Erin reached up in the cupboard and brought down the bread. “I didn’t eat much last evening,” she gave by way of reply.
“Oh, right.” Andrea snapped her fingers.“I heard you blew up at your father and left for your room and didn’t come back out until now, I’m guessing.”
Erin grinned sheepishly at her aunt.
“Wish I would have been here to have witnessed it,” her aunt continued with a glint in her blue eyes.
Erin’s eyes widened in surprise at Andrea’s approval.
Andrea reached across the counter and rested her hand on her niece’s shoulder. Her eyes filled with understanding as she said, “You have a right to be angry with your father, Erin. How you express that anger shouldn’t be dictated by anyone.”
Erin gave Andrea an appreciative look. “But?” she asked, recognizing that her aunt had more to say.
“While you have a right to be angry, you also need to heal, and the best way to do that is to forgive your father.”
Erin’s heart clenched with apprehension.
“You saw what happened to your mother, me and Jo, and our father. I don’t want that for you. What Joel did was the most despicable thing, but there is no doubt that he loves you and your sister. You have probably been told numerous times that you need to forgive him, and although I do believe that you should do so, I also believe that you should give yourself some time to sort through the emotions you’re experiencing before you do so. Just don't take too long, okay?”
“Okay,” Erin agreed with a slight nod and a smile.
Andrea squeezed her arm before releasing it and turning her eyes to the items on the counter. “So, what are we making? ’Cause I’m starving,” Andrea said, making a face.
“Turkey sandwiches,” Erin informed her with a chuckle.
“Great. Like you, I haven’t eaten since yesterday. That flight from LA was long, and I was too exhausted to eat when I got in.”
The two made the sandwiches and sat around the island to enjoy glasses of apple juice. When they were finished, Erin retrieved her laptop and went to the living room while her aunt went to her room. She spent the next couple of hours going over the numbers for the last campaign for her fashion company. Archie hadn’t sent over much work, but she’d secretly asked Gregg to send over copies of the designs he’d photographed.
By the time she was done, sunlight was streaming through the curtains. Setting the laptop aside, she extended her hands above her head and arched her back as she tried to work out the tension in her muscles from having sat in that position for so long. She made her way to her room to take a shower.
At the top of the stairs, she could hear Becca’s high-pitched cries.
“Is Becca all right?” she asked Jules, who was sitting up in bed and rocking an obviously distressed Becca.
“Yeah, she is,” Jules replied with a small grin. “She’s just fussy because she needs her milk, but it needs to cool,” Jules informed her and pointed to the bottle in the water below room temperature.
Erin watched her sister gently calm her daughter with soft-spoken words while rocking her back and forth, and a smile came to her lips at how good she was at it. It was as if she was always meant to be a mother. Her smile slipped at the thought of her own ineptitude. Ridding herself of her miserable thought, she opened her mouth to apologize to Jules for what happened at the barbecue, but Becca started fussing again, so she decided to do it at another convenient time.
“I’m going to take a shower,” she said, heading for the bathroom. Jules nodded. Once inside, Erin slumped against the door and released a heavy sigh. After a few minutes, she pushed away from the door, stripped off her clothes, and stepped under the steaming spray. She allowed the water to run over her head, plastering her blond locks to her head and the back of her neck. When she exited the bathroom, Jules and Becca were already gone.
Erin was drawn to the kitchen by the aroma of cooking, where she discovered her family sat around the kitchen island enjoying breakfast and some light banter. The talk flowed easily, and there were plenty of happy faces there. Cora was the first to see her standing at the door.
“Hi, sweetie,” Cora greeted softly. The guarded look in her eyes told Erin that the events from yesterday were still fresh in her mind, and she cringed at the thought of her mother being wary of her.
“Good morning,” she greeted back, noting the others around the table looking uncomfortable. That’s when Aunt Jo shifted her head to the side to reveal Joel sitting opposite.
Erin exerted a lot of effort in order to maintain her composure. She moved with a stiff gait to the only seat available next to Andrea, where she sat with her back in an upright position. The level of tension in the room was so high that it was possible to cut through it with a knife.
“Do you want me to make a plate for you, sweetie?” Cora asked gently.
Erin looked over at her mother to see her blue-gray eyes looking back at her with worry. “Um, sure. Thanks,” she replied, her voice sounding hollow to her ears.
“Okay,” Cora said, getting up and getting a plate from the cupboard.
Nobody spoke except for Becca's incessant babbling. Erin turned to gaze at her aunt when she felt a touch on her leg. When Andrea gave her a warm grin, it helped relieve some of the stress she was feeling. Erin smiled back.
“Here you go.” Cora slid the plate in front of her breaking her connection with her aunt.
