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“I hope so,” Annie said, and gave him a smile. “Bryn, you didn’t tell me you had a cutie for a boyfriend. Holdout. ”
Bryn rolled her eyes. “Annalie, this is Joe Fideli. He works with me at the mortuary. He’s a funeral director. Not my boyfriend. ”
“You’re kidding. Really?”
“Tongue in mouth, please. He’s taken, and not by me. ”
“Permanently?”
“Oh, yeah,” Joe said. “Afraid so, darlin’. ”
“That is just Bryn’s luck. ” Annie sighed dramatically and sank down on Bryn’s couch. “Since when did you need an alarm system, sis? Scared ten years of life out of me!”
“Since I got robbed,” Bryn said. “There’s such a thing as crime, you know. ”
“Yeah, I bartend, doofus. I know all about it. ”
“It’s really good to see you, Annie, but … why? What happened?”
Annalie shrugged and looked down. She seemed casual, but Bryn wasn’t fooled; there was a subtle tension about her that only someone well versed in Annie-speak would recognize. “I just wanted to get away for a while. You know how it is. Mom was driving me nuts. ” Mom, it seemed, had always been hardest on Annie, but then, Annie had needed it. Bryn had skated by as the example against which everyone else was measured. It was a miracle, she thought, that she hadn’t been shivved by her siblings by now. Annie came out of it and gave her a bright, sweet smile. “You want your present now?”
“You shouldn’t be buying me things. ”
“I didn’t. Well, I contributed, but Mom and Tate went in on it with me. I even got Grace to put in, believe it or not. ”
“Wow. How’d you manage that?”
Annie opened up her suitcase and took out a small, neatly wrapped box with curly ribbons dangling from the top. It looked very festive. “I twisted arms,” she said. “You deserve a present, Bryn. You do a lot for us. Especially for me. I know I’m kind of a burden sometimes. ” A cloud came across her smile, dimming it. “And I should have called—I know that. I’m sorry. ”
That was typical of Annie—doing something thoughtful and thoughtless at the same time. The present, when Bryn unwrapped it, proved to be a beautiful, delicate watch, probably way too expensive; she put it on and loved it immediately. She hugged her sister, and Annalie hugged her back with fierce intensity. “There’s a card, too,” she said. “We all signed it. Even Kyle, if you can believe that. ”
“Kyle?”
“I sent it through his lawyer. It took a week to get it back. Which is why I’m late, by the way; it was supposed to be a first-day-on-the-job kind of thi
ng. ”
Well, thank God for small favors. Having Annie involved in all that … Bryn didn’t even want to consider it. “I’m surprised Kyle even remembers who I am. ”
Annie gave her a wide-eyed look. “He’s your brother. Of course he remembers!”
There were times, Bryn thought, when Annie could be kind of hopelessly naive. Not that it wasn’t a little endearing, but she conveniently forgot what Kyle was like. Family first—that was Annie’s motto.
Bryn felt a little guilty that she couldn’t see it quite that simply.
“You want a Coke?” she asked, to cover the awkward moment. That was Annie’s drink of choice, even at the bar. She nodded, and Bryn went into the kitchen to pour. “Joe? Would you like anything?”
“I’m okay,” he said. “Rain check on coffee for later, though. ”
Bryn carried back two glasses, one for her, one for Annie. “All right. What’s Mom done to make you come running out here? Because you could have just mailed the present, you know. ”
“I missed you!”
“I know, but come on. What happened?”
“She … Well, you know. She’s being Mom. ” Annie drank, and fiddled with the glass. “She doesn’t like me working at the bar. She keeps trying to get me to quit and go to college. I just got tired of the lectures. I needed a break. ”
“You weren’t arguing about money?”
