“Sure. Stop by later if you’d like to help me with my massage homework. A body full of muscles like yours is hard to come by in these parts.” How Pam raised her chest and made her boobs suddenly swell larger was a mystery Meg didn’t want to solve. “We’ll talk later, Meg. Bye.”
“See you.”
Meg and Ryan stood in silence until Pam’s swaying hips were at the top of the hill. Meg turned and eyed her brother. “You and Pam?”
“Nope.”
Ryan, the man of many words.
“Good. Now, thanks for saving me, but the only thing I have to say to you is—you all suck!”
“Prove us wrong then.” He reached into his khaki uniform pants pocket and pulled out a set of keys. “For your new house. Utilities will be on in the morning.”
Ryan pressed the keys to their grandparents’ house into her hand, then turned to walk back to his place. That he had been the first to say he had no problem with not getting his fair share of the house poked at her heart. “Thanks, Ry.”
He didn’t bother to turn around, just lifted a hand to say goodbye.
Meg stuffed the keys into her back pocket, flipped the switch on the compressor, and went back to painting the fence. Zeke was right—the paint shot out so fast she’d have the job finished in no time. Then she’d collect Haley from Zeke and go to the diner. She needed Aunt Gloria’s comfort food. And some awesome pie. Nothing helped a desperate girl think more clearly than Aunt Gloria’s chocolate mousse pie.
When the compressor suddenly stopped working mid-squirt, Meg turned to see what the problem was.
Casey stood with the plug dangling from her long, elegant hand. “We need to talk, Meg.”
She dropped the nozzle onto the grass and turned the opposite way. Casey’s betrayal had stung the worst. “I have nothing to say to you, Benedict Arnold.”
“Good, then you can just listen.” In a classic Casey move, she tugged on Meg’s ponytail, thwarting her escape. Meg whirled around to give her sister the tongue-lashing she deserved, but before she could start, Casey pulled Meg close, wrapping those mile-long arms around her, trapping her against that tall body. “I’m furious with you for not telling me about Haley’s father, but I realized something today.” Meg tried to pull away, but Casey’s grip only grew tighter. “Apparently you haven’t figured out I quit being your mother a long time ago. I’ve always wished we could just be sisters.”
Meg stopped struggling. “Really? Because a sister, as opposed to a mother siding with Dad, would have called and warned me about this plan. Not one of you cared enough to make a simple phone call?”
“You expected Ryan to call and tell you? The man hasn’t strung ten sentences in a row since he was born.”
“Funny. But that doesn’t let you and Ben off the hook.”
“It’s not some big conspiracy. The truth is—Dad’s right about this one thing. We do always bail you out. If you’d stop being mad long enough to let your brain kick in, you’ll realize it’s true. Should I give you examples?”
That was the last thing she needed, to have all her past mistakes thrown in her face. “No! But it’s different now that I have Haley. I’ve changed.” She had her work cut out for her to show them all how much she’d changed, but she’d do it.
“The jury’s still out on that. But if it’s true, then you need a sister more than a mother right now.” Casey leaned back and tilted Meg’s face up with her soft hands. “A sister is someone you can trust, no matter how big the problem. Sisters can share a glass of wine, bitch about men, and talk about sex.”
“I can’t talk about sex with . . . you.” Meg shuddered. “That’d be like talking to Grandma about it.”
“That’s my point, Meg. Get over it!” Casey huffed out a breath. “Anyway, the real reason for this chat is that I got a new computer a few weeks ago and my old one is still sitting in the corner of my office. I haven’t had time to wipe the hard drive. It has all of our client contact information and the latest version of our management software. Dad said we couldn’t help you, but if the computer went missing I wouldn’t report it to Ryan.” Casey pulled her closer. “As your sister, I want nothing more than for you to show Dad what you’re capable of. So don’t screw this up. Are we good here?”
Megan wrapped her arms around Casey’s waist and snuggled close.
A hug felt good after the day she’d had.
But it was still a mom hug. Casey was the closest to a mother she’d ever known. It wouldn’t be easy to stop thinking of her in that way, but it might be nice to start over with Casey. Just be sisters for a change. Maybe she’d be able to start over with her dad too. If she could pull off renovating the lodge and make him proud of her for once.