Crista nodded, gnawing at her lower lip, staring straight ahead. “That’s cool. He’s a good guy, just lost and had a tough break.”
They sat quietly for a few moments, the sound of gulls and the surf filling the air.
“So, you thinking about Eli’s offer for you to stay here for a while?” Vivien finally asked. “We would absolutely love it, Cris.”
“I’m thinking about a lot of things,” she said.
“Is being around Tessa really that upsetting?” Vivien asked gently, trying to ease into the conversation. “I mean, she’s not evil. Maybe if you would just?—”
“It’s not just that,” Crista interrupted, finally turning to face her. “It’s not Tessa. It’s…everything.”
Vivien waited for an explanation, but her sister turned back to the water with a sigh. “My life is a hot mess,” she whispered.
“What? Your life? What could possibly be a ‘hot mess’ in Crista Merritt’s world?” Vivien asked.
Crista snorted.
“Seriously,” Vivien pressed on. “You have a gorgeous house, a devoted husband, a precious daughter. And Maggie might be a challenge, but you two have always had a freakishly close relationship and, honestly, no one handles her as well as you do. I mean, I’d die if she lived with me.”
Slowly, Crista turned and gave a shockingly direct look. “It ain’t easy, Viv.”
Vivien blew out a breath. “Well, if there’s anything I can do…”
“Just understand that there’s a lot going on, which is probably why I turned into a raving shrew last night.”
“A lot with Maggie…or other things?” she asked gently.
Crista sighed heavily, rubbing her temples. “Nolie is having…some issues. And things with Mom are tense because of it. And Anthony and I have been fighting a lot about it, and it’s a big ugly mess.”
“Nolie?” Vivien’s concern deepened, thinking of her precious seven-year-old niece. “What kind of issues?”
Crista hesitated again, dragging her bare foot in the sand below. “She’s not…reading,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Vivien blinked, trying to process this. “At all?”
Crista shook her head. “The speech pathologist in our school district thinks she has dyslexia, but we haven’t taken her to a doctor or anything. Mama refuses to believe it, Anthony thinks he can drill it out of her with hours of forced reading, and her teacher thinks she should repeat second grade and…and…”
“And what doyouthink?” Vivien asked.
Crista closed her eyes. “I was going to hold her back until…until…this morning.”
“This— What happened this morning?”
“Believe it or not, a conversation with Tessa.”
Vivien sucked in a soft breath. “Oh, yeah. She often jokes about her dyslexia.”
“Except it’s not funny.”
“But she’s okay.”
Crista nodded, glancing over her shoulder at the house behind them.
“She’s actually more than okay,” she said. “She’s the first person who was ever real about it, and the first time I’ve had hope.”
Vivien’s heart clenched. “That’s awesome. I’m glad you talked to her, Cris.”
“She offered to help Nolie,” Crista said. “Which is pretty darn classy, considering the things I said last night.”
