Page 25 of Anyone But the Superstar

It’s the silence that gets me. Chase and I are never silent. We tease each other. We laugh. We divert the other’s attention from whatever gets them down. We spent our lives banded together, us against our father.

‘Hey.’ I nudge his boat shoe with my Birkenstock. ‘Sorry.’

The cat breaks first.

‘Meow.’ Mike lifts one paw, asking to be paid attention too.

‘Aw, you missed Aunt Lizzie, didn’t you.’ I bend over,scratching under Mike’s chin. ‘Yes, you did. You missed me, you little cunt.’

‘Jesus.’ Chase rolls his eyes, exactly the reaction I was going for. ‘You can’t say that.’ Though his eyes crinkle while doing it. ‘And especially not in baby talk.’

I add another hand, scratching behind Mike’s ears. ‘Why not?’

‘It’s crude.’

‘So is your cat.’

We share a smile, and I know I’m forgiven.

‘Here.’ He grabs Mike around his ribcage with both hands and lifts him to me, the cat’s back legs and private bits dangling. ‘Take him.’

As I have a million times before, I reach for Mike, and, feeling like I’m holding a butterball turkey, I cradle him to my chest. For a cat that looks like skin and bones, Mike’s rather dense.

‘Now.’ Chase leans back. ‘Tell me about storyboarding.’

‘Ah.’ I nuzzle my nose against Mike’s before sitting on the couch opposite my brother. ‘My professor was the weak link.’

‘Yes, well, go easy on him.’ Chase spreads his arms across the back of the chair. ‘He wasn’t going to tell me where you were staying until I mentioned the urgent care thing and then suddenly, he was a flood of information and apologies.’ Chase’s brow pinches together. ‘Something about a housing mix-up and car rental?’

Not meeting his eyes, I wave away his question. ‘There was a bit of an issue, but it’s been taken care of.’Luckily, I’d add, if I didn’t think it would worry him. ‘As you can see.’ I gesture to the condo’s floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Clear Lake.

We spend the next twenty minutes catching up. Me telling him about my storyboard internship and my time at NASA, himbringing me up to speed on Moore’s department store and regaling me with stories of our previously dour older brother Thomas whose now firmly wrapped around the little finger of a princess-loving nine-year-old.

‘I wish I could see that.’

‘Oh, you will.’

‘I will?’

‘Yep.’ Chase lowers his foot and stands. ‘I’m just a scout.’

I tilt my head, and Mike mirrors it. ‘What do you mean?’

‘What do you think I mean?’

I follow his movements as he picks up the cat carrier off the floor and drapes it over the arm of the chair, trying to put the pieces together.

But it isn’t until he raises one eyebrow, looking very much like our older brother, that I figure it out.

I swivel on the couch toward the door. ‘Thomas is here?’

‘No, not yet.’ Chase scoops up Mike from my lap, the cat unhelpfully limp. ‘But he and the rest of the family will be.’

‘Why?’

‘Thomas gave you a year to “find yourself”.’ He adjusts Mike in one hand to air quote with the other. ‘Honestly, I’m surprised he gave you that.’ He shakes his head with a laugh. ‘I’m surprised thatIgave you that.’ He turns Mikey’s back into his chest. ‘I know you wanted time to come to terms with everything that’s happened buttime’s up, Lizzie.’ He emphasizes his words by jabbing Mike’s paw toward me.

There’s an ominous rumble coming from the cat. Mikehatesbeing used as a puppet. Something Chase is very much aware of but doesn’t care.