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I grabbed a towel and wrapped it around my waist. I opened the door an inch and scowled at Adam. "This better be good. I'm busy."
"Your chicken has flown the coop."
It took me a moment to process his statement. "Shit." I tightened the towel. "When?"
"Not sure. I swear to you we were all keeping an eye on her, but, ah, she wanted to see her sister, and on the stairs it was pretty easy to hear what was going on. She said she had to use the bathroom, and the next thing I know, I can't find her. I went outside, but I didn’t see the Honda anywhere, so I'm thinking ten minutes, max?"
"Shit," I repeat. "Okay, thanks."
"Do you want me to drive around?"
"No, I got this. Thanks though."
He gave me a lopsided grin. "Sorry."
I didn't slam the door even though I felt like it, and I kept my mouth closed as I walked into the bathroom. The urge to destroy something rode me hard when I saw sweet Winter in the shower. She beckoned to me, and I wanted nothing more than to jump in beside her.
I opened the glass door, and her smile immediately fell off. "What's wrong?" she asked, swiping the water out of her eyes. Her wet hair hugged her pretty head and fanned around her shoulders like a cape. She had the most beautiful hair. And seeing her small body wet with water made me want to drop the towel and join her under the stream of water. Fuck her sister. Fuck anyone who'd come between us.
But keeping this from her would only delay the inevitable.
"Your sister left. She might have been upset."
"Drinking?" she asked, hurriedly turning off the water.
"I don't think so. Adam said that she went to the bathroom and then left shortly after." I left out the part about Ivy hearing us have sex. I was sure Winter didn't need to know that.
"I need to go. Can you drive me?"
"Of course."
I dressed as quickly as I could, shoving sweatpants and a T-shirt on and slipping my feet into a pair of flips. Winter was still struggling to find her panties. I pulled out a pair of old sweatpants and tossed them to her.
"I don't know why she left. She said she'd been cooped up inside and wanted to get out and socialize," she muttered more to herself than anyone else. I knew exactly why she’d left. Winter hadn’t been attached to her hip. If Winter was gone, then Ivy felt ignored. I hadn't realized how much Ivy depended on Winter, even as a teenager, but my guess was half the reason Ivy’d flunked out of college her first semester was because her sister wasn't there, making sure Ivy studied and didn't drink herself into a stupor.
At some point, Winter was going to have to make a choice—live her own life or live Ivy's.
23
WINTER
I found her by the crib. The bottle of gin was in her hand and the cap was off, but as far as I could tell none of it was gone.
"Oh, Ivy, honey," I said and fell next to her. Finn stood at the door.
She crawled onto my lap, and I held her trembling body close. "I'm sorry, so sorry," she wept. Her tears wet my shoulder and dripped down my back. "I can't do this alone," she said.
"You're not alone." I wished I was stronger. I wished I could give her strength.
"I called and called for you, but you didn't answer. I wanted to drink. I wanted to so bad. It was there. Everywhere." She shuddered.
"But you didn't." Guilt lanced through me. While I was busy screwing Finn, Ivy was left alone. I said she wouldn't be alone, but where was I? That was her question, and it was one I didn't have a good answer for. I tried to encourage her, but I don't know if she heard me over her noisy sobs. Her skin felt clammy. She needed to get into bed. "Come on, let's get you into bed."
I hugged her close to me, and with each tremble my guilt got bigger.
"I was scared. I have this baby inside me, and I was going to drink. Winter, if you hadn't come in time…" She left the horrible thought unfinished, but it was easy enough to fill in the blanks.
"I know. I'm sorry."
