Free The Steps by Rachel Cohn Page B

didn’t know that then. We didn’t know we were going to end up loving him. Mum had been married once before, about a year after our real dad died, and that was a disaster. She was miserable. Granny Nell was furious! The fights they had! For a while Mum didn’t let us spend time with Granny Nell because Granny had been so mean about Mum getting married again.”
    â€œWhat happened?” I couldn’t imagine not being allowed to see Bubbe anytime I wanted.
    Lucy shrugged. “Dunno. The marriage never felt real, you know? It was like they were playing house, playing grown-up. His first wife was also dead. Mum explained after it was all over that maybe she and Patrick—that was our other stepdad—were just grieving. That they thought they were in love, but really they just needed somebody. Soon after Patrick moved out, Mum left for America to go ‘figure things out,’ as she said. That’s when she and Granny Nell made up.”
    â€œWow,” I said. I had no idea the Steps had been through so much. I thought I had it bad, but they had lost a dad and a stepdad, and had a Jack-dad come into their lives without their invitation. Plus they had been moved around, it seemed like, every year.
    â€œWhen your dad first came to Australia, I hated him,” Lucy announced.
    I jumped in my seat. “How could you hate Jack!”
    â€œWell, I didn’t know he was going to turn out to be, you know, Jack. I just thought he was some weird guy with a funny accent who probably wouldn’t be around for long anyway, so why be nice to him? I tried hard to ignore him, but he wouldn’t let me. He always wanted to take us places and read us books and play games with us. Mum was soooo happy. He talked about you all the time. You were the only thing that interested me about Jack at first. I thought it would be pretty cool to have a sister the same age as me in America, in New York. But every time he had you on the phone, you refused to talk to us. I should have known then that you’d be like that in person,” Lucy said.
    â€œLike what?”
    â€œAll snobby and picky. ‘The Frosties don’t taste right here.’ ‘You shouldn’t wear that blouse with that skirt. It doesn’t match.’ ‘Your television shows suck here.’ ‘I don’t want to go to the museum, I want to go shopping.’ ”
    You would think that I would have been mad that she was talking trash about me, but instead I laughed. Lucy did a perfect impression of my New York accent, and I had said all those exact words. I really had behaved badly.
    â€œSorry, sorta,” I told Lucy. “But I was mad that you called him Dad. I thought he had forgotten all about me.”
    â€œYou’re crazy!” Lucy said. “He talks about you all the time. We talk about you all the time. It’s like you’ve been this invisible member of the family for two years. You were always there, but we couldn’t see you. He was so excited that you were finally coming to Australia.”
    Just then I felt really bad about running away. I hoped Jack and Penny wouldn’t worry too much when they realized we were gone. Lucy must have felt kind of bad too, because she murmured, “We’re really going to get into trouble for this.”
    â€œBig trouble,” I said.
    All of a sudden the people in the train car shouted out, “Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!” They popped open champagne bottles and threw confetti into the air and kissed one another.
    Don’t ask me why, but suddenly I leaned over to Lucy and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Happy New Year,” I said. Tears came to her eyes, like she knew we were having a Moment. She hugged me.
    I guess it was an okay way to start the New Year, by realizing my stepsister was pretty amazing. That she was my friend. My sister.

Chapter 16
    All my life I have been waiting to experience