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“Because I’m working.”
Jane looked past Alice into the otherwise almost empty diner. Alice had to admit it was a pretty lame excuse, given how dead the evening was. “Really?” Jane raised an eyebrow.
“Can you all at least order something? If I just sit down at a table with only five waters and two milks on the bill, I think my boss will have a conniption.” Alice waved her order pad meaningfully, and all five sisters leaned over one menu simultaneously.
Once their orders had been placed and Alice had delivered the requests to the kitchen, she no longer had any obvious way to avoid the women, so she returned to the table and dragged an empty chair behind her. She left a fair bit of distance between herself and the booth, and crossed her legs and arms as if it might deflect any of their contempt. Especially Ricki’s.
“So…” Alice nodded at the table. “Did Alex send you?” It would be pretty impressive, she had to admit. Since she was ignoring all his texts and forwarding his calls straight to voicemail, this would be a unique—if somewhat creepy—workaround.
“Send us? Good Lord, no.” Jane laughed. “Do we seem like the kind of people who would up and drive a full day because our brother asked us to?”
Alice shrugged. “Well, something made you drive eight hours, so how am I supposed to know what kind of people you are? You showed up at my work unannounced. It’s kind of…” She let her voice drift, not wanting to say anything insulting.
“Nuts?” Violet offered.
“Ridiculous?” Emily said, her soft voice cutting in for the first time.
“Scary?” Ricki rounded out things, her voice cold enough to make her suggestion the most accurate right then.
“Unusual,” Alice concluded finally, hoping to get control over the situation.
Jane nodded, and as though she were a presiding judge, the other women around her got quiet. “I agree, this must seem a little out of the ordinary, but the situation itself is somewhat strange too. They say desperate times call for desperate measures, and so here we are.”
“Desperate times?” Alice had taken the pen out of her apron and was clicking the button at the end over and over, trying to relax herself. “Does this really qualify as desperate times? I mean, it’s barely even a breakup.”
“He’s miserable,” Violet said earnestly.
“And that’s your fault.” Ricki was glaring like she wanted to throttle Alice with her bare hands. That was the same look Kevin had gotten on his face when Alice had admitted Matt didn’t want anything to do with her after she got pregnant. It was the kind of blind, homicidal dedication only siblings could muster for one another.
“How is it my fault?” Alice couldn’t help letting her voice hitch up with anger. “I’m sorry if you think he farts rainbows and unicorns or whatever, but he’s not perfect. And things just didn’t work out.”
Violet, who was sitting closest to Alice, scooted forward and leaned close as if she might take Alice’s hand but thought better of it when Alice moved her chair backwards.
“I know we might seem like a biased audience.”
“No kidding.”
“Hear me out.” Violet’s voice was quiet, lacking the argumentative punch of Ricki’s. “He didn’t send us. We came on our own because we thought maybe you’d listen to us.”
“You’re not giving me much of a choice.”
“And if Alex could be here instead—if he thought you’d listen—I’m sure he would be,” Jane said.
The baby in a carrier next to Emily began to fuss, and she rocked it, humming quietly before giving the infant a bottle. Something about the presence of the children softened Alice to the sisters. Being a mother herself she often felt connected to women with kids. It lowered her guard somewhat.
“If you’re coming to apologize on his behalf—”
“You’re implying he has something to apologize for,” Ricki interrupted. “Maybe if your head wasn’t so far up your a—”
“Ricki,” Jane snapped. “If you’re not going to be helpful, don’t talk.”
“I think someone should point out she’s not blameless.”
“It’s not a contest of blame. We’re here to help, not make things worse.” Jane put a hand on Ricki’s thigh and stared her sister right in the eye. If Jane wasn’t a teacher, she’d make a hell of a hostage negotiator. Ricki leaned back and grumbled but didn’t say anything else. It was a good thing Alice wasn’t trying to win over Alex’s sisters because she thought getting on Ricki’s good side would probably take a miracle.
“From what we’ve gotten out of Alex since he left Florida, we gather you thought he might be responsible for the blog story getting leaked.”
“You guys read that too, huh?”
