Free Now or Never by A.J. Bennett

You’re not going to be happy until you find a Taurus.”
    Their mother was an astrology guru. The first thing she’d done when they were born was have their charts made, and their life plans set out before them. Of course like most children, they didn’t listen to their parents. Maybe that could be Grayson’s new pick up line: Hey, baby, what’s your sign? Then she could only say ‘yes’ to the Taurus men.
    The three of them went into the kitchen to pour tea and coffee, leaving Mom’s scrapbooking mess all over the entry foyer. Grayson and Luna spent the next twenty minutes listening to their mother gossip about the other scrapbook ladies. Apparently, a few of the ladies hit the bottle too hard, and one had a male visitor that was not her husband. Who knew scrapbooking could be so scandalous?

CHAPTER 12

    Grayson pressed the doorbell, and within seconds, the door flew open and Matthew jumped out at them, wearing a grotesque Halloween mask. He’d done the same thing since he was five. He was now nine . Needless to say, the novelty had worn off, but Grayson and Luna humored him by jumping back with surprised shrieks.
    “Let them in,” Ethan yelled from somewhere in the back of the house.
    Matthew groaned and threw off the mask. “Come in.”
    “What no hugs? You haven’t seen me in ages.” Grayson put her hands on her hips and glared at the little boy who was not so ‘little’ anymore.
    “Gross. I’m not hugging you.” He took off and ran up the stairs.
    “You really know how to make a girl feel loved,” Luna yelled up after him.
    Ethan appeared in the hallway. “My two favorite sisters,” he said, yanking them both into a hug. He looked great. His dark hair was starting to grey a little at the temples, and his grey eyes and strong jaw made him very appealing to the ladies. Ethan was virtually a spitting image of their father, and the girls took more after their mom. Ethan’s similarities to their father almost always made her think of him; now that he was no longer a part of their lives it wasn’t a thought she was too fond of. Grayson pushed the memories aside; it pissed her off too much.
    Ethan was a few years older than them, so they weren’t that close growing up, but it sure was nice to relax into his hug.
    “Where’s Heather?” Mom asked, glancing around the open foyer.
    “She had to run to the store to get something for dessert. She made a cake, and it was a little on the flat side, so she tossed it.” Ethan rolled his eyes. Heather strived for perfection, and it sometimes got out of control. Grayson wasn’t sure how she managed to keep the house so immaculate with her two tornado children. Speaking of, Sarah came running in from the back door, her brown curls bouncing around her perfect, round face and jumped into Grayson’s arms.
    Grayson buried her face in the girl’s shiny hair, awed at how big she’d gotten.
    “Aunt Grace!” Sarah said happily, her feet bouncing. “I missed you.”
    Grayson felt a wave of anger at how long she’d stayed away. She didn’t know whether to blame herself or Josh—Both, maybe.
    “Come on out back,” Ethan continued, motioning for them to follow him. “I invited some of the guys from my team over for a cookout. Everyone’s outside. Carry your shoes so you don’t give Heather a heart attack.”
    Grayson put Sarah back on the floor, and she zipped away again. Grayson slipped off her shoes, leaving them beside her sister’s platform wedges and her mother’s Birkenstocks. The three of them followed Ethan across the plush beige carpet of the living room, and into a large open kitchen full of stainless steel appliances and pristine marble counters, then finally out the back door.
    The backyard was like a mini-paradise. The cobblestone patio was surrounded by large, leafy ferns, and a gurgling pond was surrounded by pale solar lights that were just beginning to come on in the evening light. A large table sat under an umbrella covered in cartoon