“Isit, though?”
Ismiled weakly to my quiet room, acutely aware of my father's untouched thingson the other side of the wall. “Yeah, you don't gotta worry about me,” Ireplied, wishing so badly I was better at lying.
Especiallyto myself.
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
ANDREA
“So,what's been going on with you?” Mer asked, pouring a glass of iced tea from thepitcher. “I feel like we haven't seen you in forever.”
“Itfeels that way because we haven't,” Willa jabbed, waggling her brows. “She'stoo busy shacking up with her hot, bad boy boyfriend.”
“Oh,yeah, he's a real bad boy,” I grumbled, rolling my eyes. “He works all day in apizza place, then goes home to the apartment he shared with his dad. What arebel.”
“Ooh,someone's getting defensive,” my oldest sister teased, smirking as she put thepitcher back into the fridge and closed the door.
Ifollowed my sisters outside onto the deck. Fall should have been right aroundthe corner but summer was still thick in the air. Mom lounged lazily in thebright sun, while my nieces and nephews ran wildly through the thick grass. Dadhad gone out golfing with my sisters' husbands, with the promise that theywould be back early enough to throw the burgers and dogs on the grill.
“Speakingof your hot boyfriend, what's he doing today?” Willa asked, pulling out a chairfrom the table.
“Working,”I mumbled half-heartedly.
Merdropped onto the couch. “You didn't invite him?”
“What,are you worried we'll interrogate him again?” Willa teased.
“No,”I fired back, sitting beside her at the iron table. “And just so you know, Idid invite him. But his sister is out on Fire Island with her in-laws, sosomeone needs to be at the restaurant.”
“Hecouldn't take off foroneday?” Mer looked at Willa and the two shared asmirk. “I mean, it's one day, and how often do you really hang out with us?”
“Yeah,seriously,” Willa agreed. “He could be here golfing with Daddy, Eric, and Tim.”
Isnorted and shook my head. Mer raised her brows, asking what was so funny, andI replied, “Oh, it's just that, I can't imagine Vinnie golfing. I don't thinkhe even knows how to be that lame.”
Neitherof my sisters were amused. They pursed their lips and looked off toward theirfrolicking kids, clearly insulted by the unintentional jab at their husbandsand our father. It wasn't that I looked down on golf or the men who enjoyed thegame, but nobody could deny that it wasn't the most thrilling sport and that ittypically attracted a certain kind of guy. And nobody could tell me that Vinniefit the bill.
“So,if he doesn't like golf, whatdoeshe do?” Willa asked, taking ouroriginally playful, albeit irritating, conversation to a more hostile level.
Ishrugged, because the truth was, I didn't really know. He worked so much and sooften I didn't know if he really had time for any hobbies. Apart from smokingand hanging out at Goose's bar. “Normal guy stuff, I guess,” I replied, knowingit was a cop out, and so did they.
“Youmean in between getting high and snorting coke, right?” Mer commented snidely.
Iloved my sisters, and all things considered, we had a good relationship. Buttheir care for me was occasionally represented in a catty manner. Theseunderhanded, snarky comments, the jabs at Vinnie's troubled past ... I knewthey all came from a place of genuine concern. But I wished so badly they couldexpress themselves in a kinder, gentler way. I wished they could do it withouthurting my feelings or distrusting my judgment.
“Hedoesn't do that stuff anymore,” I said, dropping my gaze to my lap.
“Here'sthe thing, though, Andrea,” Willa said, crossing her legs and pointing a fingerin my direction. “I don't know how you can trust him, period. Drug addictsfight those demons for a long, long time, sometimes forever, and—”
“I'mreally sick of you thinking that I don't know this,” I interrupted defensively.
“We'renot saying you don't. But you have to consider that you might be blinded to theshit that's right in front of you, you know?” Mer threw in, keeping her voiceirritatingly gentle.
“Plentyof women are oblivious to their husbands' drug addictions, even when it'shappening in their own house,” Willa corroborated, nodding.
“LikeFelicia's husband,” Mer said, sitting up straighter. “Oh, my God, rememberthat?”
Willanodded enthusiastically, widening her eyes. “Yes! Ugh, God, that asshole wipedout their entire savings account to buy drugs.”
