Which brought her to the next rule of adulting:
Rule Five: Secrets are for sorority girls.
Since the only sorority Harley had ever belonged to involved Cher, Alanis Morissette, and a parade of motorcycles, she had no excuse.
“The Birthday Fairy was also invited to Poppy’s little clambake.” Harley used a gentle tone to signal that she had Teagan’s back. “She said that she and Lily would forgo birthday presents in exchange for Frank’s early homecoming. It sounded like a Frank-jumping-out-of-a-cake wish.”
“Poppy said as much to me too,” Teagan admitted, suddenly looking very tired. The kind of tired that stemmed from long-term exposure to rat bastard exes. “And while I’d love to give them their wish, Frank is nowhere near ready to leave rehab or his support group.”
Harley put her hand over Teagan’s. “Then I guess you and I will have to throw them a Birthday Fairy Fabulous party.”
Teagan swallowed hard. “Thanks, Rabbit.”
“Anytime, Bear.” And before Harley started crying over that reminder of how close they used to be, she said, “What are you looking at?”
“I just got off the phone with Ian from Soup Stop. He wants Bread N Butter to be his exclusive sourdough bread bowls and bread supplier. We’re meeting next week to sign the papers and make it official.”
“That’s fantastic. Better than fantastic.” She waved her hands. “This is amazing!”
“Yeah, pretty amazing since I never called him.”
“He must have heard about you via word of mouth.” Harley shrugged and tried to maintain eye contact but looked to the right, a tell cops used to put liars behind bars. “Isn’t that what you always say? Natural, sustainable growth comes from word of mouth.”
“I do. As it turns out, he heard about Bread N Butter from your mouth.”
“I may have given him your number, but your bread earned its way into his shop.” She grabbed her sister’s hands and shook them vigorously with excitement. “Your bread is amazing. Ian would be an idiot not to use it.”
“Ian, huh? I thought you just gave him my number?”
“So I may have had coffee with the guy.”
“Wait, is that why you were at the Coffeekat? Talking to Ian about Nonna’s breads?”
“Yes, but I was talking to him about your breads.Yourbreads, Tee.”
Teagan gently nodded her head as if overcome with emotion. “I needed to hear that. But this couldn’t have happened without you. I can’t believe you did that for me.”
“Why are you so surprised?”
“As grown-ups, we haven’t really had the best relationship.”
The words cut Harley all the way to the core. Maybe they bickered, and had their differences, huge differences, like Grand Canyon–depth differences, but she’d never say they had a bad relationship. She’d always liked to think it was a sisters-to-the-end kind of situation.
Maybe that was another rule of adulting.
Rule Six: Tell the people in your life that you love them.
“I know you have a lot of people who love you, but for me, you’re it,” Harley said. “I love you and I love Nonna’s business. I want Bread N Butter to succeed as much as you do.”
Teagan pressed a hand to her chest as if she’d been waiting for this moment. “I never thought you were all that interested.”
“Just because I react to things differently than you, that doesn’t mean I don’t love Nonna’s house or business.”
“I know. I just never knew you wanted . . . well, I guess I don’t know what you want. What do you want?”
That was a good question. Harley wasn’t sure what she wanted either, only that it was more than what she’d wanted when she’d first arrived from LA to hide from her feelings.
She wanted to be a real part of this family, to have a place in the Bianchi legacy, and she wanted to go back to before, when they were so close that they were like the twins. She wanted to know that she’d be chosen to be in Teagan’s lifeboat, because for Harley, her boat was reserved for the people in this house.
