Derek stepped forward, putting his hand up as a stop sign. “Haven’t you hurt Brenna enough?”
I jabbed a finger in his chest. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
He slapped my hand away but only managed to move it to the opposite side of his body. “Might want to rethink that.I’mthe one with Brenna every day.”
Not every day. The devil on my shoulder dared me to tell Derek about how his girlfriend had been in my bed only four months ago, more than willing to give herself to me. This annoyingly forthright guy would dump her if he found out. And I wanted to knock the arrogance out of him.
“Back. Off.” My nostrils flared, a lick of anger winding up my spine.
Brenna folded in on herself. Because of the part of me that would always love her, I deflated every ounce of anger, wantingto put her out of her misery. As if she could sense me watching, her head lifted, and her watery eyes met mine.
“How is any of thisherfault?” Brenna pointed down the hallway to Molly’s room. “She’s innocent.”
I stepped back until I reached the guest room door. “So am I.”
I opened the door and snapped it shut behind me.
“She’s your sister too,” Brenna called.
I slipped my headphones on, blocking out the world around me. I chugged the rest of my beer, hoping it would relieve me of the emotions raging inside me.
No such luck.
38
BRENNA
Now
I bounced on myfeet, waiting near the luggage carousel for Molly’s flight.
My mother arranged the unaccompanied minor service with the airline before I could object to my seven-year-old sister flying cross-country alone. At least on the way home, my mother and her married companion had booked a connecting flight through Palmer City. Otherwise, I might not let Molly leave.
Molly’s Palmer City Wolves baseball cap caught my attention first—the black cap stark over her braided blond pigtails. She released the hand of the airport staff once she spotted me and sprinted straight into my arms.
“Molls,” I said into her hair. “I’ve missed you so much.”
The airline assistant held out Molly’s baseball cap which had flown off her head during her run. “Thank you,” I said, accepting the hat and securing it back on my sister’s head. “For everything.”
“You’ve been gone longer than two days,” Molly whined.
I held out my hand to her, and although she was miffed, she took it.
“I know. But you remember what I told you I was doing?”
We turned toward the carousel, keeping an eye out for her suitcase. The crowd had thinned, so it wouldn’t take long to spot with fewer bags in circulation.
Molly huffed. “Fixing a house.”
“And I own a café now too, remember?”
Her eyes grew wide. “Does that mean I get free food?”
I put on a mock-serious look. “Within reason.”
“Mom said I’m on vacation.”
I held in a sigh. My sister hadn’t seen enough of the world to know how messed up her home life was. Until I got custody of Molly, I didn’twanther to realize that she missed out, so I kept commentary about our mother to myself.
