Still, I can’t help defending Cash. “He had good reason to go, you know. In the end, I mean. His father was abusing him.”
Her eyebrows arch. “Really?”
“It was bad, Vee. Really bad. Still is. It was his dad who put him in the hospital this last time.”
“Sweet Mother Mary,” she whispers. Then, “I guess that explains why he was in scraps all the time. He was practicing what his no-account daddy was preaching at home.”
The thought of that makes my head hurt.
“Still,” she goes on, “that excuses him for running off, but it doesnotexcuse him for breaking all contact with you. I know you waited over a year to hear from him. It about killed me to see you walking around like an open wound when I’d come back from Tulane on weekends or breaks.”
An open wound…
A fair description.
“He cut off all contact with me because he knew he wasn’t coming back, and he thought cutting off all contact would help me move on more quickly,” I explain. “And also because he thought it would help keep me safe from George Sullivan.”
“So you’re saying he’s not as bad as I think he is?” She lets loose with a windy sigh and nods. “Yeah. I was beginning to suspect that myself.”
“What the what?” I do an exaggerated double take. “What’s brought about this stunning change of heart?”
Something passes across her face. Something…sad.
“Vee?” I frown. “Did something happen between you two? Luc told me he saw y’all quarreling on New Year’s Eve.”
With a wince, she confesses, “I was ripping Cash a new one for parading Scarlet around under your nose.”
My jaw slings open.
“Someone needed to point out that he was being a total asshole.” Her chin firms.
A slow grin spreads across my face, and I nudge her shoulder. “I like the idea of my big sister standing up for me.”
She chuckles. “Good. Because some habits are impossible to break.”
“Out of curiosity, what did Cash say?”
“The usual,” she’s quick to answer, although thatsomethingpasses over her face again. “He told me to mind my own biscuits. But that brings me back to Luc.”
“What does? Biscuits?”
She rolls her eyes. “You always told the corniest jokes.”
“I like to think of it as one of my more charming God-given attributes.”
She glances at the heavens and shakes a fist. “Why couldn’t you have bestowed upon her a couture fashion sense? We could have shared clothes!”
“What? Ripped jeans and black T-shirts aren’t your thing?” I bat my eyelashes innocently.
“If they looked as good on me as they do on you, then they would be.”
“Please.” It’s my turn for an eye roll. “You’ve got a banging bod under all those fancy duds, and you know it.”
“True.” She smiles a vixen’s smile. “And speaking of banging bods, back to Luc.”
“See? Nowthat’sa segue.”
“Thank you.” She does a little curtsy in her seat and I’m grinning ear to ear. It feels so natural to be sitting here talking to her like this that I have trouble remembering why we haven’t been doing it all along.
