Ernie smiled reassuringly. "I always wanted a brother. I spent a lot of my time being outnumbered by Hannah and Susan, so I desperately wanted a younger brother who I could train to back me up." He laughed. "But it didn't matter so much once I got here. Justin's as much of a brother as I'm ever going to have, at any rate."
Not that Justin was here.
Shaking his head as if dismissing the thought, Ernie, whose smile had faltered a bit, managed to pull it back up. "Hannah's pretty easy to get along with, but I can't imagine you're sister's that bad. How old is she? What is she doing?"