“That’s not—”

“Duh.” She fishes an apple out of the fruit basket. “Everyone likes Liam more.”

Neither is Bianca.

“Mom didn’t. I was her favorite.”

Sometimes the truth hurts so much…I prefer to tell lies.

Bianca starts laughing. “No—”

“Bianca.” Jace gives her a warning look. “Cut it out.” Wiping his hands on a towel, he looks at me. “Why don’t you, me, and Liam hang out today?”

Bianca screws up her face. “What about me?”

“Duh,” he tells her. “We can call Mrs. Garcia and ask her to take us to the mall. Or we can go to the movies.”

Evidently, I’ve scored front row tickets to another Liam show.

No freaking thank you.

“Those are Liam’s favorite things,” I remind him, not that he needs it.

Sighing, he pinches the bridge of his nose. “We can toss a football around the back yard for a little while before we leave.”

Damn him. My Achilles heel. Maybe Jace does care about me after all.

“Okay.” I look at Bianca. “Think Liam will cry like last time?”

“Only if you throw the football at his face again.”

Ah, fun times. “Good idea.”

“Will you stop?” He tosses the dirty pan in the sink and takes out a different one. “Can we spend one damn day together without all the bullshit?”

Bianca nudges me. “What’s his problem? He’s moodier than usual.”

“I can still hear you, you know,” Jace shouts.

Ignoring him, I give her the 411. “Jace and Dylan hooked up last night at the dance and Liam lost his shit.”

“Why?” She grimaces. “Jace and Dylan have been making googly eyes at each other for months.” She swipes a few grapes from the basket. “I can’t believe Liam actually thought he stood a chance.”

“Here’s a great idea,” Jace grumbles. “How about we not talk about this?”

Bianca makes kissing noises. “But you and Dylan are in love.”

“No, we’re not. We’re uh…we’re taking a break.” He stirs the pancake batter harder. “Until Liam…you know.”

Calms his batshit crazy ass down and permits you to have a life.

“Gives you his permission?” Bianca probes, taking the words out of my mouth.

“More or less,” he mutters.

“That’s dumb,” I declare. “Liam needs to suck it up. The world doesn’t revolve around him.”

“Maybe you and Dylan can see each other in secret,” Bianca offers. “I saw this movie the other day where this lady’s husband left for work, but the pool boy snuck in after. She was so excited to see him she got down on her knees—”

“What the fuck?” Jace and I yell at the same time.

“How did you…where did you…” Jace tries to say, but he’s tripping over his words.

Bianca takes a bite of her pear. “I went into Dad’s room last week looking for some of Mom’s nail polish. I didn’t want to go back downstairs to paint my nails, so I turned on the television and the movie was on.” She pouts. “I didn’t get to finish it though. I ended up spilling the polish on the carpet right when the lady started praying.”

Jace and I exchange a glance.

“Started praying?” I question, hoping we’ve got it all wrong and she was watching some church shit instead of porn.

“Yeah.” Bianca shrugs innocently. “Why else would she be on her knees?”

Well, that’s easy. “Because she was b—”

Jace shoots me a death glare.

“Praying.” I cough. “Bet she was praying real good.”

I make a mental note to find that video and check out her praying skills myself.

Jace flips the pancake on the stove and looks at the clock. “Can one of you go upstairs and get Liam? Breakfast will be ready soon.”

“Not it,” Bianca and I utter at the same time.

“Fine—” He starts to say, but the front door opens.

Tension fills the space the moment our father steps into the kitchen.

Jace despises him. In fact, I’d say he hates him as much as I hate Liam.

Bianca and I tolerate him, but only because he buys us cool shit.

Planting a fake smile on his face, he looks around.

He has a habit of doing this weird thing where he forgets our family is as fucked up as it is.

Kind of like how he forgets he has kids when he’s gone all the time.

“Oh, wow. What’s all this?”

Jace glares at him. “What does it look like?”

“Right, well. It smells really good.” Averting his gaze, he playfully messes up Bianca’s hair. “Thank you, Jace.”

He always treats Jace like the hired help around here.

But it’s the way Mom treated him too.

The entire world has been placed on his shoulders ever since she died.

Most days I forget the reason Bianca, Liam, and I are able to have a childhood is because Jace gave up his.

It would be nice if Jason Covington realized that too and stepped up to be a parent.

“Whatever.” Jace tosses the spatula on the counter. “I’m gonna go wake Liam up.”

Jace trudges up the stairs…leaving us alone with the sperm donor.

“So, anything interesting happening at school?”

Bianca picks her cuticles. “No, not really.”

He looks at me. “What about you? How’s football?”

“I have no idea…it’s spring.”

He laughs nervously. “What can I say? Time keeps getting ahead of me.” He rubs his chin. “But you know what? I’m gonna shift some things around at work and start going to your games next season.”

I won’t hold my breath. He has yet to attend a single one.

Meanwhile, Jace never misses them.

“If you say so.”

He turns back to Bianca. “How’s studying been going?”

“Fine.” She purses her lips. “Can I have money to go shopping? I really want new shoes and some nail polish.”

His face lights up. Unlike Bianca who is the spitting image of our mom, and Jace who is a weird mixture of the two, Liam and I favor him with our green eyes and pale Irish skin.

I hate it.

“Sure, sweetie. Let me know when you want to go and I’ll give Mrs. Garcia my card.”

“Jace said he wants to take us to the mall today.”

“I guess I’ll just give it to Jace then.” His eyes widen. “On second thought, how would you guys feel if I cleared my schedule and tagged along?”

Bianca nearly chokes on her drink. “Really?”

“Are you feeling okay?” I can’t recall him ever taking off work to spend time with us. Which can only mean one thing. “Did you get fired?”

Bianca turns ashen. “Do you have cancer?”

He laughs. “No, I didn’t get fired. And no, I don’t have cancer. I own the company and I’m allowed to take a day off whenever I want.”

Baffled, Bianca looks at me. “Oh.”

He plucks an apple from the fruit basket. “So, sport. Is there anything you need me to buy you at the mall?”