I sighed. “Yeah. Sorry. I’ll handle it.” That’s what I did. I handled things.
He took a measured step closer. “Tell me.”
I wasn’t used to sharing my worries about my sister with anyone. But, really, why not? I’d told him about Gray. We’d discussed my writing and my childhood (parts of it, anyway). He had seen me crying and angry and flushed with victory. Hell, he’d seen me naked. I could talk to him about my sister’s idiot plan. Or lack of plan.
So I told him everything, spilling my fears and frustrationover my sister’s crazy scheme to couch surf in New York, expecting him to offer his support. Maybe a handkerchief.
He listened, that familiar pleat digging in between his brows. “How well do you know these friends of your mother’s?” he asked when I was done.
I gaped. Not what I was expecting him to say. “Not well. I mean, we stayed with them. For weeks, sometimes.” Leslie, with her studio full of toxic art supplies. Gentle Jeff and his husband, Brad, who had been completely clueless about what two-year-old Toni would eat or when she needed a nap. “I used to worry the whole time.”
“Serial killers?”
“Ha. No. I never found any bodies in the basement or anything.” But that wasn’t fair. “They were nice, mostly. Brad used to buy us ice cream. They just had no idea what to do with us.”
“Your mother trusted them.”
“Because I was there,” I said sharply. “But Toni doesn’t know them. I’m surprised she even remembers them. She hasn’t seen them since she was a baby.”
“She’s not a baby anymore.”
“You think I’m being overprotective.”
“It’s understandable,” Tim said carefully. “You’re used to taking care of her. You’ve done a great job. Which is why she’s probably capable of taking care of herself now.”
“You don’t know that.”
“I know she’s never going to grow up if she doesn’t figure out for herself what makes her happy. If she doesn’t learn to solve her own problems.”
He had a point. I hated that. “Look, if she wants to go to New York in a couple of years... But right now she has no degree, no work experience, and no idea what she’s doing. She’s setting herself up to fail.”
“You can’t always protect her from the consequences of her own actions.”
“The way you do with Charles?”
“The circumstances are rather different,” Tim said stiffly.
“Yeah, Toni is my sister. And she’s only eighteen.”
“Not to mention that the more you focus on her needs, the less you have to think about yourself.”
I sucked in my breath, hurt ricocheting around my insides. “I don’t have to stand here and be judged by you. I think I understand what my sister needs more than you do. This is about our family. And you’re not part of it.”
He was silent so long I thought he wouldn’t answer. Silent and... disappointed? Angry?
I swallowed the golf ball–sized lump in my throat. “Are you mad at me?”
“No.” One word. His expression softened slightly. “I’m sussing things out. Same as you.”
Which should have made me feel better. But somehow it did not.
I touched his arm. “Come back inside?” I invited hopefully.
He gave me a polite twist of the lips that was not a smile at all. “I’m not really in a party mood at the moment.” He gave a shake of his head, as if to rid it of some thought. “Will you come down tonight?”
“I can’t,” I said with genuine regret. “Sorry. Maybe later? I have to...”
“Talk to your sister. Of course. I’ll say good night now, then.”
