We're Not Related Anymore...

Mom, Meet My Step-Brother

Maddie: Three Years Ago

We find my mom taking pictures of birds in a tree. She has a small smile on her face, so content in what she does that the rest of the world outside of her lens falls away. I can only hope that one day I feel as passionate about something as she does about photography.

"Hey, mom," I say as we near her. She's disrupted a group of kids who were studying on a blanket on the grass. They glare up at her as she crowds their space to get her perfect picture. "Look who I found."

My mom doesn't finish up immediately. She takes one more picture before lowering her camera and facing me. "Who's this?" She asks, her gaze immediately skipping me and going to Jacob's taller body. Even the girls on the ground have stopped glaring at my mom long enough to gawk at Jacob. 

"I'm Jacob Isaacs, ma'am," he says, stepping forward, he's Southern twang coming out a little more pronounced than usual, making me think he's nervous. "It's nice to finally meet you."

"You're Jacob?" My mom asks in a pitched voice, just about stepping over the poor students in her hurry to join us. "As in, Maddie's new stepbrother, Jacob."

Jacob laughs awkwardly, rubbing a hand over his reddening neck. "That would be me." 

My mom steps up to us, grasping him by the arms. She takes a step closer and starts taking in his appearance. "But you're so handsome," she says and I start coughing. 

"Mom!" I gasp, never more embarrassed than at this very moment in time. "What the fuck?" I whisper but I guess it's only fair. This is her way of getting back at me for flirting with her 'friend' from earlier. 

She stands on her tiptoes to look at me over Jacob's shoulder. She mouths, 'He's so hot.' Before lowering herself down to the ground again. Clearing her throat, she begins, "Jacob, you're joining us for lunch."

"I am?" He asks, bewildered and still flushed. 

"Josh couldn't make it so your mom said I should let you make use of his share of the trip. Didn't Maddie tell you this?"

"Uh..." he starts. 

"Good! Maddie, where's Carter?" She asks, turning to me after tucking Jacob's arm into the crook of hers. 

"He had to go deal with something... it's just us three now," I say, suddenly cursing what ever problem took Carter away. With him here, he would've provided the perfect buffer between my mom and her perpetual nosiness.

"Oh, that's a shame. I guess we should head to our late lunch then," she says, walking and forcing poor Jacob to follow suit. 

"What do you fancy? Actually, Jacob, what's your food preference?" She asks, turning a beaming face up to his. "A strong, young man like you? You probably like something hearty like steak right?"

Hearty? Ugh? What's happened to my mom? As I'm thinking this, she looks at me over her shoulder with what I can only describe as 'heart eyes'. She nods her head in Jacob's direction and I take a sigh, silently praying for the Lord to give me strength. 

-

"So, Jacob," My mom says, swirling her straw in her glass of water. We finally decided on a pizza place down the street and are squashed into a booth. My mom sits opposite both of us while Jacob and I sit side by side, our legs brushing every now and then. "Tell me a little bit about yourself."

"What would you like to know?" He asks, setting down his slice of margarita pizza. 

"Do you play any sports? Are you good in school- although I imagine you must be if you're going to Princeton? But most importantly, do you have a girlfriend?" She asks, fluttering her eyelashes at him.