Shame crept over me, a wet rag that smothered other feelings and pushed my shoulders down into a slump. “Jules, I’m sorry about what I said last night.” I said the words, mostly because I loved my sister and wanted to mend things between us, less because I was actually sorry.
“No, you were right.” She sipped her coffee, put the mug back down and traced the rim with her finger. “I know it isn’t easy being my sister, Tess. I know I make it hard.”
“It’s not always you … it’s just all the things that come with you now,” I said, wishing things could go back to how they were when we were kids. Just sisters. Just life.
“Things like Ryan?”
I sighed. I had no idea how to sort through the feelings I had for Ryan.
“He’s a good guy, Tess. And we’re not together, so …”
“So now it’s okay with you?” I raised an eyebrow at her over my mug. It had been very not okay last night.
She shrugged. “You were right. It’s not about me, and it’s not up to me. I want you to be happy, and lord knows you need to meet someone. Your life has revolved around salt water and Granny and other peoples’ adventures for way too long. You’re verging on spinsterhood.”
“I’m twenty-five.”
“Well.”
I shook my head. Facts had never gotten in the way of a good story for Juliet.
We were both silent for a while, drinking our coffee as the sun lifted to the horizon and spread rays of pink and orange across the sky, every color reflected in the surface of the water at the edge of the lawn. Juliet watched me, and finally put her mug down.
“You should give him a chance,” she said.
Even if geography wasn’t a problem, we were worlds apart. How could a man like Ryan ever really be happy with a simple woman like me? He might be charmed by Maryland now, be having fun entertaining the fantasy of leaving his glamorous life, but he’d never really do that. And I’d be a fool to think he could.
“It would never work out.” How could it? We lived on opposite coasts and our lives couldn’t be more opposite. “There’s no way I’d ever move to California,” I said. “And last I checked, they aren’t making any big movies out here. We don’t even get to see half the movies down here—I had to drive up to DC to see that one you did that won Sundance.”
“Well, they don’t always distribute the smaller films as widely …” Juliet began, but then she shook her head. “This isn’t about film distribution. If Ryan wanted to make it work, he could. And so could you.”
I didn’t have an answer for that. I might be willing to put in the effort, but Ryan had too much going for him in California. Why would he go to the trouble?
“Just don’t close the door on it,” Juliet said. “I want to see you happy.”
“Because it’s about you?” My feelings were still raw, sensitive. My words might have come out a little sharp.
Sadness filled her eyes then, and she dropped her head low, staring into her mug. “It’s not,” she said. “I’m sorry if I’ve ever made you feel that way.”
I felt immediately guilty. I was confused and hurt, and I was taking it out on her. “I’m sorry too,” I said. “It’s not your fault, Jules. What did Mom used to say? The only person who could make you feel something was you?”
She tilted her head and shot me a half-grin then. “But I bet Ryan could make you feel something if you gave him a chance.” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively.
God, she was right about that. He made me feel all kinds of things, and just thinking about it set off little signal fires in my bloodstream. “Who says I haven’t let him already?” My body still warmed when I thought about his touch, and something inside my chest had changed, too. He’d gotten inside me in more ways than I wanted to admit.
Juliet gasped. “Good girl,” she laughed. “More of that!”
I shook my head. If only things were that simple. “Not today. Today’s Granny’s party. And your friends from the magazine will be back. Today Ryan’s your boyfriend, remember?”
She actually looked upset for a second before recovering herself. “Right.” She shook her head and pushed her hands into her hair on either side, “I’m sorry,” she said. “I’m sorry I brought my mess out here and made it your mess.”
“It’s okay, Jules,” I said, and I meant it. My sister really had been through a lot lately, and I vowed to remember that today as I watched her pretend to love the man I thought I might actually be falling for. “It’s okay.” I stood and walked around the table to kiss the top of her head before heading back upstairs. It was going to be a long day, and I needed to get ready.
Chapter Seventeen
Ryan
When I got downstairs, Tess was nowhere in sight. Juliet stood near the kitchen sink, and I stepped up beside her, hoping not to startle her.
“Hey,” I said, my voice soft. I wasn’t sure where I stood with Juliet at this point—I kind of felt like my time with Tess had invalidated our agreement, but then again, that was the entire reason I was here in the first place. And the contract did not have any clauses I remembered about hot younger sisters.
Juliet jumped at the sound of my voice, her hands jolting upward and sloshing coffee into the air and down the front of her shirt. “Oh!”
“Sorry,” I said, reaching for a paper towel and handing it to her. “I didn’t mean to scare you.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not your fault. I was … I was just a million miles away.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah,” she said, the trademark smile failing to
