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“What gives?” Talia asked. “I’m surprised you don’t want to stake him through the heart.”
“Illness scares people, Tally.” Gloria’s expression and tone were gentle enough to make Talia want to reach for a tissue. “They don’t know what to do or what to say. It’s like they get paralyzed. And anyway…”
She trailed off, blinking.
“Anyway,” Talia prompted when the silence went on too long.
Gloria ducked her head, but not before Talia caught a glimpse of a tear as it trailed down her cheek. After a quick swipe at her eyes, Gloria shot her a rueful smile.
“Anyway,” Gloria said, “I’d trade places and be sick for you if I could, no matter how big a pain in the ass you are.” She paused. “Maybe he feels the same way.”
“Aww.” Talia squirmed and made an exaggerated pout to hide her discomfort. A close corollary to her rule about never admitting weakness was her rule about never showing emotion. Breaking either rule would quickly lead to the ugly cry, and once she started that, she feared she’d never stop. “I love you, too, Glo.”
Gloria, luckily, was on board the keep it cool train.
“Yeah, whatever,” she said, disappearing back inside the closet. “Enough about you. Back to me. What should I wear? Too bad I’m so much more petite than you. Your clothes always hang on me like a tent.”
“Child, please.” Grinning, Talia flopped back onto the pillow. “You’d be lucky to fit one of your cellulite-riddled thunder thighs inside anything of mine.” They both laughed, probably because they’d worn the same size in everything since they were teenagers. “I don’t know why you think you’re going to find something in there,” Talia continued. “You know I don’t have any black or white clothes. You’ll have to go with a color. Doesn’t that make your skin break out in hives?”
“I told you. I want something colorful tonight. Aaron’s taking me to Masa. He knows how much I love Japanese.”
Right, Talia thought sourly, glad Glo couldn’t see her roll her eyes. Aaron the married man was taking Gloria to a Manhattan restaurant.
Sure.
And the director of the Louvre was on the phone right now, offering to devote a section near the Mona Lisa to Talia’s work.
It was really hard, but she bit back her words of warning and kept her mouth shut. Why risk getting her head bitten off again? It wasn’t as if Gloria welcomed the truth, no matter how obvious it was. God alone knew no good had ever come from telling Gloria her honest opinion about the wonderful Aaron, so why would today be any different?
“And can you make me up?” Gloria called. “You do the liquid eyeliner so much better than I do.”
“Sure,” Talia said.
If she heard the lack of enthusiasm in her voice, Gloria gave no sign of it as she peered around the door again, holding up Talia’s red vintage wrap dress. “What about this one? Do you think Aaron will like it?”
Oh, who the hell cared what that lying and cheating SOB liked or didn’t like?
Talia stared into her sister’s face, which was so eager and hopeful it was like watching a puppy in the second before it got kicked, and tried to dial back her frustration and confusion. Gloria was smart, funny and beautiful. What had happened to make her self-esteem so low that she was grateful for whatever crumbs a married man might drop her way?
Why wouldn’t—or couldn’t—she see the light?
On the other hand who was Talia to wonder about any woman’s ability to see the light? It wasn’t as if she was batting a thousand with her stellar selection of first Paul and then Tony, now, was it?
“That one’ll make your butt look huge, Glo,” Talia reassured her. “He’ll love it.”
“Perfect. Now for some shoes—”
Chesley’s head came up off her paws and she cocked her ears. She jumped off the chair and trotted through the apartment and to the front door, just as the bell rang.
“Do you want me to—” Gloria began.
“I’ll get it.”
“Great. I’m going to change.”
Gloria went to work unbuttoning her blouse and shut the closet door, leaving Talia to haul her tired butt off the bed and follow the dog, who was now sitting on her haunches and looking back at her with a lot of hurry up in her eyes. If there was any question about what she wanted, she gave a low woof and a follow-up whine as she pointed her snout at the knob.
