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six
“How are my babies?” Constance asked before Sunny had even had a chance to sit down. “The ones who didn’t die, anyway.”
Sunny held up a hand and frowned. “Too soon.”
“Tell me about it.”
“The rest are doing really good.” Sunny peeled off her coat. “Dr. Winters says it’s a miracle Chevy’s so sweet, considering the life she’s led. And Pete came by. He’s excited about the pups. He says hi.”
Constance waved, as if Pete were in the room.
“Oh, and—” Sunny tossed her coat in the booth and slid inside “—Janice Matteri has issued a warning. Stay off her land, or else.”
“Or else what?” Constance opened her menu. “I won’t let her touch a hair on your head.”
“I know.”
“But—” Constance wagged a finger “—you better pay attention to me now. You need to watch your step. I know your heart’s in the right place, but you’re playing with fire.”
“Janice Matteri is the one who better watch out.” Sunny peered at her own menu. Constance had always thought her reckless, and wasn’t shy about saying so. Sunny’s typical retort was that Cici was cautious enough for the both of them. “She’s going to be sorry she ever darkened my doorstep.”
Constance snorted. “Famous last words. I’m not bailing your ass out like I did when you were in high school.”
Sunny snorted back, though she suspected Cici might not be kidding. Back then, Cici was following Daddy’s orders to “take care of your little sister—no matter what,” a directive Constance had followed to the letter since Mom’s death. But Mom had been gone since Sunny was five years old, and now Daddy was gone, too. At some point, Constance might just decide she was done taking care of her impulsive baby sister.
Sunny’s gaze went between the salad and pizza menus, which were adjacent to each other. The pancetta and ricotta pizza sounded crazy good, but the Mean Green Salad would sit so much better in her stomach.
Right then, the waitress showed up, pad and pencil in hand. She had puffy hair, colored yellow when it should have been white and a name tag that read Dolores. “What can I get you girls?”
“I’ll have the Mean Green Salad,” Sunny piped up. “With the dressing on the side.”
Dolores scratched on her pad.
“I’ll have the pancetta and ricotta pizza,” Constance said. “Can you do that with extra pancetta?”
“Sure, honey.” Dolores scratched on her pad again. “Nice choice.” She collected the menus.
Once she was gone, Sunny pressed her lips together and shook her head. Constance had always been able to eat anything she wanted without an ounce of discomfort. Sunny once watched her down sausage links and a stack of pancakes with butter and syrup directly before a twenty-mile training run. After, she reported having the best run of her life.
“What?” Constance rubbed her belly. “I’m hungry. You wouldn’t believe the workout I did this morning.”
Sunny narrowed her brow. “Workout?” She reared back and studied her sister. “Hey. Did you go to my spin class? When I wasn’t coaching? On purpose?”
“No. Well, sort of.” Constance smiled at whatever look was on Sunny’s face. Confusion? Irritation? Probably both. “I went over to your spin class—yes, on purpose, because you weren’t coaching—but I never made it inside. All the giggling and brightly colored towels were just too much.”
“I see.” Sunny dug out the mini tape roller she kept in her purse and ran it over her chest, grabbing up the dog hair she’d missed before she left the house. “And?”
“I just stood outside and watched. Was getting ready to leave.” Constance waved the spin class away. “But then I saw the place across the street and...well, first I saw the bakery, let’s be honest, but then I saw the place across the street and I... I don’t know. I went in. I actually went in and just started doing the workout. It was kind of surreal.”
“Wait a minute, wait a minute.” Sunny unwrapped her straw and plunked it into her water. “You went into the place across the street? Semper Fit? The place with the crazy people who run in the rain and flip tires down the street? Onimpulse?”
“Ah.” A light flickered over Constance’s face. “So that’s what the tire is for.”
“You’re kidding me, right?” Then again, why was she surprised? Leave it to Cici to want to punish herself in the worst way possible.
“I learned some new moves.” Constance did a bunch of things with her arms, including what looked like rappelling a mountain.
“You climbed a mountain?”
