Faster We Burn

him.
    “Hey, husband.”
    “Hey, wife,” he said and they shared a quick kiss. “Sorry to break up the sisterly moment, but I wanted to have a chance to talk to the girl who’s going to be my new little sister.”
    “First of all, the way to butter me up isn’t to call me ‘little sister’, okay?” I said.
    Adam just grinned a wide smile and looked at Kayla.
    “Yeah, she’s exactly like you said she would be,” he said.
    I was at a loss for something to say, so Kayla just honked my nose.
    “Well, you didn’t tell me anything about him, sooo…” I said, poking her in the ribs.
    “Hey, that’s not fair,” Kayla said. Adam jumped into to rescue her.
    “It’s my fault. I told her not to say anything. I didn’t know how your family would react, seeing as how they hadn’t even met me yet. I wanted her to keep the engagement a secret, but I lost that fight. It will be the first of many, I’m sure.”
    “Yes, yes you did.” Kayla twisted the ring on her finger.
    “Couldn’t spring for the big rock, Adam?” I said, but this time Kayla saved him from answering.
    “I didn’t want one. There’s no point in having a huge diamond when we’re going to be going into areas where people don’t even have drinking water. It seemed extravagant. Plus, it would get stolen quicker than you could say, ‘stick ‘em up.’”
    “So what are you two going to do after you get married?”
    “I still have to get through medical school, so I’ll be doing that and then I want to join Doctors Without Borders and travel around the world. I’m lucky I found a girl who wants to go with me,” Adam said as Kayla rocked back and forth, taking him with her.
    “Now you’re stuck with me, husband.”
    “Wouldn’t have it any other way, wife.”
    “Get a room,” I said, pretending to be disgusted. I’d never seen her like this.
    Kayla had always been selfless. Between starting a penny drive that raised thousands of dollars for the food pantry when she was seven to the hundreds of hours of community service she’d put in, to volunteering to go places other people would avoid so she could build wells and deliver mosquito nets and help anyone who needed it.
    My parents secretly wished her altruistic values would rub off on me, but no such luck. Attempting to be better than Kayla was something I didn’t even want to try. Plus, I was a self-centered brat almost half of the time. Some people would say it was more.
    “We’re just going to do whatever feels right. You know?”
    “Yeah,” I said, even though I had no idea what she was talking about.
    She sighed and looked at the clock. “We should get going soon,” Kayla said. “We’re flying back on Saturday.”
    “Where are you staying?”
    “We haven’t figured that out yet,” Kayla said.
    “You can stay in the basement,” Dad said, jumping into the conversation. For a tall guy, he was really good at sneaking up on people. “There’s that extra bed down there. We got brand new sheets and everything.” I shared a look with Kayla. The basement hadn’t changed much from when she’d moved out, and she knew that.
    “Oh, that’s fine Dad, I’m sure we can just get a hotel room or something.”
    “Absolutely not.” Mom wasn’t as quiet as Dad. Especially because she was wearing her ugliest and most-comfortable shoes, which made her sound like a Clydesdale when she walked. “You are staying here. I haven’t seen you in months, and we need to get wedding planning.”
    “Oh, Mom, that’s not –” Kayla was interrupted by Mom grabbing her and dragging her away.
    I’m so sorry, Adam mouthed at Kayla as she was led away.
    “She’s been planning a wedding since we knew we were having at least one daughter,” Dad said to Adam. “It’s pointless fighting it.”
    “I hope Kayla’s going to tell her that we didn’t want a huge thing. Just my family and hers and a few of our friends. It’s going to be expensive enough flying them all in to wherever we’re going to have it, even though I don’t have a huge family,” Adam said. He didn’t know my mother at all.
    “I hate to break it to you, but I think she’s already got a venue chosen,” Dad said. “I’ve tried to stop her, but once she gets something into her head she just goes for it.”
    “See? This is what you get to look forward to,” I said to Adam as Stryker started taking requests and I moved toward the living room.
    “Hey, Katiebug, can you come help me set up the bed