She shrugs, her boney shoulders poking out of her floral nightgown. “The notion fits the same.”
I think for a moment before saying, “He’s a kindergarten teacher.”
“Who is?”
“The guy I met on the plane.”
Her smile is sweet. “I love that,” she muses as she stands. “Well, I better get inside and head to bed. It’s getting late and Grandpa likes to read to me before bed.”
The sky dims as if someone is slowly suffocating a candle under glass.
six
“I’M GLAD YOU CAME,”Emily says across the table from me the next morning. I sip my caramel macchiato and peer over at her over my biscuits and gravy.
“Of course. I’m happy for you. And lucky for you, JP saved the whole reveal,” I say.
“He needs to redeem himself at this point.”
“Really? Why?” I inquire lightly.
Emily waves her fork in the air after shoving bacon and eggs in her mouth. She finishes chewing while she gathers her response. “I’m friends with his ex.”
I almost choke. “Friends?” I ask because Emily can sometimes embellish the use of the word.
“Well, I love her. She made a mistake. He won’t forgive her. Yada. Yada. Anyway, it doesn’t matter. Why did you leave with him anyway?”
I laugh. “I did not leave with JP.”
She gives me an all-knowing look.
“We didn’t.”
“Bullshit. He asked Austin and me for your number and I watched him scoop you in his arms in the cul-de-sac.” She leans over the table on her dainty elbows.
“Fine. We went to the park and talked.”
She rolls her eyes.
“Did you give him my number?” I ask, dulling my tone so I don’t sound anxious.
She snaps her chin back and raises her eyebrows at me. “No. You may not.”
“Excuse me. I’m an adult here,” I reason, crossing my arms and leaning back in my chair.
“I know, I know. But he’s on the rebound and just...” she shakes her head. “No.”
“You’re being cryptic.”
“Protective.”
“Enigmatic.”
“I don’t know what that means.”
We freeze, eye to eye, then just start laughing. I love my sister. She may be the favorite. She may not always know how to support me when it comes to our mother, but she does love me. And when it comes to love, she prefers to be wild, carefree, and borderline reckless, so her vague protection of me from JP doesn’t quite add up.
So I venture, “Is he really on the rebound or is he a serial killer?”
