Stepbrother Made My Wet Dream Real Inside Our Shared Tent novel · Chapter 4 of 24

Chapter 4: Staying

The production assistant held the tablet steady.

Behind Mom I could see the yellow kitchen curtains she'd sewn the year she married Roy.

"Mom," I said.

"Do you know where I was at eight o'clock?" Her voice shook. "The faculty potluck. Somebody put it on the cafeteria TV."

I closed my eyes.

"The principal turned it off. Not fast enough." She pressed her lips together. "Huck's name, Laramie. On a cafeteria TV."

Huck was standing behind me.

I felt him go still.

"I'm not ashamed," I said.

"Well, I am." Mom's reading glasses swung on their beaded chain. "Pack up and come home. Roy will drive up to the trailhead and get you."

"No."

"Laramie Ackley."

"The bank takes the lodge on December first," I said. "Dad built every cabin on that creek. He carved the porch posts. He died working for it."

A handheld camera crept closer over her shoulder.

I didn't look at it.

I looked at my mother.

"I'm going to win, Mom. I'm going to win it with the whole world watching, and I'm not going to apologize to Livingston for one thing I said in my own tent."

Mom opened her mouth.

Then the screen jerked sideways, and a white walrus mustache took up half of it.

"Gimme that," Roy said. "Debbie, gimme the thing."

"Roy, I'm not finished."

"You're finished, hon. You had your go." His big red face filled the tablet. "Kid. You hear me?"

"I hear you, Roy."

"Win it, kid." He leaned so close I could see up his nose. "And Huck? You look after her."

Huck leaned in over my shoulder.

"She's the one who does the looking after, Dad."

"Then carry the heavy stuff and keep your mouth shut." Roy winked. "Love you both. Debbie, say love you."

The screen went dark before she did.

I sat down on the log by our fire and put my face in my hands.

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