She groaned. “Can we have that steak in there? Every time that damn fridge opens, I can smell it, and it smells fucking amazing.”
I stood to my feet before I rushed to the other side of the bed to help my sister up. “How about we do a couple of rare steaks, some fresh roasted veggies, and some bread?”
Tee grunted as I helped her stand. “And ice cream after.”
I slipped my arm around her waist. “Oh, always ice cream after. And if they don’t have any? We’re sending one of the guys to get some.”
She giggled. “Sounds like the perfect plan to me.”
As we lumbered ourselves into the kitchen, I sat my sister down at the table. I knew she’d be insistent on helping, so I gathered up the vegetables along with a knife and a chopping board. I didn’t want her on her feet, especially with those stitches still being fresh. And as I pulled the two behemoth steaks out of the fridge, I rummaged around for a nice pan to sear and baste them in.
“You know,” I said as I turned on the oven, “when I turned around in the club and didn’t see you anywhere, the panic that gripped me? It just--.”
I poured some oil into the pan as Tee cleared her throat. “I know.”
I blinked back tears. “One minute, we were dancing together, and then I go to the bar to get us drinks and—”
“I know,” she said softly.
I shook my head. “I’m never leaving you again. You’re coming with me everywhere from now on. Okay?”
“I don’t really think that’s feasible, Jay.”
I ripped some sprigs of rosemary off a plant sitting haphazardly in the windowsill. “I can’t lose you. Not the way we lost Mom and Dad. You’re not leaving me alone on this planet, do you hear me?”
“Jay.”
“Do you hear me, Theresa?”
“Jay, look at me.”
I turned to face my bruised sister’s face. “Yeah?”
She reached her hand out for me. “I’m right here. I’m alive because you came to find me.”
I took her hand as the oil continued heating up with the rosemary and cloves of garlic. “We were just dancing.”
“I know we were.”
“Just like Mom and Dad were only out seeing a movie.”
Her gaze watered over. “I know.”
I snickered as I wiped at my tears. “You’d think that after losing our parents in some bullshit gang initiation, we’d stay away from risky scenes like that.”
Tee smiled softly. “Maybe we should do that. You know, find another hobby other than dancing every weekend.”
I sighed as I squeezed her hand. “I’d like that.”
She smiled. “Me, too.”
And as I brought her scabbed knuckles up to my lips to kiss, I vowed to find us a new life. One we could be proud of. One that didn’t feel so lonely. So isolating. Even if it meant getting out of Twin Bays. Even if it meant finding a whole other state to live in, I’d find it for us. I’d find our peace. Our comfort. Our sanity. I’d find our normalcy again, and when I did, I wasn’t letting it go for any reason whatsoever.
“Jay?”
“Yeah?” I asked as I released her hand.
“I think the garlic is frying.”
