Let's start at the beginning. My life went into shambles. I was divorced after a loveless twelve year marriage. My career ended with the office I worked at for 10 years closing their doors overnight leaving myself and all my other co-workers standing at the front doors wondering what had happened. And, to make matters worse, I had run out of money. Deciding that life needed the 'reset' button pushed, I moved back to NYC to live with my aging parents. It wasn't the best moments of a man's life, especially, one that was going to turn forty soon.
My parents lived in a modest two story brownstone in Brooklyn. It was where I had cut my chops as a kid and learned the ways of the street. But, coming back to live there with your parents when you are an adult does something to your morale. As I moved my things from the moving van into the house, my smiling half-sister ran out smiling.
"Hey, Eric!" she greeted me with a smile and gave me a playful punch on my arm. She tucked some of the bleached blonde locks of silky hair behind her left ear and stood there sweetly. "Or should I say, hey, roomie?"
"Hey, Katie, how are the parental units?" I asked as I pulled box after box out and stacked them on the sidewalk.
She shrugged, "Dad is doing ok. They are about to set off on a cruise. And...your mom could be treating me a little better. I guess they are about to enjoy retirement life, you know?"
Katie was a love child my father had brought into this world. She had remained a secret until Katie's mother passed away from an accident. With no real family to turn to, Katie was brought out from the depths of secrecy and into my family. Obviously, my mother wanted nothing to do with her, but as a traditional Chinese family, my father didn't give my mother a choice in the matter and was forced to raise Katie as if she was her own.
I stacked the last box for my second trip into the house and stepped back to take a breather. I had accumulated so much crap over my years away. I pulled out my vape mod and took a deep drag from it and exhaled calmly. Katie had leaned onto the stack of boxes and rolled her eyes.
"We get it, you vape." She uttered an internet meme at me.
"Ha-ha." I said. I turned to look at her, just a few years ago, before my life fell apart, she was just a scrawny teenager with braces and glasses. She could be standing in a crowd, and you couldn't pick her out if your life depended on it. But, she had blossomed into a lovely young woman. Fetching features, but modestly toned back with how she liked to live. She was five foot one with a slightly curvy shape. I noticed that her breasts had swelled up to a nice size and that her nipples were starting to perk up. "Uh...chicken's done?"
She cocked her head to a side for a moment puzzled by what I said and she looked down when she realized what I meant and immediately covered herself. "Pervert!" she said jokingly.
I reached into one of the boxes I had stacked and pulled a sweatshirt of mine. "I'm not the one out here in fall weather with a tank top." I said and offered her the sweatshirt.
Katie took the sweatshirt and pulled it on. She pulled the collar area of the hoodie and inhaled deeply. "This smells like you."
"Do I stink?"
"No," she answered sweetly. She took another sniff, "I love how you smell. I always have."
I offered a smile and peered back into the moving van to see that I had a lot more to move in. I took a deep breath and motioned with my head to Katie that I was going to work and talk with her. "So, how are things with you?"
"Well, I turned 18 two days ago."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, I am finally a legal adult!" She said. She used a finger and poked at my chest playfully as I was wheeling my stack of boxes into the house. "And, you weren't there for my party mister!"
"You know, I was packing my crap to come back here." I said as I wheeled my boxes into the first floor apartment of the two story brownstone. I pulled the jack away from the boxes and started back out to the moving van. I felt a tug at my shoulder and stopped. Katie was holding my shoulder and smiled. "It's not like I wanted any of this to happen, Katie. It was just fucked up shit stacked on more fucked up shit."
She smiled, "I know, Eric. You know I love you. I am happy to see you here. Though, I wished it was on better circumstances other than having to force yourself to live with your step-sister."
"Wait, what?"
All expression disappeared from her face. "Dad didn't tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
Katie sighed, "Well, they moved to the top floor knowing that you had to come back home. Your mom has been giving me so much crap lately; they had thought it was wise for me to have a room downstairs here with you. You know...since you weren't coming down with anyone and they didn't think you were going to find someone at your age."
"Really?" I asked astonished. "They thought that of me?"
Katie shrugged, "Yeah?"
"Great." I mumbled and went out to fetch more of my things.
* * *
A week into living back at home wasn't as bad as I had thought it was going to be. I had to share the first floor with Katie, which didn't turn out to be horrible. She was neat. She was caring. She was quiet. One night after sending out several résumés and answering emails from potential freelance opportunities, I set my tablet down and sat in my living room. Katie entered wearing short cotton PINK shorts and the hoodie that I had given her to wear on the day I had moved in. In her hands was a cold beer for the each of us. She handed me mine and sat down next to me on the couch. She faced my way and tucked her curvy legs to the left.
"Are you supposed to be drinking?"
She took a swig of her beer and laughed. "You know, I am almost done with college."
