He sighs. “I know, I know, you haven’t finished doing what you need to do yet.”
“How is he, Arch?”
He hesitates for a moment. “Oh, he’s great.” His voice is too high-pitched, but then he says. “Gotta go.” And before I can say anything else, he ends the call. My stomach drops, and myfingers tighten ever so slightly on the steering wheel.Have I messed things up?
The silence that follows is deafening.Say something.
Usually, I don’t have an issue with talking; in fact, my grandad used to tell me I could talk a glass eye to sleep. Yet for some reason, with Thea, I struggle.
I love her, there’s no doubt about that, but she’s my younger sister, and for some reason, I don’t know if I can trust her. Maybe it’s because she’s always been the perfect child in Frank and Morgana’s eyes. She never questioned them growing up, and I was the one who was always outspoken, constantly pushing against what our mother wanted, yet still going along with it anyway, but not Thea.
Even when we were kids, we weren’t close. Thea was always a little cold towards everyone and everything. She wouldn’t offer hugs freely and would prefer her own company, but the older I get, the more I can’t help thinking this is her way of keeping her distance from our parents.
We arrive in town, where I find a parking space right outside the salon. I kill the engine, and when I release my belt, Thea’s hand is on my arm.
“Hayleigh, I wanted to thank you for earlier and intervening between my mother and me.” Her words are stiff, but I soften at them anyway.
Covering her hand with mine, I say, “Thea, I’m your big sister. I’ll do whatever I can to help you.” She nods and gets out of the car, not uttering another word.
Okay, good talk.
I walk around to where she stands and link my arm through hers, steering her away from the salon.
“Hayleigh, you said we were going to the salon?” Thea’s brows crease before she looks behind her as we move further away from the salon.
“Nope. That was an excuse to get us away from Morgana’s clutches. We’re going to spend some time together.” I smile widely at the look on her face.
She grimaces, although I think that’s maybe her trying to smile. “Great.”
Or maybe not.
**********
Thea looks at the bowling ball in her hands as if it personally offends her. “Now what do I do?”
Maybe I shouldn’t laugh, but I can’t help it. “You throw it down the lane, like how everyone else is doing.”
“But why?”
“Because it’s fun. Here, let me show you.”
I take hold of her elbow and steer her towards the lane, and show her where she needs to place her fingers through the holes.
“Okay, now you need to move your arm back and then swing it forward, then release the ball from your hands. Got it?”
Thea nods as she sets her face into a determined concentration.
She swings her arm back before bringing it forward.
And…
Strike.
She whirls around, laughing and smiling from ear to ear. “Oh, wow. Did you see that? I can’t believe I did that. I’ve never done something this fun before.”
She keeps turning round and looks from me to the scattered pins, and it’s in this moment that I realise that although Thea has grown up not wanting for anything, she’s grown up alone and without me. I haven’t been here for her, and with only four years between us, we’re not close in the slightest. We never have been, because I was always too wrapped up in what my parents wanted me to do to realise they had been doing the same thing to her.
I smile at her and say something I don’t think anyone has before. “You should be proud of yourself, Thea.”
