“I really don’t know who you think you’re talking to like that.” Her voice is so careful it tells me she’s looking for a fight, but she wants me to provoke it. I know better than to think I’ll win. “Notme, right?”
Her dark eyes narrow in a challenge, and I grit my teeth so I don’t rise to the bait. I’ve got plenty to be annoyed about right now, and I know arguing with Jenny will only end in me being humiliated.
“Didn’t realize it was you,” I say stiffly, not meeting her eyes.
It’s as close to an apology as she’s going to get.
“You’re usually in such a good mood, Wayne.” The words are pointed, every shift in her tone a twist of the accusing dagger she’s wagging in my face. “What crawled up your ass and died?”
Your fucking attitude.
I’m smart enough not to say that part out loud, even if it’s annoying to no end that my little sister has a sharp enough tongue to make me shut up.
“I woke up on the wrong side of the bed,” I say, rolling my eyes. “What does it matter to you?”
She scoffs, crossing her arms over her chest as she leans against the doorjamb.
“Oh, you’re pissed.” She sounds far too happy about that. God, I really haven’t missed the familial teasing. “C’mon, tell me all about it. I need to know who I should send a thank-you card to.”
“Would you fuckoff?” I spit, wishing I’d decided to go literally anywhere but home to sort this out. “It’s fucking… girl problems.”
I wince even as I say it. I didn’t want to tell her about getting fired, and it was the first thing that came to mind, but she’s going to have a field day with this.
Just as expected, Jenny tosses her head back and laughs, loud and unashamed. Her short brown hair flies into her face as she guffaws, and she has to take a moment to swipe it away from her eyes before she continues to laugh.
“Aw, poor Wayne,” she mocks. “The playboy himself got dumped?”
Dumped? That nearly makes me laugh. I don’t date, and Idon’tget dumped. This whole conversation is ridiculous, and I’m tired of it.
“Did you need something, or did you just come in to piss me off?”
She stares at me for a moment, unamused, before straightening up from her lean against the door frame.
“I’ve got a few things I want you to look over while you’re here,” she says. “Your timing is actually good for once. We have a few contracts that we need to look into before signing, and it’d be nice to not have to pay someone to check them.”
“So I’m just free legal advice to you guys, then?” I scoff.
“You want to stay on the ranch for free… you do some sort of work,” she says with a shrug. “I’m being nice by offering you work you’re actually good at. If you’d rather go work in the pastures with Tony, be my guest.”
She’s talking to me like I’m an employee or something. Like we’re hardly more than acquaintances.
“What, this Tony kid is taking everything over?” I ask scathingly. “Why would I be working with him and not Al? I haven’t even seen him since I got here.”
Her face twists into true anger at that, a flicker of grief crossing her features.
“Al is in the hospital for his chemo treatments this week. Maybe you’d know that if you’d ever picked up the phone.”
The statement is like a slap to the face, ice-cold and furious in a way that I haven’t seen her since I got back. My blood freezes in my veins. Is she serious?
She can’t be.
“What?” I choke out.
Al is like an uncle to me. To both of us.
“Yeah, and you haven’t been to see him once,” she spits at me. “He got diagnosed a few weeks ago.”
I stare at her in shock, my heart pounding in a mix of anger and fear in my chest. She can’t seriously blame this on me. I hardly ever have time to answer my phone, and she knows that. She could have tried harder, she could’ve fuckingtextedme.
