Chapter 4

I woke at about 2:00 AM to find Meghan standing in my bedroom doorway, stifling an occasional sniffle.

“Meg, honey, what’s wrong?”

“I woke up in the strange bed and it scared me, and then I remembered but I got sad and lonesome so I just wanted to look and make sure you were really ... Oh, I’m so stupid. You must think I’m a real sissy!”

“C’mere, Sis.” I held back the covers.

Meghan crawled under the covers with me. “Thanks for not laughing at me, Jack! I’ve never had to be on my own and I’ve always had what I need and maybe I am 18, but I’m still a spoiled kid and I’m scared.”

Keeping a bit of distance between us, I reached out and pushed a ginger curl out of her face. “Don’t worry about it, kiddo. You can stay here until you decide what you want to do, and I’ll help you sort things out.”

“Thank you, Jack. You’re the best! I won’t be any trouble, I promise, and I’ll help around the house and I’ll get a job and I’ll just show Mom I don’t need her and her big house and her money! Wait until I have a nice apartment of my own and she sees I can take care of myself just fine!”

“Whoa, honey, one day at a time! Let’s get some sleep and we’ll talk after breakfast.”

“Can ... can I stay here with y ... you tonight, Jack? I don’t snore or anything and I’ll stay way over here on this side of the bed and you won’t even know I’m here!”

What the hell. Fortunately I was wearing pajama bottoms in honor of my house guest. “Sure, Hon. Sweet dreams! See you in the morning.”

“G’night again, Jack.”

I tried to doze off, but unaccustomed to having anyone in the bed I lay there thinking about how, after all this time, I suddenly had a relationship with my half-sibling that I’d never expected, nor really even thought much about. Meghan had been an occasional part of my life during my short visits in between stateside jobs and deployments, but she was much younger than I, and I’d never really gotten to know her. That hadn’t mattered much when I was busy with my career, and as I moved up into staff positions the deployments and other pressing assignments had seemed to keep me away from Florida for even longer periods.

I hadn’t seen Meg hardly at all since she was a tiny, skinny gamine of about 14, all legs and angles and flyaway red curls. I hadn’t even thought about her that much. But now that I was back in Florida and essentially without family, I found myself looking forward to finding out who my little sister really was. So far, the 24-year generation gap hadn’t seemed like too big an obstacle.

I decided to try meditation to help me get to sleep, like I’d learned in Okinawa. As I brought my attention to my breath and began counting, I felt myself relaxing and becoming drowsy. I was just about under when I felt a slim arm stealing around my chest and, shortly thereafter, a warm little body pressed against my back.

“Sweet,” I thought, and drifted off.

I awoke the next morning with a raging piss hard and a slim leg thrown across my upper thigh, its owner snuggled against my side with her head tucked into my armpit. Apparently we’d reached some accommodation during the night, since Meg’s face looked peaceful and I seemed to have slept well.

The leg was attached to a bare hip and butt, the oversize tee-shirt having rucked up around my sister’s waist. The sight did nothing to help my erection, and because her thigh was disturbingly near my crotch and her lower body separated from mine only by my PJ’s.’s, I deemed it wise to slowly extricate myself and tiptoe to the head, where I closed the door and relieved myself, then washed my face and had a drink of water. When I came back into the bedroom the bed was empty and the guest room door was closed. I slipped on trainers and running shorts, grabbed my backpack, and tiptoed down the hall, where I let myself out the front door for my morning run.

When I returned, I did my usual 100 push ups, pull ups and crunches, then hopped in the pool and swam several leisurely laps to help me cool down. Drying myself with the towel I kept in the backpack, I walked toward the door and was greeted by a hearty wolf whistle.

“Whoo-ee! No wonder you’re in such good shape ... and just LOOK at those muscles,” piped my redheaded sib, who had obviously been watching from the kitchen window.

“Smart ass!”

“My ass has been called a lot of things, but I don’t remember anyone complimenting its intelligence before. Nice way to talk to your little sister, Jack!”

“Yeah, tomorrow, kid! Right here, zero seven-thirty! We’ll see how you do on a 5-mile run!”

“I’ll run your butt into the ground, Big Brother, but I’m not carrying a pack ‘cause I’m just a little helpless teenager who lettered in track – cross-country – her last three years in high school.