She was still smiling when she checked in with her parents and told them good night, and even as she climbed the stairs to her shared bedroom. But once she reached the bedroom door, her smile turned wary. What would Erika think of her peace offering?
Chapter7
Darby found out soon enough what her sister thought of her holiday olive branch. She found Erika in bed, watching a Hallmark Christmas movie on their old TV. She didn’t even look Darby’s way when she entered the room, and there was no sign of the ornament.
Until Darby plopped onto the edge of her bed and saw it in the wastebasket. Okay, that had gone well.
“Guess you didn’t like the present,” she ventured.
“Guess not,” Erika replied.
“I couldn’t find one like the one I broke.”
“You thought you’d be able to?” her sister demanded.
“I’d hoped I’d be able to. I tried. Then I saw that one and thought maybe—”
“It would make up for ruining things with me and Ethan?” Her sister turned her attention away from the TV screen long enough to provide Darby with a visual of her scorn.
The hot chocolate and popcorn she’d had at Gregory’s house suddenly weren’t settling well in her stomach. What she’d done was unforgivable.
“Nothing can make up for that,” Darby said.
“You just had to flirt with him, didn’t you? Had to show how superior you are.”
“Yes, I did,” Darby admitted. “He was hot and I couldn’t resist.”
“Yeah, you could. You just didn’t want to.”
Darby bit her lip, unsure of where to go next. Her sister was right. She could have kept her distance, but she’d seen the way he looked at her and thought,What the heck? How serious can it be if he’s looking at me and drooling?
“We’d started talking about getting married.”
“You didn’t have a ring,” Darby said in her own defense.
“I brought him home for Christmas! Don’t pretend you’re too dense not to know what that means.” Erika returned to staring at the TV, and Darby could see the glisten of tears in her eyes. “It’s not about losing him. If a couple of days of exposure to you at Christmas was enough for him to behave that way, then he wasn’t worth keeping around.”
“Exactly,” Darby said, feeling exonerated.
She wasn’t. “But you’re my sister. And you never said you were sorry.” She looked toward Darby again, the hurt plain on her face. “All I really wanted was for you to acknowledge what a jerk you’d been. All I wanted was an apology. One heartfelt apology. But, of course, the great Darby Brown couldn’t be bothered. Big surprise. I’d seen what you turned into. Andhere’s another big surprise; you’re still the same. So, hashtag:done-with-my-sister.”
Arrow to the heart. And Darby deserved it. What she’d done was inexcusable.
She dropped to her knees in front of Erika. “I am so, so sorry. I was awful.”
Erika looked down at her. “And those phony words on that ornament. What a joke.”
“But they’re true. I do love you.”
Erika turned away, hunching her shoulders. “Yeah, right.”
“For real. And I don’t want to be the same person I used to be. I was a horror in high school and not much better in college.”
“And beyond,” Erika muttered.
“Yes, beyond,” Darby admitted. “I just had to be...” How to put into words what she was coming to see about herself? “More than everyone. Better. You were always Mom’s favorite.”
Those last words had just spilled out. Now there they sat, like a big pointing finger, showing the true motive for so much of her unkind behavior to her sister when they were teenagers. And beyond. It was the worst kind of pain looking at such ugliness.
