AllFreeNovel
Share Us
One eyebrow rises. “We’re friends?”
“I hope so.”
Piper nods once, then stands. “I need some coffee.”
“I put the leftover from yesterday in the fridge.”
“I need fresh this morning. Since, you know”—she glances at me—“I didn’t get much sleep.”
“I remember.”
Before she turns away, I catch the way her cheeks flush.
I give her a fifteen-minute head start, then close up the studio and head for the farmhouse. The milking crew is just beginning to arrive. I wave at the trucks as they pass by, headed toward the shed. Then almost trip over the pink bike lying in the grass a few feet from the stairs.
I stare at it for a few seconds, uncertainty churning in my gut, then start up the stairs.
“…actually wear cowboy boots?”
“I thought the same thing,” I hear Piper say. “But everyone was wearing them. I don’t think you’d stick out.”
I inhale deeply, then pull the screen door open, knowing its slam will give my arrival away. Sure enough, both female voices are suddenly silent.
I focus on Bailey first. The last time I saw my little sister in person was four years ago, when she came to a show in Nashville.
Since then, we’ve communicated exclusively through stilted phone calls and generic cards. My publicist picks out the gifts that get sent for her birthday and around the holidays.
As if our fifteen-year age gap wasn’t enough of an obstacle, Bailey’s father can’t stand me. I can’t say I entirely blame him, considering my behavior back in high school. But it’s a grudge that’s never faded. One I’m sure Bailey is aware of.
She has a stepmom and a little brother in Tennessee. A whole other life, separate from everything her father left behind here when she was only a few months old. He didn’t allow her to return for our mother’s burial. I’m certain the only reason Bailey is in Oak Grove is to visit her grandparents—and that her dad has no clue I’m in town.
“Hi, Bailey.”
I catalog the many changes in her appearance. I got a Christmas card last winter, but she looks even older than she appeared in that.
She looks like my mom.
I wonder if that’s contributed to how fiercely her father has kept her removed from this ranch. From me.
I experience a rare twinge of sympathy toward the man. It can’t be easy, staring your mistakes in the face every day. He tried to fix my mom, and when he failed, he abandoned her. I did the same thing. I just came back a few times out of obligation or hope or dependence.
My sister’s glance barely lifts from the glass of orange juice Piper must have served her to greet me with a quiet “Hey.”
I should hug her. Smile. But I’m too stunned she’s here—on a ranch she’s never been to and, I’m sure, she isn’t supposed to be at.
“You’re visiting your grandparents?”
A nod, which feels like a regress. One word to none.
“Do they know you’re here?”
Bailey’s chin sets stubbornly—a trait I also inherited from our mother.
I’m not winning any brownie points. But her dad dislikes me enough. If her family is out looking for her, I need to know.
“I told Grandma I was biking into town.”
There’s an insolent edge to the answer. A challenge.
