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“Did she?” Bliss asked softly. “She’s still alive in Mom’s heart. And she’s still alive when Mom hides in her room and cries for her.”
Angel inhaled slow and deep, careful not to let the teenager see how her words affected her.
“You don’t sound jealous,” Angel said softly. “Some kids would be.”
“Jealous?” Bliss shook her head. “No. I wish she was here, though. Sometimes I need someone to talk to that wouldn’t blab to Mom and Dad. My cousins are cool and we keep each other’s secrets, but a big sister would understand things they don’t. And maybe she would help me make sense of stuff.”
Angel glanced over at the teenager, seeing the shadow of that confusion on her face. “Bran?” she asked softly, remembering the young man Bliss had been fascinated with all summer.
Bliss lowered her head and shrugged. “I guess he went back home. Annie heard Uncle Rowdy tell Dad that Bran was packing up to leave. I didn’t get to tell him good-bye. And I was sorry.”
“Sorry for what?” Angel asked softly, knowing how affected the teenager was by the young man.
“Dad caught me flirting with him last week. Just a little bit . . .” Bliss hurriedly explained as Angel turned to her again. “He wasn’t flirting with me at all. We were just talking. And I’m afraid Dad went and talked to Lucas Mayes and told him to keep away from the marina.”
Oh yeah, Natches would totally do that.
“Well, your dad’s just trying to protect you. I’m sure Bran can understand that. Bran seems like a smart young man, Bliss. But he’s still a man.”
A man with problems Angel hadn’t quite figured out yet and hadn’t had any intentions of delving into actually. Until now. It seemed Bliss was a little fonder of him than Angel had first suspected.
“Angel?” Bliss was careful not to look at her, and Angel followed suit, staring up at the pictures again instead.
“Yeah?”
“Why, if what I’m feeling is natural and what I’m supposed to be feeling, because of the birds and bees stuff, does it just happen with one boy, and not all of them? Shouldn’t I be boy crazy? As in plural ‘boys’?” The confusion in her voice was heartbreaking and it was so like Bliss to overanalyze it.
Angel frowned at the pictures, wondering what she was supposed to say now.
“Times like these,” she said softly, “are when I get really angry that my momma left me to be raised by Tracker’s parents. Because right now, Bliss, when I would give the world to have the answers for you, all I have is ignorance.”
The year she turned fifteen they were in three different countries and conducted six different missions. Angel carried her own weapon and she knew how to use it. She had used it. She’d already killed a man, nearly died, was almost raped, and spent twelve horrific hours locked in a tiny, cramped crawl space beneath a hut some whack job had tracked her to.
She didn’t have the answers her sister needed, and God knew she wished she did.
She slid her arm around her sister’s shoulders instead and pulled her to her.
“Growing up isn’t supposed to be easy, though, from what I understand,” she told Bliss. “It’s supposed to be filled with uncertainty, and feelings no one else seems to have and all these weird hormones attacking your body and emotions you don’t know how to handle suddenly flooding your heart. Just let yourself feel, Bliss, but remember, don’t ever forget, that right now, young men are feeling all these things, too. And right now, at your age, it’s just a tiny spark compared to the light show you’ll find it can truly be once you’re older, and your body and emotions are more in sync.”
Bliss was silent for so long Angel was certain it was one of those times when the younger girl just tuned out what she didn’t want to hear.
“What if I still feel it for the same guy when I’m older?” she asked then.
“When you’re older, six years’ difference in age isn’t a big deal,” she told her sister gently, remembering that Duke was six years older than she was. “But right now, if he hadn’t tried to gently reject you, then I’d have to kill him. Ya know?”
A snort of laughter erupted from the girl.
“God, you sound just like Mom.” She giggled before a disgusted groan tore from her. Both arms went quickly around Angel’s neck in a hard, fierce hug. “You would make an awesome big sister, Angel. Because you’re the best.”
Apparently in good spirits once again, her heartbreak momentarily abated, Bliss released her and almost skipped across the room to return to her bedroom.
“God save me from teenagers,” she muttered, shaking her head before turn
ing to the kitchen.
She’d put a soup on for dinner, then go outside and check that boundary line around the yard. She knew there was a trick to getting through the naturally growing fence. She just had to find it.
And she was determined to find it.
