“Nice knowing you, Jo!” Mia called as I made my way down the hall.
I closed my bedroom door behind me, then stepped onto the patio.
“What the hell is going on?” Beth said as soon as I answered.
I sank onto the step, watching the wind shake loose petals from my hydrangeas. “Are you getting a divorce?” It wasn’t what I’d meant to say, but I needed to know. I picked up a tiny blue petal and rolled it between my fingers.
“Did Mia tell you that?”
“Are you?” I pressed.
“I don’t know.” Beth’s voice was quiet. “We’re trying to figure thatout. That’s why we asked you to take the girls for the summer. We didn’t want them in the middle of all that.”
“But I don’t think you actually asked me.”
“Yes, I did. I emailed you a month ago with dates and—”
“I don’t have anything about dates. I’m supposed to go to Europe next month.”
“You’re going to Europe?”
I went quiet, unsure what to say. I hadn’t planned to tell Beth about my trip until the day before my flight. Desperate for something to look forward to, I’d booked the tickets as soon as I returned to theSerendipityfrom Samson’s funeral. But it felt wrong going on a big adventurous trip when everything in my sister’s life was falling apart.
“I asked you yesterday if everything was all set,” Beth said.
“I thought you were talking about me coming home.”
Beth didn’t say anything. The wind picked up again, whistling through the palms that separated my building from the next.
“Shit,” Beth whispered. “The email I thought I sent you is still in my drafts.”
Relief washed over me. Thank God, this wasn’t my fault. But then Beth started crying, and all my relief dried up.
“Don’t cry, B. It’s all right. I’m happy the girls are here.”
Beth let out a shuddering breath. “I can’t keep things straight anymore. I’ll think I’ve said or done something, then realize I haven’t. Some days it’s so much I can’t move. I lie in bed and think,This has to be a nightmare, but I never wake up.”
“I know.” I stared down at my knees. I didn’t know, though. Not really. My stern, organized, whip-smart sister could hardly function, and I missed her. I didn’t know how to bring her back. But maybe she didn’t want to come back. Mom hadn’t after Dad died. I needed to be there for Beth, and Mark, and Mia, and Kitty. For once in my life, I had to be the strong one.
“I’m so sorry, Joey,” Beth said. “Can you take the girls just until your trip?”
I held in a laugh. How could Beth think I wouldn’t keep the girls for as long as she needed me to? In what world would I deny her anything? My trip, my list, my blog, what did that matter when my sister needed me? “Forget Europe. The tickets are refundable.” (A lie, but a necessary one.) “And you know what they say, Florida is the Europe of the South.”
“I’m pretty sure no one says that.”
“Maybe they will now.”
She paused. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure.” I flicked the rolled hydrangea petal between my fingers onto the ground. “To be honest, I was disappointed when I thought they weren’t coming.”
Beth sighed. “Thank you, Jo. You have no idea what this means to me.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, imagining Beth’s face in my mind. The dimple on her cheek, her feathered eyebrows. Dad’s eyebrows, she always complained. “I love you, B.”
After hanging up, I lingered outside, allowing myself exactly one minute to mourn the carefree summer I’d planned.
—
