“I mean it,” she said, her voice softer now. “You’re not alone, Eliza. You never were. Even when you didn’t tell us what was going on, we were here for you. Wearehere.”
I looked down at our hands on the counter—hers warm and steady, mine pale and trembling.
“I thought maybe if I didn’t say it out loud, it would stay small. Contained.” I shook my head. “But it wasn’t. Not even close.”
Cara’s eyes shimmered. “Why him? Do you feel like talking about it?”
I let out a humorless breath. “He was polished. Confident. Everyone liked him. I think I wanted to believe he liked me the same way. He made everyone else feel—seen. Chosen. I wanted that.” My voice wavered. “But then he made me feel like I had to earn everything. His approval. His attention. Even the right to break up with him.”
Cara flinched. “That’s not love.”
“I know that now. It’s why I left and came here. I had to get away. I have no idea what his game is now.”
We sat with that for a minute. The hum of the espresso machine. The soft sound of a car driving off after I handed them their order. Sunlight shifted across the floor in golden stripes.
“Can I say something kind of sisterly and slightly unhinged?” Cara asked finally. She leaned in closer, her presence keeping me together. The quiet comfort between us felt stronger than words, filling the empty spaces I’d carried for so long. For the first time, the weight of what I’d been through didn’t seem so impossible to bear.
“Always.”
“I want to egg his car. Or slash his tires. Or write fake reviews about how his risotto tastes like vinegar and smells like feet.”
A laugh burst out of me. “Risotto of Remorse.”
“Exactly. Served with a side of ‘this man peaked in high school.’”
I sniffled, then smiled. “Thank you.”
She squeezed my hand again. “Also, you and Nate?”
I blushed.
“I saw the way he looked at you at the grand opening,” she said with a teasing lilt. “Like he’d fight a bear for you. Or a restaurant snob. Same thing.”
“He’s a good man.”
“You deserve good. You deserve the world.”
Her words landed like a balm I didn’t know I needed.
“Is Graham going to let this go? You knew him. What do you think?” I cleared my throat. “Do you think Piper and Paige were too much?”
Cara snorted. “I mean, they annihilated him. They were absolutely too much. But in the best way. You should’ve seen Paige when Graham tried to talk about wine pairings. She raised her hand like the restaurant was a classroom and asked if pretentiousness was a grape variety.”
I laughed again, louder this time.
Cara grinned. “Then Piper faked a Yelp review out loud. It started with, ‘I came for the steak, but I stayed for the misplaced arrogance.’”
“Oh my god.”
“I’ve never been prouder to be a Darlington. It’s gonna be fine.”
I wiped my eyes, laughing and crying in equal measure. “I don’t know what I did to deserve you guys.”
Cara’s smile softened again. “You’re our baby sister. We love you. You were born. That’s it. That’s all it took.”
A car pulled up to the drive-thru, and I composed myself, ready to greet the next customer.
Cara stood, brushing imaginary crumbs from her skirt. “You know where to find me if you need to disappear into a pile of used paperbacks and unsent therapy texts.”
