Page 93 of Lost and Found

"Still sad?" Honey asks as she plops down next to me on the couch.

Despite booting Abby from my life, I am still sad. I miss Grant. I hate that I miss that meddling, underestimating, judgy, ruley mcrulerson, but I can't make myself stop. And, apparently, I can't even fake not missing him.

I don't want to talk about Grant, though. I'm afraid my sisters will think he's right to meddle because I clearly need a keeper. "Can we really do this, Honey? Can we make this sanctuary farm work? Or did we jump into this idea because it's the first thing we thought of?"

Honey shifts away from me. "All I want to do is make pottery. That's all I've ever wanted to do. The Sanctuary Farm is a way to do that and save the lives of animals."

"So why not just start a pottery business or a bed-and-breakfast? None of us are going to get rich with this farm."

"Do you want to be rich?" Honey tilts her head and blinks her big eyes. She is the sweetest of all of us and I used to worry the real world would eat her up and spit her out, but she's tougher than I ever gave her credit for. "I remember you saying you'd be happy if you could bake all day and make enough money to live on."

"This is a big job, Honey. Our whole lives are going to change."

"Your life has already changed. You take a skunk with you everywhere you go and you wake up an hour earlier every day, so you have time to feed and hug Mari before you go to work. I even caught you eating your pastries for lunch so you could give the salad I made you to the pigs." She pokes my chest. "You have so much love in here. You can't tell me you aren't excited about the opportunity to help animals and change their entire world."

Her words light that ember in my chest that has been growing since I added Skidmark to my life. I'm excited, so excited. I'm also terrified. "I had a business, Honey. I failed it."

"You didn't fail it." Goldy walks in with a bowl of ice cream and sits on her couch. Clover follows with her own bowl and sits on her own couch. "Someone you trusted stabbed you in the back. That's not your fault."

"It's never happened to you," I say.

"That's because I don't trust anyone. Except family."

I'm not at all sure she even trusts her own sisters, but I don't argue. "You've been the most vocal opponent of this farm."

Goldy brushes her hair back from her shoulder and wrinkles her nose. Even at home with us, she's still wearing full make-up, linen pants, and a button-down blouse, her back straight as she sits with perfect posture. Have I ever seen my sister truly relaxed? Or is this relaxed for her? Is she at ease?

"I don't oppose the farm," Goldy says. "If I opposed the farm, I wouldn't have offered you and Honey so much advice these past few weeks."

Honey makes a sound that she covers with a cough. I don't dare look at her, because if we both start laughing, I have the oddest feeling we'll hurt Goldy's feelings.

I bite my lip and swallow hard, considering what I want to say. "So you're not opposed to us starting a sanctuary farm?"

Goldy sighs. "No, Dandelion. Have you forgotten that conversation we had where we agreed Dad would hate us starting a non-profit in his name? I think the farm is a great idea, but we all need to be realistic about how much work it's going to take and how hard it will be. It's a lovely idea now, but when we get sick, abused, or dying animals, it will be heartbreaking and expensive."

"You're going to help us?" Honey asks, sounding excited but cautious.

"Of course, we're going to help you," Clover says. "Goldy and I aren't staying after our year is up, but we can help you get things started."

Hopefully, we won't need Goldy or Clover's help. If they're leaving, it's best we don't depend on them too much. Still, it's good to know they've got our backs. My sisters and I haven't always gotten along. We haven't always even liked each other very much, but they would never betray me the way Abby did. "Before you all agree. You should know that the last business I was a part of didn't go so well."

"That was not your fault," Goldy says, twisting her lips. "Well, I mean you picked a truly terrible partner to start a business with, but other than that, it wasn't your fault."

"You started a business?" Clover asks. "Why didn't you tell us?"

"I didn't want you to know until it was a confirmed success." I fill them in on everything about the business and how Abby stabbed me in the back and blackballed me.

"You know we would never do that to you, right?" Honey asks, her eyes damp. "I'm sorry I didn't call more often when you lived in Atlanta. I should have been there for you."

"We all should have been there for you," Clover says. "I haven't been a very good sister to any of you and I'm sorry."

Goldy waves a hand. "We all let petty disagreements get in the way of our relationships. It's all totally normal and human, but if we are going to work together, we must agree to put petty disagreements behind us." She presses a finger to her chin. "Perhaps we should write up a contract about how to handle disputes. If we have a plan for mediation and an agreement not to run away from disagreements…" She looks pointedly at me. "… our business and personal relationships both could benefit."

"Is that really necessary?" Clover asks. "We're adult enough to handle disagreements without a contract, aren't we?"

Goldy purses her lips. "Clover, just last night you threatened to drop my laptop in the pond if I didn't tell you where I'd hidden your protein powder."

"You know I use it every day, Goldy. Why the hell did you put it on the top shelf of the pantry?"

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