“Hey!” she greets with ease. “Where are you?”
Confused, I turn my head, looking for privacy. Calypso nods toward the kitchen. She grabs the cake she’s working on and I open the door for us while talking to my sister.
“I’m in Amada Beach. Where are you?”
“I’m in Amada Beach,” she says. When Jo was little, she went through a period of repeating everything someone said. She still does it to be annoying sometimes.
“Be serious, Jo. Why aren’t you at work?”
Calypso watches me while whispering to Chuck. Both are curious but give me space.
Her familiar, crisp laugh rings through the line. “No, I’m really in Amada Beach. I went to the hardware store to find you.” The construction offices are in the lot behind the store and my 4Runner isn’t there.
“I’ll be right there,” I promise, patting my pockets, but I didn’t take anything out when I got here.
“I already left.” I catch the faint sound of a car engine starting. “Just tell me whereyouare.”
Looking at Calypso, I let out a deep breath, not wanting today to be the day she has to meet my sister. Not when she’s already upset about something and Jo is in some predicament I know nothing about.
The universe doesn’t usually care about what we want, though.
Jo leans against one of the wooden columns in the bakery kitchen. Silently, she tucks a piece of curly, chocolatebrown hair behind her ear. Looking at her, one might assume she’s much calmer, and quieter, than she is. The demeanor, and her red-rimmed eyes, have my nerves on high alert.
I gave her a quick introduction of Calypso and her staff when she arrived five minutes ago. Jo’s eyes are still alight with excitement at meeting mygirlfriend.She practically squealed when I told her to come here.
Chuck pulls his newest sourdough out of the oven, and the heavy door slams, breaking the growing tension.
Clearing my throat, I finally ask, “Jo, what’s going on? Why didn’t you tell me, or mom, that you were visiting?”
Oh yeah—in the ten minutes it took Jo to get to Brighter Daze, I received a verbal lashing from my mom about Jo’s decision to sneak away. She finally realized that I hadn’t smuggled my sister across state lines and nicely asked me to take care of her. Of course I agreed, and she promised to visit for the holidays.
As much as she’d love to fly to Amada Beach and take her baby girl home, Jo is turning twenty-five in two months. She’s an adult and we all have to learn to treat her as such. Our mom is having the hardest time with that.
“I broke up with Megan.” Jo acts casual, examining her cuticles like she just said it’s sunny today. Not that she broke up with her off-and-on girlfriend of seven years.
In all that time, Jo was never the one who initiated a break-up. Sometimes she’d date other people when Megan ended things, but she always chose relationships she knew wouldn’t last. Jo’s a bit of a hopeless romantic and always has on rose-colored glasses when it comes to her partners. She also tends to live life by the seat of her pants.
It’s a dangerous combination.
As easy as it is for her to up and leave a job without a second thought, it’s just as easy for years to pass where she’s stuck in the same, dead relationship.
“Jo,” I say, brotherly concern thickening my voice. “Are you okay? What happened?”
She shrugs. “Yeah, it was just time.” A single tear slips down her cheek and she bats it away. “You know, since she never stopped seeing that girl when we got back together.”
My heart plummets. That was four months ago.
Megan breaking up with Jo to hook up with someone else is a technicality to some and cheating to others.Thisis something even Jo can’t ignore.
“Josie,” I soothe and pull her into a hug.
She wraps her arms tightly around me but doesn’t let another tear fall.
Jo is the definition of a “people pleaser,” so she won’t make a scene in front of strangers. Especially not Calypso. If there was a good group of people to break down around, I’d say the Brighter Daze staff are top candidates—but it’s probably best if we come up with a plan before getting into the details.
“I really missed you,” she whispers. “And I needed actual distance from Megan.”
I nod. “Of course. We’ll figure it out.”
