Under the Orange Moon Read Free Page A

Jonah. She hated that name and loathed all of her brothers for torturing her with it her entire life. It was a cruel name, not at all funny the way they intended it to be.
    “Shut up, Jonah,” Dylan hissed.
    “I’m sorry. You’re not a weed anymore,” Jonah apologized with a cocky grin.
    “I never was a weed, idiot!”
    Charlie hopped up on a stool between Jonah and Dylan. Always the bully of the family, he pulled Jonah into a choke hold, and said, “I think Weed’s new name should be Bubble Butt.”
    “Adult children of mine, please behave.” Linda tasted her gravy to make sure it was perfect. “Your sister is neither a weed nor a bubble butt.”
    “Come on, Mom. She has to be one or the other.” Charlie grinned menacingly. “What was that about Ben?”
    Jonah laughed. “He checked her out when we first pulled in. He actually wanted to know who she was.”
    “He did?” Linda turned, intrigued.
    “Yep.” Jonah elbowed Dylan again.
    “Well, our little Weed is growing up,” Charlie teased.
    “Charlie, shut up!” Dylan screeched. “Why are you even here? Go back to your apartment!”
    “Sorry, Weed. I’m here until the wedding. Besides, I want to bond with my baby sister before I become a husband,” he teased while pinching Dylan’s cheeks. “You’re going to miss me when I’m gone.”
    Dylan squirmed out of his hold and punched him in the arm. “Ugh, I so won’t.”
    “Okay, that’s enough,” Linda commanded with her hand over her smile. She loved the sound of her children bickering. Most would agree that made her a lunatic, but the old feeling warmed her heart to no end.
    “Mom, stop laughing!” Dylan hollered.
    “Oh, honey, you’re beautiful. That’s a nice compliment that Ben was attracted to you.”
    Dylan’s face squeezed into a scowl while she tried to calm her flaring temper. She had half hoped that after five years of silence, the constant Ben teasing would merely be a historical discussion never to be brought up again.
    Charlie smacked Jonah on the back of the head. “Quit it.”
    “What? You were teasing her more than I was?” Jonah replied, rubbing his sore head.
    “Shut up, Jonah,” he said plainly. Charlie put his arm around Dylan. “I’m sorry, baby sister. I’ll stop.”
    Dylan rolled her eyes and grabbed the giant pot of water from the counter. She struggled while she carried the dreadfully heavy thing out back. She slumped on to the deck behind her house to begin the job of endless potato peeling.  
    Ruth McKenna held her arms out to her son as he moved up the stairs to greet her. She hadn’t changed much over time. Donned in her usual pajamas, she still looked sad and pathetic, the only way that Ben had known her for most of his life.
    “Hello, Mom,” Ben said, cringing at the feeling of her cold hands on his face.
    “Benjamin, how was your flight?”
    “It was an airplane—same as always.”
    “I’m happy you came home. How is school?”
    “Fine.” Ben’s one-worded responses were small, subliminal messages that he sent to people he didn’t wish to speak to on a regular basis.
    “Just fine?” Ruth’s eyes scanned his blank expression, hoping there would be a bit more chatter on his part.
    “That’s what I said, right?”
    “Okay. Fine.” Ruth pointed up the stairs. “Your room is just how you left it.”
    A light breath escaped from Ben’s half-curled, smirking lips as he made his way up the wooden steps. She said the word “left” like he abandoned it when he took off for school. What was even more entertaining was the way she managed to make it sound like he left her as well. Everyone leaves Ruth.
    Ben opened his door and looked around before stepping inside. Besides the few random boxes that Ruth stuffed in there to store, it was just as he left it. He smiled at the Harvard banner that hung over his bed. Seeing it there gave him a sense of validation, knowing he had made it.
    He sat on the edge of his lumpy mattress and looked