She bit her lower lip, eyes bright with unshed emotion. “It’s meant a lot to me too. Kids … kids at school would tease me about you. I didn’t know how to react because I felt like I didn’t know you.”
I frowned, hating that my job had put her in the crosshairs of shitty teenagers, but even more that she felt like she didn’t know her own sister. “I’m sorry.”
“But I know you now.” Her smile trembled. “I can tell them to get lost and stop talking about you because I know now that they’re misinformed.”
I didn’t even want to ask what gossip they were spreading. Probably just repeating the same garbage people posted online, only for a million people to share it as if it were the gospel truth.
My phone buzzed on the table, breaking the moment. Mor was closer to it. “I’ll get it.” She picked it up and raised an eyebrow before handing it over. “It’s Fyfe. Again.”
Ignoring the suspicion in my wee sister’s voice, I took the phone from her. My heart lurched unpleasantly.
Talk to me. Please.
Mor had seen that.
I tapped on the text and saw that was it. That’s all he’d said.
But above it was all the unanswered texts he’d sent over the past few weeks.
Basically all of them begged me to talk to him.
I couldn’t.
Fyfe Moray was my dream guy. And he’d finally made it clear that while he might find me physically attractive, there wasn’t anything about me that was special enough to warrant him falling for his best friend’s wee sister. Lewis was who he cared about.
“You’re in love with him, aren’t you?”
My eyes flew up from my phone.
Mor’s expression was soft. Sympathetic.
“What?” I gasped, feeling as if I’d had the breath knocked out of me.
“I remember.” Mor shrugged. “You … you never paid much attention to me, but I paid attention to you. Aye, I was just wee, but I remember you flirting with Fyfe. Lewis and everyone jokeabout it like it’s a cute story because you’re so flirty. But I always thought you meant it with Fyfe. And now”—she gestured to my phone—“it looks like something’s happened. And maybe that something is the reason why every time we have a quiet moment together, you look sad. I thought it was maybe because you’re miserable acting and you don’t want anyone to know for some reason. But now I think it might be Fyfe. Or both.”
A renewed sense of guilt hit me. I’d missed out on this. This perceptive, kind wee girl who saw me. Who clearly saw me … when no one else seemed to. And I’d abandoned her.
“Mor.” I blinked as a tear escaped.
Her eyes widened. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“No.” I shook my head, sniffling. “It’s … just … I’ve been such a shit sister to you. I’m sorry.” I pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m going to do better.”
Mor’s arms came around me. “Eils, this has been the best summer I’ve ever had. We’re good. I promise.”
I pulled back but only to cup her pretty face in my hands. “I love you.”
She smiled shyly and mumbled, “I love you too. Does that mean I’m right? About Fyfe? About your job?”
“I’m … I’m not sure I’m ready to talk about it.”
She lowered her gaze, perhaps upset.
I hurried to explain, “Everything just hurts a bit too much right now. But know that I’m grateful youseeme.”
Seeming to understand, she nodded.
“You look so much like Mum.”
