Page 25 of Can't Win 'Em All
Rather than lose my temper—which I wanted to do—helplessness clawed up and grabbed me by the throat. “She acts as if I’m last year’s accessory and she can’t decide if she should throw me away or donate me to charity.” I sank down on the couch and buried my head in my hands. “I don’t know what to do here, Livvie. I just … don’t know what to do.” I thought I might cry, which was aberrant behavior in my world. There was nothing wrong with crying. I simply didn’t do it.
My sister was calm as she sat next to me. “What do you want to do?”
I wasn’t expecting the question. Nobody had asked it of me up until this point. I wished for a better answer. “I don’t know.”
Livvie didn’t let it go. “You must have some inkling.”
I made a growling sound deep in my throat. “You’re just not going to let it go, are you?”
“Nope. I’m really not.” She managed a smile, although it was wan. “I need to know where your head is at, Rex.”
“I don’t have an answer for you. I just … this whole thing came as a surprise. I thought that we were going to be able to put it behind us.”
“Is that what you wanted to do? Put it behind you I mean.”
The question confused me on multiple levels. “That was pretty much the only option.”
The fact that Livvie looked dubious threw me.
“It was,” I argued. “I mean … I’ve known Ruby since I was a kid.”
She didn’t say anything. She just stared.
“She’s Zach’s sister,” I insisted. “You can’t have a relationship with your best friend’s sister. It’s against the law.”
She raised an eyebrow.
“Ruby is older than me,” I continued.
That finally had her reacting. Sure, it was to laugh at me. That was better than the alternative, however. “She’s a year and a half older than you. She’s hardly shopping for walkers and complaining about her arthritis.” She shook her head. “I happen to remember a time when you had a crush on Ruby.”
That was a diabolical lie. “That never happened.”
“You were thirteen and I was eleven. You came home from having dinner at Zach’s house and went on and on about Ruby. I heard you talking to Dad.”
A memory niggled at the back of my brain. “Was it the end of summer?”
She nodded.
“Yeah, Ruby went away to camp and came back that night. Her boobs went from not being there to being able to serve as flotation devices during a storm at sea. That was a very confusing time for me.”
Livvie’s mouth dropped open. “You did not just say that.”
I laughed because I couldn’t help myself. “Sorry, but it’s true. I never saw Zach’s sisters as anything other than annoying before that day.”
“And it was Ruby who caught your attention,” she reminded me.
“So?” If she was going where I thought she was going, I wasn’t going to like it. “If you’re about to pretend that I’ve been carrying a torch for Ruby for the bulk of my life, I have some bad news for you. That is not true.”
“I think maybe it is true.”
“Well, you’re wrong.” Her assuredness bothered me. A lot. “She’s Zach’s sister.”
“I’m your sister and Zach still fell in love with me.”
“That’s different.”
“How?”
