“So those guyscame in on the same flight as you?” Kira floored the pedal in her small car as it puttered up tospeed.
“No, they came in straight from L.A. on Finny’s private jet,” Marissa said. “I just told them when I was flying in so they could come at the sametime.”
“I would literally rather die than talk to either one of those guys,” Kirasaid.
“Would youpleaseavoid using the wordliteralin anon-literalsense? I’m around middle school kids all day, for crying outloud.”
Kira wasn’t so sure itwasn’tin the literal sense. “I have nothing to say to those clowns. Why are they evenhere?”
Marissa leaned her head deeply to one side, speaking as she rolled forward and tipped it the other way in a neck stretch. “They don’t want me to tell you, so I’m not telling you. You’ll find out as soon as we meet up withthem.”
“This is … I was hoping to just have some time with my sister, you know? Show you around the studio and the town, introduce you to somepeople…”
“Like your newboyfriend?” Marissa asked it like she was talking to a young student. One whose romance could only fit into some silly world ofpretend.
“Yes,” Kira said with a sigh. She swallowed hard and squeezed the steering wheel, wishing she could clench the chaos in her stomach before it spread over her entire body. “Listen, Marissa. We all have pieces of our past that, like, sting.” She paused there, wondering briefly if her sister would relate. “Python and Finny are the worst piece of my past. People I’d be happy to go my entire life without seeing ever again. So having this—whatever it is—sprung on me like this is my worstnightmare.”
“No, not yourworstnightmare. I’m sure that would be something a little more intense. Like burning to death. Watching your loved ones burn to death. Why does this generation have to exaggerate somuch?”
“Marissa?” Kira snapped. “Could you just behumanfor a minute? I’m not one of your students, and unless you’ve miraculously aged a hundred years, you and I are from the same generation, so just knock itoff.”
Marissa cleared her throat and turned her head toward the scenery out her window. They were on the freeway now, surrounded by blue sky, the occasional field of growing green, and a whole lot of roamingcattle.
Kira took the next twenty minutes to organize her thoughts. Things she could say that wouldn’t sound spiteful or angry and above all—dramatic. “I think it’s fair to say most people don’t want to run into their ex-boyfriends. Do you agree?” She glanced over in time to see Marissa nod. A big, appreciative nod.Good.“Especially if things ended badly. Which in this case—they did. Verybadly.”
“True,” Marissa agreed again. Perhaps this wouldn’t be as bad as Kira feared. At least the getting-through-to-her-sisterpart.
“And to make the situation worse, the woman who represents a huge part of that pain—theuber-successful fashion designer who believedhimoverme—is here too. Basically, the pair represents a period of my life that I’d rather forget ever happened. And so when you add to that the fact that your only sister arranged the entire thing without even consulting you, it’s a lot to takein.”
“That makes sense,” Marissa said with anothernod.
Either her sister had shifted from teaching to counseling at the middle school, or she’d learned to diffuse Kira’s anger over theyears.
“I would never set you up to get hurt, Kira,” Marissa said. “I’m actually trying to make up for being kind of a crummy sisterlately.”
Kira lifted abrow.
Marissa smiled. “I don’t want to give you all the details because I told them I wouldn’t, but the reason I allowed this is because I think you’ll be very happy with what they’re offering. Part of which is a chance to clear up the Moretti name, along with an apology—which I think is longoverdue.”
Those last few words were antacids to the burning in her heart. “Youdo?”
Marissa shot her a surprised look. “OfcourseI do. The whole family wants that foryou.”
Kira nodded, needing that tidbit more than she knew. “That’s nice to hear,actually.”
“I don’t know why you’re surprised. We all just want what’s best foryou.”
“Thanks,” Kira said with a grin. “I know. Ofcourse.” She wasn’t sure why she felt the need to tack on that last part. Perhaps Kira was assuring them both that she knew that much. Her family wanted nothing less than the best for her.Thathad never been the issue. Determining whether or not she could obtain what was best—or even identify it—was the realissue.
She thought back on the awkward greeting at the airport.Ugh. Kira was making a name for herself out there, and she hated the idea of two detached-from-reality egomaniacs waltzing in and ruining it. In all fairness, Kira had no right to call Finny Shea names. The woman was eccentric, sure, but she’d never been mean. Just wrong about whom she believed in the whole stolen images scandal. And who could blame her for believing the snake, since she was falling in love withhim?
At least she would finally put this behind her. With any luck, the pair would be gone by tomorrow, and Kira could get on with her life. Now she just had to update Anthony with the limited details she had. She was already dreadingit.
