“Do you want to know what happened after I went back to the wedding? Or do you want to set it aside and not talk about it?” Dallas asked.
He was being awfully gentle with me, and I wondered if that was something he’d learned on his own, or if it was something he’d picked up in therapy.
“Did you talk to Allegra?” I asked.
He shook his head. “No. I was going to congratulate her, but then I decided to have no contact. She was too busy with her friends and hanging on Charles’s arm and laughing at his jokes. He was already drunk, so I didn’t even know if he was going to make it through the whole reception. I did say a polite hello to Carter, but nothing other than that. He didn’t want to talk to me.” That didn’t surprise me. Carter had never cared about either of us. He’d only been close to Allegra when they were close, and then they’d have a fight and not talk for several years. I could never understand what the impetus was for their falling outs because it all seemed petty to me, but that was Allegra.
She ate petty for breakfast every morning and then got on her scale to check her weight.
“Charles is a piece of work,” I said.
Dallas snorted. “He sure is. Allegra’s standards have gotten lower.”
I didn’t want to talk about her anymore. I glanced up at Lea to find her watching some of the birds at my birdfeeder. Giving me and Dallas a little privacy.
“Lea, how have you been? I remember you being so quiet. I always thought you were afraid of me,” Dallas said.
Lea ducked her head with embarrassment. “I was a little bit. To be fair, I was afraid of a lot of things back then.” She had been. She’d been afraid of me too, and I hadn’t done anything to help. I’d made it worse.
“We were all different people back then. I was an angry bitch.” Both Dallas and Lea chuckled.
“At least you’re self-aware?” Dallas said. “And having Allegra as a mother would make anyone angry.”
I guess that was true. I’d been stuck in a toxic environment, and anyone would have had a negative reaction to it.
Maybe therapy was a good idea. I had a whole lot of baggage that I’d never really unpacked. I’d just stacked it in the corner and pretended it didn’t exist. Walked by it and kept living my life. Tripped over it all the time and looked the other way.
“You weren’t that much of a bitch,” Lea said.
“Yes I was, don’t even argue.”
She grinned. “Fine. You were.”
* * *
Dallas stayedfor a while longer and then said he wanted to get back to the hotel and get a good night’s sleep before his early flight tomorrow.
He put his arms out and we hugged for a long time.
“Say hi to Laird for me. And say that I’d be happy to have both of you come stay with me.”
“I will.” He let me go and then waved at the front door before getting in his rental car.
The house was quiet after he left.
“You offered to let him come stay?” Lea asked, leaning against the wall. She’d given me and Dallas time to say goodbye.
“Yeah. I have another bedroom and it seems right. I mean, he’s my brother. What are sisters for?” I was getting used to calling Dallas that. Thinking about the fact that I had a brother. That I was someone’s sister. I wasn’t alone in the world. For so many years I’d been so adamant about being independent and saying that I didn’t need anyone, but would it be so terrible to let Dallas in?
“He is. But you haven’t been siblings for a long time. I like seeing you two together, though. He seems really happy now compared to when I last saw him.”
She crossed the space between us and put her hands on my waist.
“It’ll be good for you to have someone else in your corner. Someone to love and support you.”
I gazed down into her eyes. “What about you? Who’s in your corner?”
“I’ve got James and Delaney and my other friends and my Pilates students and my online friends. My online book club. I’ve got lots of people.”
