“I noticed you didn’t take back the liar part.”
“I noticed you didn’t defend the running part.”
Touché.“I’m not the one running this time. I’m offering to stay and help out. And just because I don’t like complicated situations doesn’t mean I’m a flake.”
“We’ll have to agree to disagree.”
Harley rolled her eyes. “What happened to ‘Families stick together and embrace each other’s differences’? What happened to ‘Ohana?’” It was what Teagan had promised Harley when their parents split up the sisters after their divorce. It was the first of many forgotten promises.
“Ohana.” Poppy stopped struggling. “Lilo said that to Stitch when he was being bad. It means nobody gets left behind.”
“Out of the mouth of babes,” Harley deadpanned, and stepped away from the doorjamb. “And you know, just because Nonna left you the house doesn’t mean I can’t come for a visit now and then. This was my home too.”
“For a couple weeks a year.”
And the hits keep coming.“Six weeks. I spent the spring break and a month every summer here. Even after you got married and moved to Seattle, I came every few months to visit Nonna.”
Teagan paused, as if Nonna’s image had just appeared to her in a loaf of sourdough. “I didn’t know that.”
“News flash. You don’t know everything. Look at my room. Nonna left it exactly the same for a reason. And after she died, I sometimes came here for long weekends with Mom. This house is as much mine as it is yours.”
That stopped Teagan in her tracks. “You came here with Mom?” she asked, making a tactical error. Poppy took advantage of her shift in focus to break free.
Teagan reached out, but it was too late. The kid squirmed out of her mom’s lap like a fish out of water. “Poppy. Come here and sit on the bed,” she commanded, but there was no conviction behind the order so Poppy ignored her.
“Every Fourth of July and the two weeks leading up to Christmas,” Harley pointed out. Not wanting to make waves, Harley still obeyed the divorce decree that said she belonged to her dad on Christmas, New Year’s, and the rest of the 323 days of the year. “So you aren’t the only one who made memories here. Just because mine were later in life doesn’t make them less important. Not that it matters, because I’m leaving in a couple weeks, anyway.”
“You said that a couple of weeks ago.”
She had, hadn’t she?Huh. She’d meant it when she’d said it but then Mrs. Sims, who lived down the street and ran the senior center, asked her for a favor. She’d been a close friend of Nonna’s and a regular at the bread shop. With a homemade gooseberry pie, she’d sweet-talked Harley into crafting an inclusive mission statement for the senior center that would appeal to baby boomers and recent retirees alike.
“What does a couple weeks matter when you desperately need my help?” she asked.
“Yes, I need help but notyourhelp. Things are stressful enough without Hurricane Harley blowing through.” Teagan had the decency to grimace. Not that it made a dent in the pain her words caused. “Harley, I—”
Harley waved her off. “Here’s how Hurricane Harley sees it. The girls love me, I need a place to crash until I figure some things out, and you’re drowning.”
Teagan perked up. “What things?”
“Private things.”
“You tell everyone about my private things.”
“Which is why I promised never to discuss private things again,” she said. “You need a nanny. You’re going under and I’m offering you a branch. Take it or not, your choice. Just remember, if you go under, I get the house.”
Teagan studied her seriously. “Do you promise to take that swing down?”
“Can’t promise, but we can negotiate.” When Teagan took forever to answer, Harley turned to the girls. “Want my help?”
“Yay!” Poppy shouted and both girls immediately rushed to Harley.
“It’s not even summer. Do you really want me to leave?”
Teagan watched Poppy mount Garbage Disposal like a pony and sighed. Her sister realized she was losing the battle. She needed backup.
“What are you proposing?”
Whatwasshe proposing?
