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She was still playing phone tag with her sister. Cari had left her a message that said she was off exploring, whatever that meant, and that where she was going the cell phone service was spotty at best. She said she would call her as soon as she got back to the city. The only problem was that Cari didn’t say when she was getting back to the city.
While Kent was in town picking up a couple additional boxes of flooring, she was supposed to be sketching out a new layout for the display cases as well as the new furniture that was to be delivered in the morning.
She grabbed a tablet and pencil from one of the offices and started to draw. Instead of having all of Bluestar’s memorabilia on one side of the lobby, she set about spreading out the photos and displays. It would allow for more people to have access to the displays.
As the pencil moved over the pad, she frowned. She just didn’t like the way the furniture was positioned. And so she flipped to a fresh page and started again. This time she didn’t put in all of the display cases and furniture. Instead, she put in a couple of displays and then a couple pieces of furniture. It was a bit of a game of Tetris to get all of the pieces to fit together in a cohesive fashion.
She found herself enjoying this sort of work. In fact, the more she worked on the final vision for the room, the more ideas she got. She turned to the windows. They were large and let in a lot of light, but some sheers would soften them without blocking the light. She made a note of her idea. She also jotted down other things to discuss with Kent: a throw rug, runner, potted plants, an artificial tree or two, twinkle lights, and some large coffee table books.
Buzz-buzz.
She wondered if it was Kent. Perhaps he’d run into a problem getting the flooring. When she retrieved the phone from her pocket, she was surprised and delighted to find the call was from her sister. At last, they’d connected.
She pressed the phone to her ear. “Hey, I was beginning to think we’d never get to talk to each other again.”
“Sorry about that. The phone service was terrible, but the trip was amazing.”
“Sounds like you had a good time.”
“I did.” Cari told her a little about her trip into the countryside and the amazing things she’d seen and experienced.
There was a part of Sara that was happy for her sister and another part that was a little bit jealous that her sister was out there experiencing all of these new adventures. Sometimes she wondered why she remained on the island. Everyone else that she loved had left her. Her parents had passed on much too soon. Her best friend in school had moved to Oregon. She rarely heard from her. And her sister had up and left to follow her dreams halfway around the world. Sara didn’t know why the people she loved the most always left her.
But there was something grounding about Bluestar Island. It gave her a sense of belonging—of the locals being part of her extended family. And maybe that had to be enough for her because even though she casually dated, she never let things get serious, because she knew the relationship would never last—nothing in her life ever did. That was why she was so desperate to impress Josie. She wanted her job at the inn to be the one thing in her life that lasted—she wanted it to be something she could count on.
“So what did you want to talk about?” Her sister’s voice drew Sara from her thoughts.
Sara wasn’t sure where to start. She definitely didn’t want to dive right into the part about her working with Kent. Or the part where they’d shared a meal, and he’d helped her with the kitten. As she thought of it all, she realized that this past week they’d spent most of their time together.
Sara swallowed hard and started with the part about Josie going out of town and how she was an acting manager while she was away.
“And that’s what was so urgent that you kept calling me?” There was skepticism in her sister’s voice.
“No. Not exactly.”
“Is this about the apartment?” A hopeful tone replaced the skepticism.
“Actually, it kind of is.”
“I’m confused. Does this mean you secured an apartment for me?”
“Not exactly.” Sara inwardly groaned. Now that she was talking to her sister, all of her well-rehearsed words fled her. And she wasn’t sure how to phrase this without upsetting her sister. “The thing is that in order to get the apartment for you, I had to make a deal.”
“What sort of deal?”
This was the sticky part. She had absolutely no idea how her sister would react to her working so closely with her ex. The very last thing Sara wanted was for her sister to be mad at her. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Sara, what have you done?” Her sister used the same tone of voice that she had when they were kids and Sara had done something wrong.
“Nothing except get you a place to live.” Sara was growing frustrated with her sister. Instead of her being grateful that she’d done everything she could to make it possible for Cari to move home, she was acting like Sara had done something wrong. “Why don’t you tell me what happened to break up you and Kent?”
“That was a long time ago.” An awkward silence ensued. “I…I can’t remember. Besides, it’s not important.”
She couldn’t remember? Seriously? Did Cari really think she was going to believe that story? After all, it wasn’t that long ago. She was certain her sister knew exactly what had happened.
“I think it is important.” Sara’s words were direct because she just couldn’t keep up the struggle of keeping Kent at arm’s length if she didn’t know exactly why she was doing it. “What went down between you and him? Why did he dump you?”
Her sister grew quiet. So quiet that for a moment she thought the phone went dead. Then Cari said, “Is this really that important to you?”
