Jo snickered. Even Beth was smiling.
“You’re both adults,” Meg said after Kitty had left. “And you’ve been together for, what? A couple weeks now.”
I cleared my throat. “No. I mean, yes. I mean, before that.”
“You slept with Trey before?” Beth asked.
I nodded.
“When?” Meg asked.
“In Paris.”Three years ago. I watched my sisters do the math.
“Wow,” Jo said.
“I think we need more wine,” Meg said.
“I’m sorry,” I said to Jo.
She waved my apology away. “Please. You were a baby.”
“Twenty-two. And you’re my sister. And he was your boyfriend.”
Jo nibbled a hush puppy. “This was in Paris, right? After I broke up with him. So he was already myex-boyfriend.”
I blinked. “You’re taking this awfully well.”
“I am, aren’t I?” Jo grinned. “Which tells you everything you need to know about our relationship. Trey is like a brother to me. Plus, I’m crazy about Eric.”
“Is that why you stayed away so long?” Meg asked. “Because you felt...” She paused tactfully.
I squirmed. “Guilty. Yes. Well, that’s partly the reason.”
“I figured you just wanted to get the hell out of Bunyan,” Jo said.
“Not really. I mean, high school sucked, but it’s over. I’ve moved on.”
“It’s not over if you’re letting what happened then stop you from doing what you want now,” Beth said.
Jo popped another hush puppy. “Somebody’s been talking to her therapist.”
“What happened in high school?” Meg wanted to know.
I hesitated. But...Sisters shouldn’t have secrets from one another. “I went to a sleepover at Jenny Snow’s, okay? She took some pictures. And the next thing I know, her brother is showing my tits around school.”
“That little shit weasel,” Jo said. “I’ll put him in a book and kill him. Jenny, too.”
I smiled at her gratefully. “It doesn’t matter anymore.” And it didn’t, I realized with some surprise.
“Then why did you leave?” Beth asked.
“I guess... I wanted to be a success. To prove I could make it on my own.”
“And now that you have, you can come home,” Jo said. We all looked at her. She shrugged. “That’s how it worked for me.”
“I’m not you.”
“Well, duh.”
