AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Dad still asks me all the time what happened. I think he might have said something to Christian that day they were working on your house. Or maybe it was another time. You know they are working when you aren’t here.”
Liz hated that but gave up telling them to stop.
She’d been picking up more hours and going in early and her father would come here after work for an hour or two. Then she found out Christian was here too.
Three weeks in and her floors were done, the cabinets in too. She’d painted the kitchen herself as it felt as if that was the only thing she could do. She’d put the hardware on one night with Christian. She wanted to have some say in that she’d put sweat equity into it.
The appliances were getting delivered this week. The countertops the following week. All that was left was her backsplash and she knew that was just a one- or two-day project. Plenty of time to get it done.
It had moved faster than she’d thought it would have and she was forever grateful that her father was doing the work. Christian too.
She’d find a way to make it up to them. Or repay them for it.
“Neither of them has said a word to me about it,” Liz said.
“And they won’t,” Abby said. “They know you don’t want to talk about it.”
“Nope,” she said. “That means with you too. I don’t need a therapy session, and if I did, I’d go get it. I got out of my marriage before it got worse. I’m finding who I used to be. I’d like to think I’m a better person than I ever thought I’d be.”
“You’re a wonderful person and don’t let anyone tell you otherwise,” Abby said.
“Thank you. Now what should I do with my hair?”
“Can I curl it for you?” Abby asked.
“I don’t have a curling iron,” she said. Who the hell had time to do those things? She washed her hair and tied it up daily for work. It had to stay out of the way. On the weekends, she did the same. It seemed as if she never slowed down or did anything fun.
Another thing she felt bad about, but Christian didn’t seem to mind.
He’d said he couldn’t sit still and was normally working on some flip. She wondered if he was even looking for one now, but he’d said he was and that Ruby Turner, her realtor that worked with the Butlers, was looking too.
She knew the market was tight right now, so she guessed he wasn’t lying when he said nothing was coming to him.
“I brought mine,” Abby said. “Sit on the toilet and I’ll do it for you.”
She could just say no, but Liz wanted to look nice. Better than nice to see Christian’s family again. To meet some of his friends or other family members.
She wanted to feel like she was worthy of him when so many times in her life she never felt like she was worthy of herself let alone those around her.
“Sure,” she said. It seemed like everyone was trying to do things for her and she should stop complaining and just be thankful. “What’s going on with you?”
It was better to change the topic anyway.
“Not much,” Abby said, brushing and grabbing a piece of hair once Liz sat down. “I’m going to renew my lease on my apartment.”
“Do you want to stay there?” she asked her sister. She felt bad about the way this was turning out, but she’d never agreed when her sister brought up living with her.
“It’s fine. I don’t have a problem with it. I just thought it’d be nice to live with you, but now that the bathroom is gutted, I’d have to use yours and you don’t like to share.”
She laughed. She knew her sister was picking on her. They’d shared everything growing up. Just like they were sharing clothes now.
Maybe as an older sister she hated to do that, but she also knew she didn’t have much of a choice. She helped raise her younger sister because it was the right thing to do. To help her father since their mother was never around.
“What’s the real reason you don’t want to move here? It’s Christian, right?”
“You don’t need your younger sister around when you want to get naked with a guy,” Abby said. “Be honest. It’s not like it was your idea for me to live with you. I know I brought it up and kept hammering hoping you’d say yes. That’s wrong of me.”
No reason to lie. “It’s not the end of the world. He has a place too. And it’s not like I’m around much.”
