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“What do you mean?” she demanded. “There’s no story between us.”
“Then why haven’t you two talked in so long?”
She gasped as if offended. “Wetalk!” Setting a hand against her chest, she blinked at me as if I’d slapped her.
“Yeah?” I asked. “When was the last time you talked to him, then? And why did you run off the last time he showed up?”
“I didn’t run off.”
“You ran off so fast the door slammed behind you,” I said, lifting my voice. “He doesn’t even have your number anymore. And you didn’t tell him when you came back to town. Or that you rented out the roomhe’dbeen trying to rent out? Why are you avoiding him? What happened between you two?”
“Nothing! And I’mnotavoiding him,” she scoffed, waving an unconcerned hand. “You’re exaggerating.”
“Oh, really?” I countered. “Then you’d stick around if I actually called him overright now?”
When I lifted my phone in challenge, she lifted her eyebrows right back. “Go ahead. Call him.”
I hesitated, uncertain. She didn’t seem worried about me calling him at all. And if I saw Damien again, I’d just want to jump his bones. Which was probably not wise.
Slumping my shoulders, I dropped the phone and asked, “Then, how long has it been?”
“How long haswhatbeen?” she asked, shaking her head and avoiding the question a little too extremely.
I wasn’t going to be diverted off topic this time, though. “How long has it been since you last talked to Damien?”
“Hmm.” She tapped her chin in thought. “I’m not really sure. It doesn’tfeellike that long ago.” She didn’t seem worried or concerned or sad about their estrangement at all.
“Well, I think you should call him,” I said. “I think he’d beveryhappy to hear from you.”
Finally, a glimmer of sadness drifted briefly across her features before she admitted, “Damien doesn’t hear me when I talk to him.”
And now, my heart broke for both siblings. “Well, that’s probably just a guy thing,” I offered, rolling out an unconcerned hand. “They rarely understand it when we have important shit to say. Their brains are just wired differently than ours. But I do know for a fact that hewantsto hear you. He wants to understand. Hey, maybe I could just give him a message for you and say it in a way that finally goes into his ears and stays there.”
Eyes lighting with interest, Thalia stared at me in amazement before saying, “Would you really? You’d do that for me?”
“Sure, of course.” Man, I wouldloveto be involved in helping them repair their relationship. “What do you want him to know?”
“That I love him,” she said immediately, only to pause with a slight frown. “And I’m sorry. And…huh. I guess, that’s really it.I love youandsorry.”
See! I knew it!
Wishing Jay was around so I could crow in her face—Thaliahadbeen the reason behind her and Damien’s estrangement, and now she wanted to apologize for it—I cleared my throat past my self-congratulations and furrowed my brow in concern. “I can definitely tell him that. But… What’re you sorry for?”
She gave a one-shouldered shrug and looked down at her hands, clearly not wanting to divulge. But then she admitted, “For leaving, I suppose. He was my favorite person on the planet, and I just…abandoned him here alone.”
“Well, if it makes you feel any better, I think he’s done okay without you.”
When she glanced up, all the sadness in the world seemed to glimmer in her eyes. “That doesn’t really make me feel better at all.”
Biting my lip, I winced. “Sorry. But, honestly, why did you leave in the first place?”
Becausethatwas the main thing behind all this. I had a feeling her reasoning would answer so many questions that were burning a hole through me.
But Thalia was done opening up. Instead of confessing all, her gaze frosted as she turned her attention bluntly toward the television. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”
“Thalia—” I started, wishing I could fix whatever was wrong. “It’s okay. I just want to help—”
In front of us, the television and fireplace both bleated out a popping sound before they went silent and blank.
