“Hey.” It was her turn to close a hand over her sister’s forearm. When Brody’s eyes met hers, she said, “You deserve to be happy, you know. No matter what Mom says.”
“I know. You’re right.” Brody let go of a long slow breath while Adley waited her out. “And I think Nathan really did try for a while. He really made an effort…”
“And then?”
Brody smiled sadly, and it broke Adley’s heart to see her big sister seem so defeated. “And then we ended up right back where we were before Paul.”
“I’m sorry,” Adley said, because what else could she say? They sat quietly for a while, just sipping and looking into the fire.
“Anything from Atlanta?” Brody asked after many minutes had gone by.
“Sporadically. I just…” Adley shook her head. “I never know what to say. It all just ended so weirdly.” What she didn’t say was that she missed Sabrina. Even after all this time. Even after not having seenher for half a year. She missed her. How was that even possible? What did that say about her?
“But you miss her,” Brody said, as if reading her mind, and Adley’s gaze snapped to hers so quickly that Brody snorted a laugh. “Don’t look so surprised. You’re my little sister. I’ve known you your entire life. Think I can’t read your face?”
Adley groaned. “But it’s so stupid. How can I miss her? She was here for three months. I spent exactly one night with her. What is wrong with me?”
Brody’s dark brows met above her nose. “Why does something have to be wrong with you because you fell for somebody quickly? Why is that a bad thing?”
Because you fell for somebody…
Was that what had happened? Seriously?
“Please don’t tell me you didn’t realize that’s what had happened,” Brody said, a grin in her voice. “Adley Helene Purcell, what am I going to do with you?” She laughed softly, her affection clear in her eyes. “So, I taught you all about sex, but I clearly fell down on the job when it came to matters of the heart.”
Why did Adley feel floored? Why was this surprising to her? How could she not have even thought maybe she’d fallen in love with Sabrina? How stupid could she be?
Another shake of her head, this one a little harder. It didn’t matter. Sabrina was gone. Nine hundred sixty-one miles away, to be exact—she’d googled it. And that was to Atlanta. Who knew where she was now, in which city she was setting up the next shop in the Sweet Heaven empire? Los Angeles? Seattle? Honolulu? Tokyo? Could she be farther away?
“Doesn’t matter,” she finally said and shrugged to make sure it was super clear to Brody that it didn’t. “Wasn’t meant to be, obviously.”
“Yes, because you’ve always been such a believer in things like fate and destiny.” Brody punctuated her statement with an eye roll. Then she pressed her lips together for a moment and studied Adley’s face. “But I get it,” she said finally. “I do. Too many obstacles in the way.”
Indeed. Too many obstacles. That was a good way to put it. Too many potholes in the road to happiness. Too many loop-de-loops in the roller coaster track to keep her from throwing up. Too much quicksandon their path through the jungle—Oh my God, stop it, she screamed at her brain.Enough with the metaphors. She’s gone. That’s it. End of story.
“Anyway,” Brody said, changing the subject, thank fucking God, “dinner at Mom and Dad’s Tuesday night. Don’t forget.”
“I won’t.”
“Do they know yet? That you’re gonna close the shop?”
Adley shook her head.
“Might be a good time to tell them. I’ll be there for moral support.”
“Yeah, okay.” She dreaded telling her parents. She already felt like such a failure, and she could picture the disappointment in their eyes. After all, the shop had been in the family for three generations. Not that they’d offered to help her, but still. A family tradition was dying.
Because she’d killed it.
* * *
“Hello there, Peaches. How’s Albuquerque?” Sabrina’s father had the smoothest, richest voice, like it was coated in honey. Talking on the phone to him never failed to bring a calm to her world.
“It’s actually really nice,” she told him. “Pretty.”
“Setup going okay?”
She heard the soft tinkle of his spoon against his mug, and she could picture him slowly stirring cream into his coffee. The time difference didn’t matter. Sabrina wasn’t sleeping much these days. “Yeah, it’s fine.”
