when,” I said, turning to face Kevin. “I mean, the girls and I have some recording to do, plus I have to work up the nerve.” Kevin’s face clouded over. “I will tell you something, though.” He looked at me, his face now full of hope. “I’m gonna make sure it’s within the next month. Just make sure you’re calendar’s free.”
“It will be,” he promised, smiling. “I’m really glad you’re going through with this.”
“It’s mainly because I’m curious,” I admitted. “I’m trying to figure out why she gave me up.”
“My guess is she was scared of being found out,” Brian said. “I mean, no one knew about this affair until only a little while ago and, no offense, Alex-“
“None taken.”
“-but I don’t think she’d want to risk her marriage by admitting she was pregnant. I mean, what if you turned out to look nothing like her or Kevin’s father? Do you know how mortifying that would be? She’d be like a deer caught in headlights.”
“True,” Kevin and I said, thoughtfully.
“Kevin, would you mind if I brought the others with me? I kinda want them there for moral support or something.”
“Sure,” he said. “We have plenty of room.”
“We might be busy,” JC said, regretfully. I nodded
“That’s what I figured,” I said. “That’s why I’ll have them all there with me. I’ll call you and fill you in.”
“Every night?” he asked, resting his forehead against mine.
“Of course,” I said, kissing his nose. I smiled mischievously. “Well, except for those nights I’m out partying.” My forehead still attached to JC’s, I turned my head to face Brian. “There are a lot of clubs in Kentucky, right, Brian?” He caught on quickly.
“Oh, of course!” Brian said. “We’ll be out almost every night. I’ll show you all the spots where the guys all hang out and stuff. It’ll be cool!” JC poked me in the ribs and I giggled, resting my head on his shoulder.
“Seriously, though, I will call you,” I told him. “Don’t worry.”
“I will, but oh well,” he said, tightening his grip around my shoulders.
I was happy for Alex. There was no doubt about that. What was strange, or at least seems strange to me, was that I had no fear. I knew she would never leave me or forget about me. I knew that when she went to meet her biological mother, they could never be more than friends.
Alex was like that, though. She took a long while to trust people, which was interesting considering the fact that she and Brian seemed to have some sort of connection. It had been probably about seven months since she and Kevin had met and she still didn’t trust him completely. She was a wary person and that was for her own good.
I looked at my sister sitting next to me and smiled as her mouth moved rapidly, talking about the time when she’d gotten stuck in an elevator in a hotel. She had been alone with a little girl, a mother, and two teenage girls a little older than herself at the time. Laughing at a comment JC had made and hitting him hard on the arm, she continued with the story.
She was the one thing I could never question. No matter what happened in her life, Alex was stable. She might have been a little shaken by our father’s death and Kevin being her half-brother and everything that went along with that, but still now she remained tall and composed, determined to make her life work the way she wanted it to. And she had the power to do it. She knew that before and had recently begun to question it. Now, she was pretty close to back-on-track and she was determined to make it.