“I was not.”
“Yeah, you were. I guess I took that sibling rivalry thing to the max.”
“Sibling rivalry,” Erika said in disgust. “That makes what you did sound so mild.”
“I know it wasn’t. I was horrible. I’ve been arrogant andcruel, but I don’t want to be that woman anymore, and I want my sister back. Desperately. Do you think we could start over?” She should add music and make those words her theme song.Could we start over again? I really need a friend.She needed more than a friend. She needed her sister back.
Erika squirmed a little. “I don’t know. Are you worth it?”
“No.”
That made her sister smile just a little, even made her mouth tremble.
Darby smiled, too, and shifted up to sit by Erika on the bed.
Erika looked away again, toward all the Hallmark happiness taking place on the screen. “You know what I loved when we were little? When you used to tell me fairy tales. Everything was perfect when we were little.”
“I got stupid.”
“Yeah, you did.” There was still some bitterness lingering in Erika’s voice.
Darby sighed. It was a good thing to have your eyes opened, but it was also a little like getting a shot. You needed it, but it hurt. All those bad choices she’d made had racked up the regrets.
They sat for a moment in silence. Then Darby slung an arm around Erika’s shoulder. “Once upon a time there was a girl who had everything, but she didn’t realize how much she had...”
It was a short tale, not very original, except for maybe the ending, where Darby pushed the mean girl into a campfire. “Her head was so fat and heavy she couldn’t get out, eventhough everyone tried to rescue her with their hot dog forks. In the end there was nothing left of her but a bad smell.”
That made Erika smile.
“They erected a monument at the site of the campfire.”
“Of course they did,” Erika said, shaking her head.
“They wrote on it: ‘Here lies the meanest girl in town. Follow in her footsteps and you’ll fall into a fire too.’”
“Good symbolism,” Erika approved. “Words were always your thing.”
And Darby vowed to use them more wisely in the future. She dug the ornament out of the wastebasket. “Will you take it now?”
Erika nodded solemnly and reached for it. “By the way, I’m with someone great now.”
“Yeah?”
“And I’m not bringing him home to meet the family until I’ve got a ring on my finger,” Erika added.
“Don’t worry. I’ve learned my lesson,” Darby assured her.
The movie had ended, so they started a new one together, squeezed side by side on Erika’s bed. Later that night, long after her sister had fallen asleep, Darby was still awake.
She texted Josh:I have hope.The best Christmas present ever.
The next day she had happiness too. She and her siblings spent the day playing the board games they’d loved during childhood. Cole trounced them at Monopoly, but Erika was the star detective when they played Clue. Of course, Darby won when they played Scrabble.
“Everyone’s a winner,” she joked. She sure felt like one, on so many levels.
The winning continued when she and Gregory went to the Bird’s Nest for dinner. It was hardly haute cuisine, but they made a clam chowder to die for. He ordered steak, and she asked for the chowder as well as the grilled salmon.
“Bet you don’t get seafood like this in New York,” Gregory said as they dug into their food.
