“See, that feels weird to me,” Stella hums softly. “I just keep rereading them all and something isn’t sitting right in my gut.”
“Not sitting right with you? My rent’s been raised an extra eight hundred dollars. My gut is in knots and my face is breaking out from stress.” I fall back on my bed with a huff. “Maybe I should just move back home.”
“No! Have you lost your mind? After everything we went?—”
“We?”
“Oh, yes,we!If it wasn’t for me, you’d be miserable playing Suzie Homemaker with one, if not two babies, and more on the way. Rent, we can figure out. No place hiring, fixable. But so help me, I’ll rip out your nipple piercings if you step foot in the same city as him.”
“Ow, Christ’s sake, Stella.” I wrap my arms protectively around my boobs. Just the thought makes me cringe. “And people think I’m the aggressive sister.”
“You’re outwardly aggressive, but soft on the inside. I, however, am a narcissist’s worst nightmare. I look gullible, but hard on the inside.”
I snort a laugh. “That sounds wrong.”
“Well, it’s true! I may be just a girl who loves bright colors and frilly dresses, but I take no bullshit, and neither should you. You’re incredible at what you do! Anyone would be lucky to hire you!”
My internal groan is definitely shown on my face, but thankfully this isn’t FaceTime, or else I’d be hearing Stella’s power speech she says when she wants to hype herself up.
“It’s not that I’m taking anyone’s shit, more I just want to live the life I came here to live. I didn’t think it would be easy but after all of Hank’s shit, following Travis’s…I wouldn’t mind one thing to not be so complicated.”
“Oh, Jennie, that’s too much to ask for,” Stella says in the most sweet and sarcastic tone. “Remember my adoption process? There was practically no one to contest it and we still had issues.”
That one hits me in the chest. After losing her mom and younger brother during childbirth, Stella’s dad essentially gave up on taking care of her. The adoption may have officially made her my sister, but our moms raised us that way from the start.
The loss of Stella’s mom and brother affected all of us, and for a while we all went to therapy. My mom lost her best friend. I developed a horrible phobia of pregnancy. My dad practically forced Stella’s dad to every session, but ultimately Dad stopped forcing him and put all his energy into Stella.
“You’re right, thanks for the perspective reminder.”
“You know, I just imagine if you had a little angel and devil on your shoulders that they would look like me. It’s not your own subconscious, it’s me in there.”
I try to stifle my laugh. “That checks out, honestly. Here I am calling you, angry at the world, and you’ve taken me on a full trip of pep talks, humbling me and giving me a reality check.”
Stella hums. “I did do all that, didn’t I? I didn’t even bring out my tarot cards yet, let me get those!”
“No!” I yell, shooting up off my bed. “I feel better, please save those for next time. I’ve had you be myla angelita y la diablita,Stella, savebrujaStella for another day.”
The silence tells me that she’s not super happy about it, but she sighs. “Fine. Next phone call, though.”
“Deal.”Thank goodness.
“Even though I think they would be a super great tool to help process these messages a little bit more?—”
“Stella.”
“Fine, fine. I’ll go off my intuition alone. I definitely think there’s something going on with those messages. Three in a row is crazy enough, but you said things didn’t go over well when you turned down Tally’s offer to work there. Do you think…possibly…” Stella trails off with what I’ve already suspected but don’t want to believe.
“It seems highly probable. Ugh,” I groan. “I’m going to have to go down there, aren’t I?”
“You’ve stepped over Hank’s shit enough, sis. I think it’s about time it came to a head. Shall I start my ‘you’re an absolute badass’ pep talk?”
My laugh comes again. “As good of a speech as it is, I’m gonna have to pass. Everyone’s back from Los Angeles now, so we’re having a celebratory dinner at Dex and Lucie’s house tonight. I’ll go by Tally’s before, and at least there’ll be a possibility that a drink will greet me after.”
“I love how you’re so casual about this. ‘Oh, my friends are back from Los Angeles,’ like they’re not pro baseball players who just won the World Series. I still can’t believe you didn’t go.”
“You know why I couldn’t go, Stel. I thought you would be proud of me for not going. With you-know-who in mind, a relationship is not currently in the five-year plan we mapped out.”
“Oh,the plan.” My sister all but gags. “I still can’t look at a Red Bull without feeling queasy.”
