Read Online Stephan by Hazel Gower - Free Book Online Page B

do?” I couldn’t help
myself, as much as I didn’t want to. Stephan seemed to be my
kryptonite.
    “I’m glad you asked.” I could hear the
happiness in his voice. “I’m going to go to Uni to study business.
When I’m done I’m going to work with my dad. My goal is to take
over when he retires.”
    “What does your Dad do?”
    “A bit of everything. He owns a bunch of
apartment and commercial buildings and he rents them out. He also
owns some fast food chains around Australia. Plus he is a big
investor.”
    “Sounds like he is into a bit of everything
and I’m sure he runs them all differently. Will the business course
be enough?”
    “I’ll learn from my dad and uncles. My
brother, Dustan, did it too, but he ended up moving to America to
help run things there.”
    “You never mentioned Dustan before. I didn’t
even know you had an older brother until Cassie told me.”
    Stephan shrugged. “Dustan is eight years
older than us. Mum had some problems conceiving again after Dustan.
They were about to look into IVF when Mum found out she was
pregnant with us. The rest as they say is history.”
    “You don’t want to go to America?”
    “I like visiting, but I don’t want to live
there.”
    “Does Derick want to do the same thing as
you?”
    “Nope. Derick wants to be an architect. He’s
awesome at sketching. He already has plans drawn up for his house.
Mum and Dad have said we can build on our part of the land once we
graduate from school. Mine is to the left of the main house and
Derick’s is to the right. Dustan has a huge section next to mine. I
don’t have a design for mine yet. I want my wife to help me with it
since we’ll both be living in it.” He glanced at me and I turned
away looking back out the window.
    I was surprised he and his brother were so
organized. I didn’t expect him to have his life so planned out.
“Where are your parents?”
    “They’re in their apartment in Melbourne.
Dad’s closing on a deal but they’ll be back by Wednesday.”
    They had an apartment in Melbourne? The more
I learned the more I found out they were richer than I could ever
imagine. I was so out of my element. I was the poor little girl
with the druggie mother who died of an overdose and a grandpa who
sells drugs and owns a shitty little dive bar, even if I was
interested in Stephan he was way too good for me. I sat quietly and
focused on the scenery.
    “What’s your favorite color? Mine’s orange. I
like the orange as it covers the sky at dusk.”
    He kept surprising me. Who knew he would like
orange for that reason. “Blue.” Wait, no it wasn’t, I loved pink
like a girly-girl, why had I said blue? Stephan smiled. Ah, as I
looked into those eyes I knew exactly why I’d said blue. “Blue like
the deep ocean.”
    “What’s your favorite thing to do? Mine is to
play sports. I like staying active.”
    I remembered rugby practice. Yeah, I liked
sports too, at least I did if it involved seeing the Silverman
brothers shirtless. “Watching a storm. I like sitting on a chair
with a blanket and watching lightning crack across the sky. I used
to do it all the time with Mum. It was the only thing we bonded
over.” One of my positive memories of her—the two of us sitting on
chairs snuggling together and watching the skies. I closed my eyes
and let the memories bombard me.
    “I didn’t mean to make you cry. I just wanted
to get to know you better.”
    I touched my cheek, and was surprised to feel
the wetness. I didn’t realize I’d started crying. “You didn’t make
me cry. You made me think of some really good things me and Mum did
together. Thank you for being so sweet.”
    His lips thinned and he nodded.
    He looked aggravated and even his cheeks were
tinged pink. I wondered what I’d said wrong now.
    “Er…okay next question. What’s your dream
car?”
    “I don’t have my license or the money for
lessons, but if I suddenly did, I’d buy a red Volkswagen
Beetle.”
    We talked about our