Chapter 2
"I'm getting married, Daphne!"
Mom practically squealed into the phone, giddy as a teenager who had just been asked to prom.
I froze for a solid three seconds before sitting bolt upright in my bed. "Oh my god! Mom, seriously?!"
"Seriously!" She was laughing and crying all at once. "His name is Thomas. We've actually been seeing each other in secret for almost a year. He's grounded, funny, and... the way he looks at me makes me feel like I'm twenty again."
Since Dad walked out ten years ago, Mom had poured every ounce of her soul into raising me. Hearing that long-lost spark in her voice brought a sudden, tight lump to my throat.
These past few days had already delivered the most impossible miracle of my life: Caleb Sullivan—the golden boy I'd been crushing hard on for two years—was officially my boyfriend.
And now, the mother I loved more than anything had finally found her own happily-ever-after. Between love and family, it felt like the universe was suddenly dropping everything perfectly into place.
"I am so incredibly happy for you, Mom! I really am," I beamed into the receiver.
"Come home for dinner tonight and meet him," Mom chirped. "Oh, and he's bringing his son. Apparently, he's exactly your age and goes to Seacliff, too! I bet you've passed him in the halls a million times. We'll see if you recognize him tonight!"
My age? Also at Seacliff?
Wrapped tight in my perfect little love bubble, I completely brushed off the coincidence. Seacliff High had a massive student body of three thousand kids. What were the odds of some dramatic daytime-soap twist?
"That's great. See you tonight," I smiled, ending the call.
Two hours later, at six sharp.
I stood in our living room, which was filled with the mouthwatering scent of a home-cooked pot roast, wearing the exact same floral sundress I'd worn on my date with Caleb the night before. Mom, fidgeting nervously in front of the hallway mirror, smoothed down her nice dress.
The doorbell chimed.
Mom took a sharp breath and practically flew to the door. "Welcome! Come on in!"
I stood by the dining table, hands nervously clasped in front of me, wearing my brightest, most welcoming smile, ready to meet my new family.
The first to step inside was a well-dressed man in his late forties with a genuinely warm smile. He had that classic, steady dad-charm, and the tender way he looked at Mom melted my heart a little.
"Daphne, right?" He strode over and extended a hand. "I'm Thomas Sullivan. Your mom talks about you all the time. You're even prettier than your pictures."
Last name Sullivan?
A sudden, suffocating realization hit me like a freight train. My heart seized. I opened my mouth, desperate to ask him what his son's first name was, but before I could force a single syllable past my lips—
"My son was just finding a parking spot; he'll be right in," Thomas said, blissfully oblivious, glancing over his shoulder. "I know you two are going to get along great—oh, here he is."
Heavy, familiar footsteps sounded on the front porch.
I looked up, my gaze drifting over Thomas's shoulder toward the open doorway.
In that split second, my blood ran cold, and the perfect smile plastered on my face completely dropped.
A tall figure blocked out the fading light outside.
That perpetually tousled blond hair.
The red varsity jacket he was wearing just this morning when he pulled me into a hug.
And those ocean-blue eyes, which went wide with absolute shock the second they locked onto mine.
My first love. My miracle. My boyfriend.
Caleb Sullivan.
"Come on, let me introduce you properly." Completely oblivious to the sudden, suffocating drop in the room's temperature, Thomas threw a jovial arm around the boy's shoulder. "This is my son, Caleb."
All the oxygen in the living room simply vanished.
I stared at Caleb, standing barely two feet away. The polite smile died on his lips, the color draining so rapidly from his cheeks he looked like he'd seen a ghost.
"Caleb...?" I gasped, my voice barely a whisper.
"Daphne," he managed, his jaw clamped tight.
Mom and Thomas exchanged confused glances.
"Wait, do you two already know each other from school?" Thomas asked, breaking the agonizing silence.
"Know each other?" Mom lit up with excitement. "That's wonderful! I was so worried you guys might feel awkward! Caleb, Daphne is my daughter—your future sister! It's like you're real siblings already!"
Siblings.
The word knocked the wind right out of me. I looked at Caleb in pure panic. His face was ashen, and those eyes that had gazed at me with such immense warmth this morning were now wild with horror and revulsion.
"I need some air."
Caleb suddenly took a step back, threw the words over his shoulder, and bolted for the back patio without looking back.
"Caleb?" Thomas frowned, calling after him. "Dinner's almost ready!"
"I'm not hungry!"
The heavy patio door slammed shut behind him.
I stood rooted to the spot, smiling tightly through our parents' confusion, while only one thought relentlessly pounded in my skull: How the hell did this happen?
Fifteen minutes later, seizing the moment Mom went to the kitchen to toss the salad, I slipped out to the backyard.
Caleb was pacing the patio like a caged animal, his hands furiously raking through his hair.
"Caleb, can we talk?" I forced the words past the razor-sharp lump in my throat.
He whipped around, his eyes freezing cold. "Talk? About what? About the extremely messed-up fact that we're about to become legal step-siblings?"
"Messed-up?" I felt like my chest was being ripped open. "Our feelings—you think what we have is messed up now?"
"Daphne, this is fucking insane!" he hissed, his voice cracking with agony. "The thought of us sitting at the same dinner table, listening to your mom call us 'kids'... The thought that I was literally kissing you at the school gates this morning, and next month you're going to be my stepsister? It makes me sick to my stomach!"
Tears instantly blurred my vision, spilling hot over my cheeks. "It's not our fault! Our parents just decided to get married—we can tell them the truth, we can figure something out—"
"Figure what out?" Caleb cut me off ruthlessly. "Tell the whole school that the girl I just started dating is my future stepsister? Let everybody stare at us like we're some kind of sick joke?!"
"So what are you saying...?" My voice was breaking uncontrollably.
He closed his eyes and took a deep, shuddering breath. When he opened them again, the warmth was totally gone, replaced by a cold, blank stare.
"We're done, Daphne." He turned away, his voice brutally resolute. "As of tomorrow, we're just step-siblings. Forget any of this ever happened."
