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I stare at the coffee maker, willing it to work faster. “You never did like to swim.”
“I’d be terrified in the ocean. What if there’s a shark?”
I shrug. “What a way to go.”
“Tillie!” She elbows me. “Don’t talk like that.”
The coffee begins to dribble into the carafe, so I shift it aside and put my mug in the flow. I’m not waiting for it to finish to get my fix.
“If I die in a shark attack, I leave you all my tiny bras for Rosie. I can’t be the only flat-chested member of the James family.”
Lila tugs on her pink T-shirt. “You’ll be glad after nursing. Mine are down to my belly button.”
“They are not.”
“Are too.”
Rosie sends up a wail, and Lila realizes she never passed her the juice cup. “Everyone wants to be the size of a fairy sprite,” she says. “You don’t even have to try.”
We have this conversation a lot. I’m jealous of my sisters’ ability to fill out a swimsuit. They hate that I can wear children’s sizes in a pinch.
The mug is full, so I return the carafe to the machine and bring the sweet elixir to my face. Steam curls over my cheeks, and my nose is filled with the best smell in the world.
“Ahhhh.” I breathe it in.
“You and your coffeegasms.” Lila heads to the condo’s living room space. She covers Rosie’s eyes. “You’re too young to see that.”
I chuckle. Raised by three sisters, Rosie’s got life on lock. She’ll never go through what we did. We won’t allow it.
And her deadbeat dad? Good riddance. We’re everything she needs.
Garrett stumbles out of his room, his hair sticking up in every direction. “Did we really schedule an early-morning outing?”
I shift the coffee carafe off its perch and place another mug in its spot. “We were dumb.”
“What time’s my flight?”
“Noon.”
He rubs his eyes. He’s shirtless in low-slung shorts. And fit. Lila and I catch each other’s gazes, eyebrows lifted. When did our brother become asnack? He’s going to get snapped up soon, and then only Lila and I will be left as singles.
I finish my carafe-and-mug routine and pass him his coffee. “Have you been working out, Garrett?”
He glances down. “This last job has been more hands-on. Try moving steel beams for hours a day.”
“Yuck.” I sip my coffee.
Lila sets Rosie in her pack ’n play and joins us by the counter. “You dating anybody?”
He shrugs. “Here and there.”
Garrett lives back in Alabama, where we grew up, so we don’t see him as often now that all the sisters have moved to Atlanta.
Lila and I exchange glances again.
“Anybody we should know about?” she asks.
“Nope.” He wanders out of the kitchen, bending down to tweak Rosie’s ear before heading to his room. “See you in a minute.”
