“What are you all doing here?” I looked between Gertie, who said nothing, and the rest of the women.
Ana looked half-asleep herself, and Celeste pulled a batch of scones out of the oven, nudging the door closed with her hip.
A cup of tea was immediately pressed into my hands.
“We came to help,” said Faith. “Or at least provide company. What else are sisters for?”
“We also have very boring lives and nothing else to do this weekend,” added Ana.
I sat down, slouching in my chair.
“The house hasn’t seen this much relationship action in just about forever,” said Faith.
Ana agreed, thinking about her last relationship. “Truly forever.”
Such a lie. I knew it as they prattled on, adding a teaspoon of sugar to my cup, swirling it around. Still, I didn’t reply.
“So, what happened?” Ana finally asked.
Pursing her lips, Gertie shook her head.Too soon, she mouthed.
“No, it’s fine,” I said, my voice scratchy. Taking a sip of smooth tea, I felt the heat of it begin to warm my insides. “I was stupid to think that anyone would ever like me, and I ruined everything.”
“Well, that just can’t be true,” Faith said immediately. “You don’t ruin everything. You are like glue. And isn’t your Samhain celebration coming up? I wanted to ask about flyers, if I could …” Her voice drifted off as she again noticed my eyes and the small shake of Gertie’s head.
“I feel like I missed a lot,” said Faith.
With a sigh, I swallowed another gulp of tea and tried to fill them in. It was harder than expected. I told them about how I was kicked out from housing and how I had seen Ryan with some other girl—which had Ana bristling—to me running off from him to Vadika, which I really didn’t want to get into now as a fresh wave of misery overpowered me.
“This can be fixed,” Faith said, sure. “It was just a time where you were caught up in the moment. Ryan knows you. He’s called, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, he showed up at the library the other day when I was there.”
“He did?”Was he looking for me?
“I thought that maybe he was looking for you since he went upstairs and came back down quickly afterward into my office. He didn’t look much better than you, and he told me what happened,” she explained.
“Then, why did you ask?” I asked, looking around in case anyone else in the room had already heard my stupid homecoming tragedy already.
But they, too, were focused on listening to what Faith had to say.
Faith shrugged. “I wanted to hear both sides. He told me that you seemed really upset and that you had been under a lot of stress lately—not to mention the whole roommate thing. I told him to give you a little space, but to give you a call. He did, right?”
I shook my head. “I turned it off.”
Faith’s well-meaning expression fell a bit.
Celeste hummed at the situation from where she stood against the kitchen counter, listening in. “It’s probably best that he doesn’t come around, honestly. He was quite a challenge for Lu.”
I bit the inside of my cheek.A challenge?“Excuse me?”
“He seemed very down to earth, that boy.”
“Ryan,” I corrected, knowing very well everyone knew what his name was.
“He obviously values family and perhaps small-town life. You said that he was going to be a teacher, correct?” said Celeste, though everyone knew that. It wasn’t a question.
