I thought about it for a while. “Well, there was Gareth the garage owner. That was my sister’s real dad. He and my mom were married for about five years. I used to think he was my dad too until I overheard some mothers talking.”
“You have a sister?” He uncrossed his legs and moved closer to me.
I nodded. “I do and she’s . . .” A lump formed in my throat. “Perfect,” I whispered softly.
“Where’s she now?”
“Married to her high-school sweetheart and living in a really pretty house with roses and jasmine that grows along the white picket fence. She’s the together one . . . I’m not, apparently. I’m the messed up one.”
Mark smiled at that. “Apparently I was ‘the wild one.’ All these labels . . . Besides what’s ‘the together one’?”
“You know, the one that has it all figured out. The one who can’t do any wrong, the favorite one.”
Mark shrugged at this. “Sometimes people look like they have everything figured out, but they don’t.”
I shook my head. “Trust me, she does. She’s always pointing out how figured out she is versus me. She’s always telling me that I need to get a real job, or a real boyfriend or do something real with my life, as if everything in my life is fake or something.” I rolled my eyes and looked over at Mark, but he wasn’t responding the way I wanted him to. He looked at me pointedly and then leaned back in his chair. I leaned back too, deep in thought, thinking about my sister’s words over the years.
“We kind of had a fight about it, just before I came here,” I heard myself say to him.
“Does she know where you are?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Nah, but I doubt she’ll miss me. Or even notice I’m gone. Neither will my mom, she’s cruising the world with Dan the dentist and having the time of her life.” I forced a smile. My mother had worked so hard when we were kids, we’d barely seen her, and when she’d retired I’d thought that maybe we would see her more, but she started her world cruising a few years ago and I’d rarely seen her since.
Mark sat forward. “Families are complicated.”
I nodded. “Say that again.”
“My brother hated me for years because I broke the band up and because when we were in the band, I was the more ‘popular one,’ and now that he’s gone . . . I wish we’d healed all that. So if you can, don’t leave things the way they are with your sister.”
I nodded half-heartedly at this. And then we fell into a deep silence; I think we were both deep in thought.
CHAPTER 57
I woke up the next day in Mark’s cottage. We’d spent the rest of the previous day cleaning it together; he’d put some new linen on the bed and I’d made a dog bed for Harun in the corner. We’d spent the entire time talking about everything. He’d told me more about his years in the band, his brother and his family. And I’d told him about my life, the Little Miss Daisy pageants, the food I turned to, the teasing, being in my sister’s shadow. I told him about Kyle and our relationship and my social media life.I told him almost everything.It had felt comfortable and easy talking to him. And he was a better conversationalist than Harun, because he actually spoke back.
“So . . . first day at your new job,” Mark said, through the door while I was showering in his bathroom. I’d come in that morning and he’d made me coffee and breakfast, which was really sweet of him.
“Samirah says I can take Harun to work with me,” I said, as I wiped myself down from the shower and put on clothes. When I opened the door and walked out, Mark was standing so close that I bumped into him.
“Sorry!” I grabbed a hold of his elbow as an automatic reflex.
“It’s okay,” he said, also grabbing onto me. We held onto each other for just a little too long, until we finally let go and moved apart.
“We have rehearsals tonight,” Mark reminded me.
At that I shook my head. “Rehearsals?”
“For the festival.”
My eyes widened. “We actually have to rehearse this thing? Aren’t we just walking down the street?”
He grinned. “This town takes the festival very seriously.”
“It would seem,” I said sarcastically.
“It’s fun though. You’ll like it. You’ll meet everyone and feel part of something.”
“I don’t think the people around here like me. Not after movie night and then yesterday.”
