Ryleigh glared at her. “You know, it’s not your decision to make. I deserve to have a life of my own and I get to make my own choices. Not you. I’ve been there for you through everything you’ve gone through, including the divorce. I’ve neveronce told you that you were wrong. Now it’s time for you to do the same for me.”
“I am,” Jax told her. “I’m here for you.”Just don’t move. Only this time she was smart enough to keep that last bit to herself.
“I can hear what you’re thinking,” her sister said, coming to her feet. “Telling me not to move isn’t being supportive. It’s also kind of a jerky thing to do and I’m really disappointed in you.”
With that, she grabbed her bag and started for the door. Jax hurried after her.
“Wait. Don’t go. I’m sorry. I swear, I’ll listen.”
Ryleigh shook her head. “It’s late and I’m tired. I’m going home.”
“I’m sorry,” Jax repeated quietly. “You’re right about all of it. I’m pressuring you because I don’t want you to leave. I need you in my life.”
“What about what I need? You don’t get to say what I have to do. And for the record, you’re not always right in your advice. If I decide I have to move back to San Diego, then you need to be okay with that.”
She wasn’t. She would never be. But what she said was, “I can do that.”
“I think we both know you’re lying.”
“I’m not. You’re right. You deserve what you think will make you happy. I want that. I’ll support whatever decision you make.”
Ryleigh looked skeptical as she asked, “Are you willing to promise?”
“Absolutely,” Jax said, then hoped she was telling the truth.
Chapter Five
Jax had a bad night of tossing and turning. She didn’t like it when she and Ryleigh were out of sync. It rarely happened and when it did, nothing felt right until they were done snapping at each other. She supposed that technically neither of them had snapped, but Ryleigh had been annoyed for sure, and Jax could almost, maybe see her point. It was just that she needed her sister to be close, and Ryleigh moving all the way to San Diego was an absolute no for her.
But on her short drive to work she hadn’t come up with a single way to get her to want to stay. The only obvious one was to find her someone local and get them together so Ryleigh could fall madly in love with the guy and never want to leave town. The problem was there weren’t a ton of single, age-appropriate guys around.
She was still mulling the problem when she arrived at the bookstore. Her worry about her sister and her unease at their falling-out apparently translated into some kind of emotional miasma because from the second she went to say hello to Ramon, he was difficult. He barely greeted her, didn’t stay to watch her measure out his food and tell her that she wasn’t giving him enough.Ten minutes after she’d let him out of his room, she heard a crash down by the cash register. She hurried in that direction only to find one of the Painted Lady Bookstore mugs lying shattered on the floor. Ramon was on a perch in the corner, his back to her. She recognized the set of his body and knew that priority number one was making sure they were okay. If they weren’t, it was going to be a very long and ugly day.
She cleaned up the mug, then walked over to where Ramon was perched.
“Hi,” she said quietly. “I’m sorry you’re upset.”
He ignored her.
“You’re really good at sensing when something’s bothering me and you’re right, I’m dealing with some crap. Ryleigh’s thinking of moving to San Diego and I can’t handle that. I need her here, which makes me a selfish bitch, so there’s that.”
He flew close and stared at her. “Selfish bitch.”
She held in a groan. That phrase wasn’t any better than “You getting laid.”
“We’re not making progress here,” she told him, then held out her hand. “I’m sorry.”
“I am no bird and no net ensnares me!” he said as he landed on her fingers and nuzzled her hair.
“Youarea bird. You have feathers,” Marcus said as he walked over.
“Hi. He’s quotingJane Eyre. It’s a line from the book.”
Marcus frowned. “He can read?”
She laughed. “No. I read it to him, probably more than once. I’m sure I pointed out the line.”
Ramon leaned close. “I love you.”
