Jacques gave a wave as he opened the driver’s side door. “I loveyou.”
“I love you!” she shoutedback.
And then he wasgone.
I’ll see him tonight,she reminded himself, knowing full well that the meeting ahead would change everything for him. For them. But she took a fortifying breath and opened her front door, ready to face whatever the futureheld.
The living room, at least, held her sister, who lay stretched out on the couch, blinking at the slice of sunlight Rainey’s entrance poured overher.
“Hi!” A smile quickly followed her startled greeting. “I didn’t expect you back this early.” Holi made to push herself up, and Rainey quicklyprotested.
“Don’t get up. I didn’t mean to wake you,” she said, setting down her bags and unclipping Archie’s leash. The dog ran forward, and despite her protests, Holi sat and patted her lap forhim.
“Hey, Archie-boy, I missed you.” The poodle hopped up and let her shower him with affection. Holi looked at her sister. “Where’sJacques?”
Rainey carried the ice chest toward the kitchen and stopped at the counter. Half a Sugar Baby watermelon rested on a cutting board next to two crescent-shaped slices. A shiver ran down herspine.
“He… uh… he had to go to a meeting.” In her distracted state, she blurted Jacques’s news. “Heroine got a recorddeal.”
“Holy crap! Are you serious?” Holi’s shock pulled Rainey out of her stupor, and she looked back at hersister.
“Yeah, it sounds like a big deal… I’m really happy for him.”Iamreally happy for him,she thought with a genuine sense ofrelief.
She felt Holi’s eyes on her as she rinsed out the ice chest. “So, what’s going on with you two? Still just friends?” Her voice dripped withdoubt.
Rainey faced her again. “I’m in love with him.” The words were easier to admit than she would haveimagined.
Holi blinked. “Well, I knew that before you left. The question is, does he knowit?”
The corner of her mouth tugged up disobediently. “He knows it. And he feels the same.” Then she ripped a wad of paper towels from the roll on the counter. “Not that it will matter in theend.”
Holi’s eyes narrowed in distaste. “Why do you have to be so fatalistic? Why not just enjoy what life is giving you rightnow?”
Hearing the words from her sister — who was being forced to come to terms with her own mortality — left Raineydumbstruck.
“You’re right,” she said, setting the clean ice chest on the counter. She walked across the space and took a seat on the couch beside Holi. “Of course, you’re right. Ijust…”
Holi raised an expectant brow. “You justwhat?”
“The way I feel for him?” Rainey struggled to put everything into words. “It’s so big… so much greater than anything I’ve felt before that it’s hard to put the fear of the inevitableaside.”
“Rainey,” Holi said, shaking her head, “take it from me. You can’t know what the futureholds.”
She shrugged and tried to swallow the sudden lump in her throat. Her future held loss, and pretending otherwise was just delusional. “So, you mean I should just be happy with what I havenow?”
Holi’s hand closed around her wrist. “Yes… andno.”
Rainey frowned at hersister.
“I mean, yes, of course you should be happy with what you have now. Now is all any of us can guarantee, but—” She sighed, clearly frustrated as she grasped for the right words. “—don’t be… don’t be afraid to h-hope.” Her voice broke on the last word, and Rainey’s eyes flewwide.
“Holi—”
Holi shook her head with a fierce look in her eye and squeezed Rainey’s wrist almost painfully. “No. I’m not crying today,” she vowed, her voice straining with the effort. She cleared her throat. “Ash asked me to marry him last night, and I saidyes.”
Holi held up her left hand and displayed a ring that absolutely dwarfed her frail finger. Rainey gasped, and her vision blurred with sudden tears ofjoy.
“Oh, my God, Holi!” At once, she crushed her sister in her embrace, overcome with emotion. Tears streamed down her face, yet she found herself laughing. “That iswonderfulnews.”
