As a freelance writer, she worked from home, so she really could.
I giggled. “Can you imagine after all these years, us finally living together again, as adults this time? We wouldn’t get anything productive done.”
“Remember when we were kids, and we tried to stay up all night? We eventually passed out around 6am, and Mom would make us get up. She never let us sleep in, said we knew what we were getting into.”
“Or when we wanted to talk about Barbies in public or in our notes, so we called them B’s & K’s. Like that really hid our true intentions.”
“And when we tried to sneak into the kitchen for snacks,but your dad fell asleep on the couch. So, we walked during his snores to avoid getting caught.”
“Spending all night setting up our Barbie game, to include their outfits, backstory, and conflict, but never actually playing it out.”
“Oo! Like when we went to the park, as full-fledged teenagers, and ran around acting out our stories and getting weird looks from the little kids who weresupposed to be the ones on the equipment.”
“And when it was curfew, we came home and tried to re-enact it with our… ”
“Barbies,” we said together.
We erupted into a fit of laughter, the memories from our childhood bringing us more joy in the present than they had back then.
“When our parents got married, we seriously won the lottery. You are the best bonus sister anyone could ask for.” I leaned back in my seat.
“Tell me about it. Sometimes people get stuck with some real weird step-siblings.”
“We were fortunate.”
“Extremely.”
“Now, you have to move in with me. You don’t have a choice. You made the option too appealing, and my life will be over if you refuse.”
“Whatever. No need for the theatrics”
I turned on my blinker to exit the highway. “You know you want to.”
“I might consider it.”
“Good. Because while you’re here, I need help looking for apartments.”
“Geez. Put me to work, why don’t you?”
“Why else would you come all the way to Fayetteville with me?”
“Gee. I don’t know. Maybe because I was scared for you during your mid-life crisis. I needed to make sure you weren’t being held at gunpoint.”
“Now who is being dramatic?”
“Just one of the many specialties.”
“Not to change the topic from how much I adore you, but do you need anything before we pull in?”
I watched Jade shake her head out of the corner of my eye. “No, I’m okay. Thanks.”
We got closer to my mom’s neighborhood, and the finality of what I was doing settled in. This was it. I was finally home.
I’d spent the last week locked in the guest bedroom while Elijah wasn’t at work and packing up my stuff when he was.
Elijah thought a good night’s sleep after our big fight would make everything okay. For two nights, he had sought me out when he came home from work. He pounded on the door, angry at me for shutting him out. After threatening to break it down if I didn’t open up, he finally walked away.
He returned a while later, calmer, and tried to reason with me. He begged me to open the door and talk about it, promising he’d do better and try harder to be supportive.
