AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She sucks.
I feel someone sit down on the bed, and I know it’s Avery.
“I thought you always got up at like five in the morning.”
“She does,” Cora says.
“Then why the freak is she in bed still? Are you sick, Liv? Do we need to take you to the hospital? Call Gerry, and we can tell her Liv’s symptoms.”
I push the comforter down. “Donotcall our sister.”
“Aw, there you are, pumpkin.” Avery’s smiling at me, and my palm itches with the need to smack her upside the head.
“What’s up with you?” Cora asks, settling in the easy chair I keep in the corner.
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing if you’re still in bed,” Fritz says.
“Mom and Dad aren’t here, are they?”
“No. You think I could leave Jim with the kids by himself?” Cora asks, laughing. “They would eat him alive.”
That’s true. Her four kids are brilliant but evil as the day is long.
“Where’s Savannah?” I ask my brother as Houdini slips by him and into the room.
“In the kitchen cooking, which makes her happy, so don’t even say anything. What we need to know is what is going on with you? Didn’t you remember we were all coming in today?”
Nope, because apparently that’s who I am now. The woman who can’t remember anything. But since I’ve been wallowing this morning, I completely forgot.
“Wait, you forgot something?” Avery asks this, incredulity filling her voice. “You never forget anything.”
“I…”
Words fail me. I can’t tell them everything that’s going on because I handle everything. I take care of the kids, deal with the bills, fix things in the house, and deal with all the worries two parents would generally deal with. All. By. Myself.
Tears burn the back of my eyes because I feel like a failure. But there is something else, something I usually don’t deal with.
Anger boils over—and I can’t control myself.
“Yes, I forgot, Avery. You are not the center of my universe.”
There is a long pause of silence.
My sisters are looking at me with wary expressions because they must have heard something in my voice. I’m close to completely losing it. Sisters understand. Fritz is a stupid boy, so he doesn’t know any better.
“What the hell, Liv? There’s no reason to get irritated with Avery because you forgot we were coming into town. Jeez. It’s not too much to ask to spend time with your siblings.”
Avery slips off the bed as Cora rises from the chair. They both avoid being directly in the line of fire between Fritz and me. Even Houdini slips out of the room.
I haven’t lost my cool in a long time, but I simply don’t have it in me to be civil. I’ve had to pretend like everything is perfect, even with those closest to me. I know that is my own fault. I bring it on myself, but right now, I can’t separate my feelings about Mason and my family. My heart hurts, my heart hurts and I have been dealing with it on my own.
“Yeah, because what else do I have to do, right, Fritz?”
I see that he realizes he made a mistake, but one of Fritz’s biggest flaws is that he can’t admit he made a mistake like a lot of men.
“Cora drove all the way down.”
