AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I clear my throat and fill the sink with suds. “Because she likes me.”
Grammy grunts. “I think that Owen likes you.”
“You disapprove?” Kayla asks, which is not at all distracting her from the Owen topic.
“No. I like him. I don’t like Annie breaking his heart.”
“Grammy.” Kayla moans and I see her studying me, even if she thinks I don’t. “Annie doesn’t break hearts. She’s just looking for the right person.”
Grammy huffs out a breath, then, charging over, she rips out the paper I shoved into my pocket this morning, before I left my apartment. I just wanted Kayla to look at the article. “What are you carrying around?”
She begins to unfold it, but I am too fast for her. I brought that to get Kayla’s opinion, not to show Grammy. I tear it from her grasp, ripping off one of the corners of the copy paper.
“What is that?” Grammy asks.
“Nothing. Just an article. It needs an edit, that’s all. You can read it in the paper later,” I tell her, knowing that she won’t. For the first time ever, I’m grateful my grammy doesn’t read my letters or my articles. She’d be reading about me, about Owen. And she’d have plenty to say on the topic.
I leave the water in the sink and jog out of sight into Kayla’s living room, where my coat hangs on a hook.
“Annie?”
I whip around to my sister.
“Sweetie—you okay?”
I sigh, the breath shaky in my chest. “Yeah.”
“What is it?”
I shake my head and hold the paper out for her. She reads in her head the article I wrote explaining exactly why Owen and I would never work.
Kayla’s brows knit. “I thought things were going well.”
I lick my lips, my eyes glued to the paper in her hands. “They are. But how long will that last? You know me.”
Kayla sets a loving hand on my shoulder. “I do know you, Annie. You’re my baby sister. And I know that you’re pretty wonderful with Owen.” Her eyes go back to the page, and her brow is so furrowed, I’m afraid she’s going to be left with permanent wrinkles there. “Are you really printing this?”
I shrug. “Not yet. I don’t know.” I pull in a breath. “I mean, maybe. Eventually.”
“Annie,” she says, and her tone is pitying.
I snatch the article from her hand and stuff the thing into the pocket of my coat. “It’s just a first draft. It isn’t for sure.”
“Give yourself a chance, little sister.”
The knot in my throat grows. I’m not sure how to do that. I can’t speak. So, I merely nod.
“Come on,” she says, looping her arm through mine. “You know Grammy is going to make you eat a slice of that lemon pie before you go. You might as well work off those calories with a little dish duty.”
After a wonderful dinner and time with family, I amsorrowful. I shouldn’t be. But I am. I’m pretty sure the only person who can fix it is waiting for me back in Coeur d’Alene.
So, that’s where I go—back to Coeur d’Alene to let my Owensun mend my heart. At least for now. At least for the moment. Until everything falls apart.
And then, who is going to fix me?
52
Annie
