Read Lost for Words for Free Online

said, “And I’ll be learning to drive on the left.”
    I wondered what it would be like to move to the other side of the world. England in winter has got to be awful to arrive into. I asked her what winter is like in Canada. She said that in Canmore, where she’s from, it’s cold for months and months of the year. Really cold. And really snowy.
    We were so wet by then that water was trickling inside my shirt and tickling down my spine. I felt for a moment light and free, and I tipped my face up to the weeping sky.
    Rosa-Leigh said, “This country’s so rainy all the time. Come on!”
    We hustled through the front door. I thought there would be just her and her dad and her stepmum and everything would be silent and dark around the edges with sadness because Rosa-Leigh’s mum was dead. NOT AT ALL! Her stepmum came running down the stairs. She’s tall and curvy, and she was wearing a low-cut red top that made her cleavage show, something my mum would never wear. Her walnut brown hair was incredibly shiny. She looked like she’d jumped out of the pages of a clothing catalog. She waved at Rosa-Leigh, smiled at me, said, “Hi, you’re drenched!” and kept running toward the back of the house.
    There were two doors off the corridor leading into brightly colored rooms. One looked like a playroom, full of carelessly thrown toys and books. The other was an elegant space that had three golden couches artfully placed under two huge paintings of mountains. A train set had been built on the coffee table, and the toy train lay on its side, clearly having careened to the floor. A faint smell of smoke hung over us. Rosa-Leigh’s stepmum burst into the hallway holding a little boy she petted and told off all in the same breath. She said to us, “Hi. Sorry. Chaos. Sorry about the smoke everywhere. I burned tonight’s lasagne. Disaster. Does it still smell terrible?”
    From upstairs there came a shriek.
    Rosa-Leigh’s stepmum yelled, “That’s enough, you two. You’ll wake up Baby Adam. Oh, for goodness’ sake.” She ran up the stairs, holding the little boy against her waist. “Could you please leave it five minutes?” she cried.
    Two guys came in behind us.
    I looked at Rosa-Leigh. She must have seen the question in my eyes. She said, “I have a lot of brothers,” and sighed affectionately.
    The two guys were both older than me. One was maybe just a bit older, maybe seventeen or eighteen, and one looked more Emily’s age, nineteen. They were black haired, like Rosa-Leigh, but with dark eyes. The older one had this twinkle in his expression like he knew stuff . He was laughing about something. The younger one was more serious;his lips were thinner and pressed together.
    Rosa-Leigh said, “Jack and Joshua.”
    I wasn’t sure which one was which. They both said hi, then they reached out to shake hands, which seemed really formal. The younger one’s hands were cold. The older one—Joshua, I think—held my hand for a second too long or maybe I held his hand for a second too long. My stomach did a little skip of pleasure. Then I felt weird because I really like that guy I met at the party, Dan.
    Rosa-Leigh’s stepmum came back downstairs, panting, but with a huge smile. “I keep trying to say hello properly. You must think we’re dreadfully uncivilized!”
    Rosa-Leigh pointed at the little boy in her stepmum’s arms. “Andrew. And upstairs we can hear Aaron, Anthony, and Aiden.” She went to get a hold of Andrew. “Angela and Dad like letter As, don’t they? They’ll run out of A names if they keep having babies.”
    Andrew squirmed out of her arms. His hair stuck up, he had crazy freckles all over his face, and his cheeks were flushed and rosy with sweat. He charged out of the hallway, hotly pursued by Rosa-Leigh’s stepmum, who was laughing.
    The guys went upstairs. Rosa-Leigh and I trailed into the kitchen. The warmth of the house was drying me off. I said, “How many brothers do you have?”
    “Seven.