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"Uh, yeah," she says, narrowing her eyes on me.
"Crap. I forgot."
All three sisters at the table turn to look at me.
"You never forget anything," Charlie says, shuffling across the kitchen with my coffee cup extended like it might bite her. She's kind of a disaster so it's possible. Unlike me, Charlie has never pretended to be anything other than herself. She's spent her whole life accidentally causing disasters.
"Well, I forgot this time."
"You're lying." Leia points at me like this is a game of Clue and she's fingering me as the suspect. "What are you up to, Gemma Bodie Marsh?"
"I'm not lying!" I cry. "I forgot." It's true. I've been too busy with Bronx to remember anything else.
"Why have you been in bed so early all weekend?" Leia asks.
"Why are you asking so many questions?" I retort. I want to tell them everything about Bronx and going to the club. I came here to tell them, but not like this. Not with them grilling me like this is the Inquisition and I'm on trial. That's not how I want to remember telling my sisters that I met the man of my dreams.
"Why are you avoiding the question?"
"Why are you being so journalisty?"
"That's not even a word, Gemma," Leia says scornfully.
"Well, it is now because I said it."
"Good grief," Adalynn says. "We aren't five anymore, you two."
"Then tell Leia to stop treating me like I am," I mutter, exactly like a petulant five-year-old.
"Stop keeping secrets like one," she retorts.
"You know what?" I stand up from my chair, frustrated and sad and…frustrated. "This isn't an emergency meeting. It's an ambush. The four of you were allowed to grow up and have lives and no one tried to stop you. I supported you the whole way. But as soon as I stop answering the phone for a single weekend, I get treated like a little kid who did something wrong. It's not okay."
Leia's face falls. "Gemma."
"I've always done everything I could to make sure you guys didn't worry about me, even if it meant sacrificing what I wanted and needed. But I'm not going to sit here and be treated like I did something wrong because I decided to do what I wanted to do this weekend and didn't ask for your permission. I'm sorry I forgot about dinner last night. But that doesn't give you guys theright to gang up on me." I scoop my bag up off the floor. "I'm going home."
"Gemma, wait," Adalynn says. "We didn't mean to gang up on you."
"We're just worried," Heidi says.
"That's the problem!" I cry. "You're always worried! I can't do anything without you guys worrying about me. When do I get to grow up and be an adult?" I look at each of them. "When do I get to just be me without being afraid that everything I do is going to make you worry?"
I'm not being fair, and I hate that. But they aren't being fair, either. It's four against one and it has been for a long time. At some point, it has to stop. Bronx was right last night. I can spend the rest of my life playing the perfect little angel, and they'll still worry. They're my sisters and they love me. They'll always worry. But at some point, they have to back off and let me live my life even when they worry.
And I have to be strong enough to draw that boundary. Not just for me, but for them too. Because they deserve the peace that comes with knowing that I can handle myself. And I can handle myself. If I learned anything this weekend, it's that.
"I love you all more than words, but you've got to back off," I say quietly, heading for the door. "Please."
By the time Iget home, Bronx is in the driveway. I leave my stuff in my car, flying to his side. He lifts me into his arms as if he knows just how badly I need to be in them right now.
"Kiss me," I plead.
His lips come down on mine, hard and unyielding. "Give it to me," he growls.
I do, kissing him until every last frustrated thought vanishes. Until spots swim before my eyes and I'm gasping for breath. Until the argument with my sisters disappears from my mind and the only thing left is this…me and him and silence.
He pulls back slowly, examining my face. Whatever he sees there this time seems to satisfy him. He tucks me up against his chest, my head under his chin. "That's better," he says with a quiet sigh.
