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Sometimes, I wondered where my life would be if my mother had left Tommy.
Would my lifestyle have changed?
Would she have remarried?
Would she have died so early in life?
She was only thirty-three years of age when she died.
“I’ve been busy,” I shoot back and keep walking.
I don’t have a desire to talk right now, and after the meeting earlier, I want to get out of here as soon as possible.
Lacey always clings to me like white on rice and I never understood it. Our brother Jace goes out of his way to avoid me and we never say more than a few words to each other. Lacey never got along with Jace, says he’s an asshole to her.
We stroll outside, and the heat beats the hell out of me, so I use my hand as a shield for my eyes. The sun peeks through the tall, leafy trees.
Her eyes shine like the stars and her smile is brighter than the sun, revealing her straight white teeth. “Can I be your groomsman?”
Of course, she heard everything, always one to eavesdrop on conversations. Ever since she was a little girl.
Here comes the million questions.
I slide my hands in my pockets. “You can be the flower girl.” She slides into my Aston Martin, not bothering to ask me if I have plans. Just barges in. It’s cute and annoying at the same time. I get into the driver’s seat.
“I’m seventeen, not twelve. I’m too old to be the flower girl, and I don’t know your girlfriend to ask her to be a bridesmaid. You have any smokes?” She grins, kicking her feet up on my dashboard.
I tap the start button and the engine roars to life. “I told you about that. Smoking is not good for you.” She frowns and shakes her head so hard, I think it’s going to roll off her shoulders.
“Neither is lying, but we both do it.” She shakes her head. “You don’t even want to get married. But I understand why you’re doing it. Uncle James’s business is going to make you even more super rich.” Her eyes gloss over with tears. “I don’t get why Dad treats you like shit, but if my words mean anything to you, I like you, and you’re cool. And I sometimes wish that Dad treated you a lot better.”
Her words hit my chest, and I don’t know what to say. To have someone from my family be kind to me means a lot. It’s nice to hear that someone cares aboutmefor a change, and not about what I can do for them.
She may be a brat, but she has a heart, and she isn’t mean or ever acts like her parents. Maybe having a good heart is something you are born with.
I don’t know how to respond to her kind words, so I nod.
“Take me to the convenience store.”
We ride in silence until I reach the nearest gas station. She asks me if I need anything, and I shake my head. Fifteen minutes later, she opens the car door, hops in, then slams it shut. She tosses her bag into the back seat, grabs a cigarette from the packet, puts it between her lips, and lights it up. A cloud of smoke fills the car, so I tap my window and watch her flick ashes out her side. The tip of the cigarette is orange, lightening up the car a bit.
I hate the smell of nicotine, and I rub the back of my neck. “Where to now?”
She glances back at me, twisting her body to fully face me. “To the skating ring. You haven’t taken me in several months.”
Guilt eats at me like a disease. “I’ve been busy these days, running a billion-dollar company.”
“A business you don’t even like,” she shoots back.
“True,” I reply.
I used to take her when I moved back to New York City after college.
Once we’re inside, we sit at a round table and slip on our skates, all the while Lacey tells me about the drama with her friends, her boyfriend who’s in a rock band, and how her mother doesn’t approve of him.
I don’t like her mother, but I agree with her. He’s probably a bad boy who’s strung out on drugs. They have a bad rep, but I’m going to hold off on the judgment until I meet him.IfI meet him. I have a feeling she’s not going to bring him around me. Eventually, we’ll meet and when we do, I’m going to drill him with questions. I need to make sure that he’s going to be good to my little sister.
She rests her elbows on the table. “So, about this Poppy. I want to know everything about her. What’s she like?”
