His mother followed his gaze up to his sister’s window and took his hand to get his attention.
“Why didn’t Grace come down?” he asked her.
“John,” his mother said the way she did when she wanted him to pay close attention to her. “She hasn’t been taking her pills … she doesn’t like them.”
“Damned nutcase, if you ask me,” Dad offered. “She’s an adult now … we shouldn’t have to watch out for her no how.”
“Yeah!” Bobby spat, “She’s been a pain in the ass since you left, Dude!”
Dad squeezed Bobby’s shoulder and he winced in pain – but he got the message.
“Wait ’til you see what I’ve done with your room since you’ve been gone,” his mother said in her suspenseful voice.
“She got you a waterbed!” Jenna blurted.
Bobby shoved her and huffed: “You weren’t supposed to tell him, Dork!”
“Dad!” Jenna cried.
“Enough!” Mom barked at the two of them and they stopped fighting but continued to fidget and nudge each other’s shoulders in an endless game of tit for tat.
His mother sighed and shook her head. “So much for the surprise.” She looked him in the eye and smiled. “I’m sure you’ll like it anyway.”
He felt his heart race for a moment and had to look away from her before he blushed.
“Come on, Honey!” she tugged him again, pulling him towards the house this time.
“See you at dinner?” he asked his father over his shoulder.
Dad just shrugged.
“Later then,” he offered.
“Reckon so.” He spit a wad of tobacco juice on the ground and looked towards the barn. “We gotta go clean the coop now, don’t we, Kiddos?”
“Awwww, Man!” Bobby and Jenna cried in unison.
“What’s wrong with everyone?” John asked his mother nervously as his father ambled away with Bobby and Jenna in tow.
“Don’t worry … it’s nothing to do with you. It’s a long story. Time enough for that after you get settled in, okay?”
********************************
Grace started to come down the stairs just as John and his mother came through the front door. They stopped together at the bottom of the stairs and watched her.
Grace noticed them waiting and came to a sudden halt about halfway down.
She was dressed in a short denim skirt, platform sandals, and a tight thin strapped red top. John had never seen her dress this way before. She must have noticed his shock because her big brown eyes lit up and she gave him a little smile.
She looked different … very different.
The first thing he noticed about her was that her breasts were bigger. She’d gained some weight – it wasn’t bad on her but she definitely wasn’t the scrawny girl he remembered from just last year. Her hips were wider and her thighs were a bit thicker too.
He noted that her hair was recently washed and cut as well. She’d obviously started styling it and it fell in long brown curls around her shoulders to frame her round face and big brown eyes just so.
The impulse to run up to her and kiss her nearly overcame him. He shook his head to clear the thought and chastised himself bitterly for thinking ‘that way’ about his own little sister.
“Grace!” Mom cried, “Your brother’s home! The least you could do is say hi!”