The Loneliest Stars || EDITING

Chapter 38

As promised her brother was calling her from the airport on Christmas Eve morning asking for her address to give to the taxi driver. She was surprised, she hadn't really taken his threats of actually coming to Texas seriously. After being alone for so long, she was starting to get used to having family in her life again.

She tidied up her house as she waited for him to arrive. She hadn't been there for days, preferring to stay at Gabe's but she couldn't do that now.

There was no way she could explain to her older brother she was cohabiting with a white man she'd only known for three months. That was beyond the pale, even for her as independent and modern as she was.

She hadn't slept a wink the night before. She dozed on the couch as she waited for her brother to get there. Gabe had called her briefly to talk, she had been as angry as hell with him.

She had found a Will he had written before he'd left and she wanted to chew his ear out about it. But he had to go back to work. He told her he wanted to speak to her before she slept. It sounded ominous.

She stayed awake all night but he never did call back. Had he simply forgotten? Did something happen? Why did he want to speak to her so badly?

Her stomach crunched with nerves and fear. She had kind of compartmentalised her feelings up until then, but reading the terse legal document had brought it all back again.

Knowing that there was a part of him that thought he might not make it back alive, scared her to death. Maybe it was good that her brother was coming to see her. God, she sure as hell didn't want to be alone right now. Especially at Christmas.

She decided to order breakfast for her brother, no doubt he'd be hungry and tired when he landed, but she wasn't in the mood to cook. She wasn't in a celebratory mood at all.

She didn't know how glad she was to see him until she was throwing herself into his arms when she opened the door.

He fell backwards, taken off guard by her greeting but returned her enthusiastic hug. "You brat, I knew you wanted me here."

"Shut up."

"What's wrong, Natty?"

She didn't know if it was the kindness in his voice or the question itself but she ended up spilling her guts to her older brother. She told him everything. She felt tired and less burdened after. With him there it felt like a proper adult had taken over.

Even though she was 30 years old, she had often felt like she was just coasting through life aimlessly with no real knowledge of what she was doing.

"It's going to be okay, Nat. You'll see."

"Do you think so?"

"I know so," he reassured.

"Do you want to know what I got you for Christmas?"

"Duh! Of course, I do!"

"I knew that would cheer you up, you're such a brat."

Ashley gave her the wrapped box and Natalia wasted no time in tearing into it. It was a designer handbag that she had her eye on for ages. How did he know?

"You're still a magpie, all you know is shiny and expensive things," he said knowingly. He pointed to her necklace. "Who got you that?"

Natalia blushed. "Ah, your white man did."

"What's your problem? What's wrong with him being white?"

"Nothing, I always thought you wanted a black family."