I loved that girl.
Me:Miss you so much too, sugar lumps. Have a great day at work. Make some tip money.
I hesitated then typed up another message before I could talk myself out of it.
Me:I love you
Thirty seconds might have passed before I got a response.
Lily:I LOVE YOU SO MUCH <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3
“Good news?”
I moved my eyes toward him.
“You got a big smile on your face,” he said as an explanation.
Oh. “Just a good morning message from my little sister.” I thought about it, then thought about his comment about his mom yesterday. Then, before I could think twice about what I was about to ask, I went for it. “Do you have any brothers or sisters?”
His “no” was immediate. Then he tipped his head to the side and kept talking. “My mom wanted to have more, but it never happened. Don’t know why, but it’s only me.”
Only him. I wasn’t sure why that made me sad, but it did. His mom was gone. He didn’t have any siblings, and I had no clue what was going on with his dad.
If he’d even known him.
It wasn’t like I had known my mom. Or wanted to know my dad after a certain point.
But I wasn’t going to bring up that subject. Nope. So I stuck to a safe one. “Did you want any?”
He thought about it for a moment before shaking his head. “No.” Before I could get another question out, he beat me to it. “You talk to your sister again?”
“Which one?” I asked, even though I had an idea who he was referring to.
“The one in Dallas.”
I’d been right. “Just yesterday.” I bit my cheek and didn’t understand why I kept talking. “But that’s been the first time since we went… to see her. It’s not unlike her though. She never calls me—”unless she needs something, but instead, I told him, “—during the workday unless it’s an emergency.”
His “hmm” sounded loaded enough to grab my attention.
“What?” I couldn’t help but ask.
Rip didn’t drag it out. “You get a good vibe from her?”
That had me instantly getting defensive. “What do you mean?”
He must have sensed something because he slid me a look. “I’m not talking shit about your sister, Luna,” he stated calmly. “All I’m saying is that there’s some fishy shit going on with her, and you know there is.”
So I hadn’t been the only one imagining it. “What do you mean by fishy?”
He made a face. “You’re not gonna get all pissed off, are you?”
“No,” I answered, sounding like I was lying, but I wasn’t. Because I wasn’t going to get mad. There was nothingtoget mad about. He said he wasn’t talking shit about my sister. So…
“Look, I didn’t wanna say anything, but some shit with her just doesn’t add up.” He shot me a look that was like a dare for me to contradict him.
I wouldn’t, because his comment had something inside of me perking up. “What doesn’t?”
He blew out a breath that should have been a warning I might not like what he was going to say next. But in true Rip fashion, he didn’t hold back. “You didn’t notice when we went to her apartment that there was nothing wrong with her front door?”
