undershot jaw.
“Is something wrong with him?” Alice asked with distaste.
“It would be easier to tell you what’s not wrong with him,” Sam said. To Lucy, he added, “You have ten minutes. After that, your sister’s leaving. You need to rest.”
“Okay,” Lucy said with a bland smile.
Alice wore an offended expression as she watched Sam leave the room. “Why is he so rude?”
“He’s trying to look out for me,” Lucy said in a low voice.
“What did you tell him about me?”
“Very little.”
“I’m sure you’ve talked to him about how Kevin left you, and what you think I did to—”
“You’re actually not the main subject of conversation around here,” Lucy said, more sharply than she had intended.
Alice closed her mouth and looked affronted.
After a brittle silence, Lucy asked, “Did Mom ask you to check on me?”
“No. This was my idea. I still care about you, Lucy. I don’t always behave in ways you’d like me to, but I am your sister.”
Lucy bit back an acid comment. Realizing that she had gone tense from head to toe, she tried to relax. A series of protesting twinges progressed along her spine.
Why in heaven’s name was Alice there? Lucy wanted to believe that she was motivated by concern, or at least that there was some genuine sisterly feeling left between them. But apparently it was going to require more than a blood tie to reestablish a connection between them. Because the unfortunate truth was, if Alice weren’t her sister, she was the kind of person Lucy wouldn’t have anything to do with.
“How’s it going with you and Kevin?” Lucy asked. “Are you still planning the wedding?”
“Yes. Mom and Dad are both coming out tomorrow to talk about wedding plans.”
“So they are going to pay for it?”
“I think so.”
“I thought they would,” Lucy said darkly, before she could stop herself. No matter what they said to the contrary, her parents were never going to hold Alice accountable for anything.
“You don’t think they should?” Alice asked.
“And you do?” Lucy countered.
“Of course I do. I’m their daughter.” Alice’s eyes turned hard. “There’s something you need to understand, Lucy. I never planned to hurt you. Neither did Kevin. It was never about you. You were just…”
“Collateral damage?”
“I guess that’s one way to put it.”
“Neither of you bothered to think about anything beyond what you wanted right then.”
“Well, love is like that,” Alice replied with no trace of guilt.
“Is it?” Settling deeper into the corner of the sofa, Lucy wrapped her arms around herself. “Did you ever think that when Kevin realized he wanted to end his relationship with me, you might have seemed like the easiest way out?”
“No,” Alice shot back. “I had the incredible ego to think that maybe he actually fell in love with me, and that—impossible as this may be to believe—someone might actually prefer me over you.”
Lucy held up a staying hand and tried to think over a rush of anger. A fight was brewing, and she knew she couldn’t handle it. The stress of simply being near Alice had been enough to set off a headache that wrapped around her forehead. “Let’s not go there. Let’s try to figure out how we go on from here.”
“What is there to figure out? I’m getting married. We’re all moving on. So should you.”
“It’s a little more complicated than that,” Lucy said. “This isn’t soap opera land, where people conveniently forget the past and everything magically turns out okay.” As she saw Alice stiffen, Lucy remembered too late that she’d lost her job writing for
“Right,” Alice said sourly.
They were both quiet for a moment. “Are you looking for a new job?” Lucy dared to ask.
“That’s my business. You don’t have to worry about it.”
“I’m not worried, I just…” Lucy let out a frustrated breath. “A conversation with you is a minefield.”
“Not everything is my fault. I can’t help it if Kevin wanted me more than he wanted you. He was going to leave you anyway. What was I supposed to do? I just wanted to be happy.”
Did Alice truly not understand the pitfalls of trying to be happy at someone else’s expense? And did she have any goals beyond that? Ironically, Alice had never looked
But all Lucy said was, “I want you to be happy too.”
Alice made a little snorting sound of disbelief. Which Lucy didn’t blame her for, since she knew that Alice didn’t understand what she’d meant.
The mantel clock measured out a generous half minute before Alice spoke. “I’m going to invite you to the wedding. It’s up to you whether or not you want to come. If you want a relationship with me, that’s up to you too. I’d like for things to go back to normal. I’m sorry for everything that’s happened to you, but none of it’s my fault and I’m not going to spend the rest of my life paying for it.”
This, Lucy realized, was what her sister had come to say.
Alice stood. “I have to go now. By the way, Mom and Dad want to meet Sam. They want to take you out to dinner tomorrow night, or have something brought in.”
“Oh, great,” Lucy said wearily. “Sam will love that.” Leaning her head back against the sofa, she asked, “Do you want him to show you out? I’ll call for him.”
“Don’t bother,” Alice said, her heels clacking loudly on the wood floor.
Lucy was still and silent for a few minutes. Gradually she became aware that Sam was standing beside her, his face unreadable.
“How much did you hear?” she asked dully.
“Enough to know that she’s a narcissistic bitch.”
“She’s miserable,” Lucy muttered.
“She got what she wanted.”
“She always does. But it never makes her happy.” Sighing, Lucy rubbed the sore back of her neck. “My parents are coming tomorrow.”
“I heard.”
“You don’t have to go to dinner with us. They can pick me up and take me somewhere, and you can finally have some privacy.”
“I’ll go with you. I want to.”
“That’s more than I can say. I’m pretty sure they’re going to pressure me into making up with Alice, and they’ll want me to attend the wedding. If I do go, it’ll be awful. If I don’t, I’ll look like the jealous, bitter older sister. As usual, there’s no winning in my family. Except for Alice. She gets to win.”
