Best Friend's Brother Read Online Free Page B

sorry for you too,” her mom said. “She loved
you like a sister.”
    I sobbed out that I loved her like one too and her
mom hugged me again. The whole time I could feel Ian’s sad eyes on me and I
found myself wondering what he was thinking about as all of this went on.
    “We should probably go start talking to some of our
guests…” her dad said.
    Her mom looked at me and said, “If I don’t see you
before you go, Alexa…thank you so much for being here and for being such a good
friend to our girl. I hope that we’ll still see you…you’re a part of this
family too.”
    “Of course you will,” I told her. “If you need
anything…” she nodded and gave me a tight little smile. I bet she couldn’t
count the times she had heard that sentence in the past few days. I watched
them go, forgetting that Ian was next to me still for a minute until he said,
“Emma would have loved all of this attention.”
    I looked at him, shocked at first that he would say
something sarcastic about his little sister at a time like this. When I saw his
face though, I could tell that he’d said that with love. I could see it in his
eyes, and the truth was he was right. Emma would have loved it. “She was quite
the attention hound,” I said with a little smile.
    “Hmm, tell me! I got my parents attention for
exactly three years. Once Emma came along, Ian was old news. I got a job when I
was five, just to get out of their hair.”
    I laughed, “You did not.”
    “Okay, I was seven, but still…”
    “That’s not the way Emma tells it. She’s always
said, “Ian can get away with anything because he’s their favorite. If I tried
to pull the things he did, I’d be grounded for life.”
    He smiled, “It was just because they saw more
potential in her.” He had been kidding before, but he said that seriously. It
was obvious how much he thought of his sister and it made my heart hurt for
him.
    “I remember one time when we were thirteen that your
dad did tell her she was grounded for life.”
    He raised an eyebrow and said, “Really? Dad hardly
ever grounded her. He always made Mom be the bad guy. She was his little
princess.” He didn’t say that with any kind of malice. It was just a statement
and again, it was true.
    “Yeah I know. This time though…let’s just say when
he found out we took his new car out for a spin, and we got pulled over by the
cops…and Emma tried to lie her way out of it…he was a little bit upset.”
    He laughed again and said, “That was the Camaro!”
    “Yeah. The blue Camaro that had a yellow scratch down the side of it from the pole she
scraped when we went through the drive-thru at Mickie D’s.”
    “I do remember that. Dad was furious. He told her
she was grounded until she was legally old enough to drive and then he would
“re-evaluate the situation.”
    “Yeah, and then he called my dad and I got grounded
for two weeks. My dad was mad, but he wasn’t the one with the dinged Camaro, so
I got off light.”
    He suddenly looked really sad again and he said,
“She loved to drive. She even made me let her drive the golf cart when we went
out to the club with Dad.”
    “Yeah, she did,” I said. “I’m going to miss her so
much.”
    He didn’t cry, but his eyes were suddenly a watery
blue as he said, “Me too.”
    I stayed another hour. Ian and I swapped more
stories about Emma. It was nice, he was the first person that I’d talked to
since she died that knew her the way I did. I didn’t really know him…but I felt
connected to him in a way. When I got ready to leave I told him, “I can give you
my number…in case you feel like you want to talk, or if any of you need
anything.”
    “Sure,” he said, “Thanks.”
    He took mine and gave me his and then I said, “I
wish there were words to tell you how sorry I am for your family and how much I
loved her.”
    “I know,” he said, “Me too.”

 
    CHAPTER
FOUR
    IAN
      The week
after Emma’s funeral was as depressing