A Baumgartner reunion

“I can’t believe she’s even old enough to have a boyfriend.” I leaned in to whisper my words to Gretchen as we cuddled together on the couch. Gretchen’s head was tucked under my chin as we shared both a spoon and a pint of Haagan-Daas-just like old times.

“Time didn’t stop when you left, you know.” Janie tossed the length of her honey-colored hair over her shoulder and gave me a long look before turning her attention back to both the movie and her boyfriend.

“Ouch,” I winced, blinking back tears when Henry gave me a sad, sympathetic look from where he was stretched out on the floor near his sister. Of course I hadn’t meant for Janie to overhear me, but it seemed as if the girl had superhuman powers when it came to listening, especially to anything I said.

“Teenage hormones,” Gretchen whispered, spooning a big bite of cool chocolatey goodness into my mouth. “She can’t help it.”

“Shut up, Gretchen.”

“Come over here and make me,” Gretchen retorted, matching Janie’s snotty tone.

“Hey, come on, it’s a good part.” Janie’s boyfriend glanced at us, frowning.

Brian was a good-looking kid, no doubt about it, tall and tanned and dark-haired.

He reminded me of Doc in a lot of ways, especially the sharp, mischievous look in his eyes. He didn’t miss much, that one, and I’d felt his eyes on me more than once during the course of the evening.

“Then pay attention to the movie instead of feeling up my sister,” Henry snapped, nudging Janie from behind with his foot. She stuck her tongue out at him over her shoulder and snuggled closer to Brian. Something was going on under the blanket the two lovebirds were covered with, I was sure, but in the absence of the girl’s parents-Mr. and Mrs. B. had gone to bed early-I had been pointedly ignoring it.

“You still want me to make some popcorn?” Brian nuzzled Janie’s neck, leaving feather light kisses there and over her chest. She was wearing a halter top that left the tops of her breasts exposed above the blanket.

“Please?” Janie smiled up at him, and I felt a tightness in her chest. It was the same look Janie used to give me as a little girl when she wanted something, the sweet puppy-dog eyes and slight pout. Except she wasn’t such a little girl anymore, was she?

Brian leaned in to kiss her and I swallowed hard as I saw their tongues touch, Janie’s body arching into his, her arms twining around his neck. The boy had to be hard as a rock, laying so close to Janie like that under the blankets-

and who knew what was going on underneath them? The thought made me flush, and it wasn’t from embarrassment, even if I tried to convince myself it was.

“Anything for you, baby,” Brian murmured into Janie’s hair.

“Not the microwave kind!” Janie insisted, wrinkling her nose at him as Brian got up. I couldn’t help but see the bulge in his shorts, even though they were denim and enveloped him in quite nicely. “Real popcorn. With real butter.”

“I can make it, if you want to stay and watch the movie,” I offered to Brian from the couch.

“No, thank you.” Janie’s head snapped toward me and her eyes narrowed.

“I don’t want your popcorn.”

“Real popcorn with real butter, coming up.” Brian turned and headed toward the kitchen while Janie snuggled back under the covers, curling her arm around so she could rest her head on it.

“Here.” Gretchen plied me with more ice cream and I attempted a smile as I took the creamy bite. “It’s almost gone. We’re such pigs.”

“Oink,” I agreed, watching as Henry lifted the edge of Janie’s blanket and slid underneath it.

“What are you doing?” Janie sighed as Henry slipped an arm around her waist.

“I’m cold.” Henry settled in behind her and Janie sighed again, but accepted him spooning her, snuggling her back against his chest and twining her fingers with his.

“You’ll have to move when Brian comes back.”

“I know.” Henry shrugged, glancing toward the doorway where Brian had disappeared. I could hear the whir of the air popper. “You smell like coconut.”

“My shampoo, I think,” Janie murmured, her eyes on the screen where Tom Cruise was playing, of all things, a Nazi.

“It’s nice,” Henry breathed, dipping his face a little closer to Janie’s head.

“Last bite,” Gretchen said, scraping the spoon across the bottom of the ice cream carton. “Want it?”

I shook my head, frowning as I watched my former charges snuggling together on the living room floor. I had noted and tolerated Brian’s advances-

Janie was old enough, and he was her boyfriend, after all. But this? Henry and Janie were brother and sister, but they were lying together like… like… I glanced at Gretchen, who appeared unaffected by their closeness. Obviously this happened all the time. But for siblings, it seemed like they were too familiar, too…intimate. Much more than I was comfortable with.

“Quit being so mean to Ronnie.” Henry’s whispered words weren’t meant for my ears, and I knew it, but I heard him anyway. Janie didn’t answer him, her eyes on the television screen, but I saw the way her jaw tightened. “She loves you, ya know?”