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“She started it, I—” His raised eyebrows made her stop. A hint of humiliation made her stomach sink. “Fine. But she had no right to yell at you like that. You can take me flying if you want to. I’m old enough—”
“Then prove it.”
“Prove what?”
“That you are old enough to do as you wish.” He tapped her temple. “That you’re smart enough to know right from wrong.” Forrest then lifted her chin with one knuckle. “Respond to her like an adult instead of like her little sister.”
A tingling sensation circled her spine all the way to her neck before the air left her sails in a whoosh. He was right. She was an adult, and would prove it. To everyone. Including him. She may have been a poor schoolgirl when he’d left, but she was now a rich woman. The lessons she’d learned during that transition had changed her. She’d found the one thing a person could control—money. It never turned its back on you. She’d learned that if a person worked hard enough, for long enough, they’d never be without money. Bootlegged whiskey hadn’t made the resort a destination point of the rich and famous. The spectacular parties had, and she was just the hostess to make sure they continued to be the best. Now that she had her freedom, the rest would be easy.
“Twyla?”
Glancing up, she nodded. “You’re right.”
He frowned, as if skeptical that she was agreeing with him.
“It’s time I stop letting Norma Rose make me feel like a child.” The statement was as much directed at herself as it was to him.
“Good,” he said with a nod. “Good. Norma Rose always had a superior attitude, even before your mother died.”
Shocked that he, of all people, would say such a thing, Twyla whispered, “That’s not a very flattering thing to say.”
“I’m not insulting her, I’m just telling you how it is, how it always was. I can’t remember a single time the two of you saw eye-to-eye.”
Twyla let that remark settle for a minute. “That’s true.” His other statement had been true, too. Norma Rose’s superior attitude was what had always set her above the rest of the sisters.
Forrest’s grin was showing his dimples again, and Twyla had to smile in return, even as her cheeks grew warm and a splattering of shame gurgled in her stomach. She hadn’t meant to act so childishly, but no one else seemed to understand all that was at risk. Nothing, absolutely nothing, lasted forever.
“Isn’t it time you show her you’ve always had a superior attitude, too?” he asked playfully. “Show her that you’re a grown woman who can curse and drink and smoke and vote.”
Now he was teasing. Twyla withheld a giggle, but flinched at the heat consuming her cheeks. She duly noted he didn’t add that she could have sex without worrying about getting pregnant, but wasn’t about to remind him. The twinkle in his eyes said he’d purposefully left that out. He was simply pointing out her attitude, encouraging her. That had been one of the things she’d really missed after he’d left.
“I don’t know that I’ll remind her of all that,” Twyla said. “It might sound childish.”
“Now we’re getting somewhere,” he whispered. “Just treat her like you want to be treated—she’ll respect that more than anything.”
Twyla nodded, fully understanding more at this moment than she’d understood for a long time. “I’ve missed you, Forrest.” She hadn’t meant for that to come out, but couldn’t do much about it. He’d always had a knack for making her see things differently. “Missed you a lot,” she repeated under her breath. The past five years certainly would have been different if he’d been around.
“I’ve missed you, too.” He planted a simple kiss on her forehead, much like he had last night. “Now behave while I go and talk to your father, or I won’t take you flying again.”
Despite how dismal everything seemed, her heart fluttered. “Do you mean it?” she asked. “That you will take me flying again?”
His smile grew slightly, giving way to a dimple or two. “Yes, I mean it. But only if you behave.”
She bit down on her bottom lip and pressed her heels against the floor to keep from jumping up and hugging him. Oh, yes, she’d behave, and she’d prove to everyone just who Twyla Nightingale really was.
He chuckled and led her away. At her father’s office door, which was open, she saw her father sitting behind his desk and Ty in one of the chairs in front of it. Forrest squeezed her hand before he let it go.
