Trailing Stars (Trailing Stars #1)

Chapter 2

I shrug. "It's the same as living with you and Dad."

I slide my hands into my back pockets, taking her in. Her eyes are dim, and it looks like the roots of her hair are starting to turn gray. I have a feeling she's holding her breath as she studies me. Like she thinks I'll disappear if she blinks. Like Morgan.

I force a smile on my face. "How have you been?"

"Just tired." Mom's smile turns playful, and she presses her palm flat against her chest. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but Kate is a bigger handful than you ever were."

"Not true!" Kate scowls in the doorway. "I've been an absolute angel." Mom turns back to me. Her eyes are wide as she shakes her head and exaggeratedly mouths "no." I try not to laugh, especially when Kate stops in front of me. She lifts her chin, her black hair swaying behind her. "I only get in trouble like three times a week."

Sounds like Morg—about right. I nod slowly, taking her in. "You got taller."

She rolls her eyes. "Obviously. You've been gone for five months." As an afterthought, she adds, "You didn't get me a birthday gift this year either even though eleven is a pretty big milestone."

Oh, Kate... I pull her into a hug. Despite the attitude, she hugs me back, burying her face in my shoulder, whispering, "Missed you."

I hug her tighter. "Missed you, too."

"Do I get a hug now?" Dad asks.

I rest my chin on Kate's head—to her protests—and smile at Dad. I try so hard not to, but my eyes flicker to the door anyway. There's no one else. Of course, there wouldn't be, but... I can always hope... Only for dread to set in...

I let go of Kate. She barely gets out of the way before Dad sweeps me up into his arms. I bury my face into his shoulder, shutting my eyes. I don't think I realized how much I missed Dad's hugs.

"How are you?" he asks.

"I'm good," I tell him. He sets me down, but he keeps an arm around my shoulder. I look up at him. "How are you?"

He offers me a grim smile. "I miss having all my kids in the house with me."

Oh... I don't have a response to that. At least not one I have the courage to say right now. Or one that I think he'd want to hear from me. The best I can do is offer him a smile and lean into him. He takes it, kissing the top of my head.

We leave everything in the foyer and make our way to the living room. Mom, Dad, and I take the couch with my parents sitting on either side of me. Hannah and Kate take the armchairs across from us on the other side of the coffee table. My sisters try not to stare at how Dad keeps a hold on my hand while Mom smooths my hair down every now and then no matter how still I stay or how neutral I try to make my expression. But Hannah and Kate clearly notice, their eyes flickering between the three of us. Hannah smiles at me when I catch her eye, but when I make eye contact with Kate, she focuses on the ground. Yeah... I wouldn't want to think too much about this either...

When we're all settled, Mom and Dad insist that Hannah and I catch them up first. I try to let Hannah do all the talking. She talks about what she's been doing since she graduated college and what her job is like as a social worker. The moment she's done sharing, Mom and Dad look at me expectantly.

I blink, shifting to tuck a foot beneath me. "School's been okay. My grades are decent, and I've made a few friends."

Hannah scoffs, sitting forward. "She's being modest. Her grades are way more than decent, and—from what I've seen—everyone at her school seems to love her."

"Like who?" Mom asks.

I rattle off some names I memorized over the past few months. I'm careful to make sure they're names that Hannah has heard before, so she can't ask her own questions about any of them.

"How close are you with them?" Dad asks.

I shrug. "Fairly."

It's not a lie. Technically. Mom and Dad smile at each other over my head. They're satisfied. Good. I can breathe a little easier now that everyone turns their attention to Kate.

"Nothing's new," Kate says with a shrug. "School's still boring. People are still annoying..." Her eyes turn steely for a second, and she glares at the coffee table. "The only thing different is people aren't as weird around me anymore."

Mom, Dad, and Hannah give Kate pitying smiles, and I try to not even look at Kate. All I can think about is how that could've been me. Hannah never really explained, but I think that's part of the reason why she suggested I move in with her. So I don't have to deal with people being uncomfortable around the girl whose twin brother died.

Mom and Dad go next. They say similar things about how most of their time is taken up by work, the house seems empty without all their kids there, and Kate is an angel with devil horns (Kate rolls her eyes at that last part).

"Mona's been behaving, right?" Mom asks Hannah. I try not to pull away from Mom. Has she really been worried about that or is she asking something else entirely? "She hasn't been giving you any trouble?"

Hannah's eyes meet mine, and she smiles. "She's just perfect."

I let myself glance away from Hannah. Perfect in what way? Hannah doesn't elaborate, but I'm not too sure I want her to anyway.

When the conversation starts to dwindle, Hannah leads us into the kitchen. Apparently, she's been cooking for a while, a spread of food already on the kitchen table. We sit, and the conversation feels a lot less formal. Everyone talks over each other and says whatever's on their mind. It feels familiar but new after five months. Except there's no obnoxiously loud laughter or food randomly disappearing from my plate because there's no Morgan. And there never will be again.