Just The Way You Are(22)

Alli stared at her in amazement. "She will get better, Tessa."

"You don't know that."

"I do know that. I won't let it be any other way." Alli looked down at Phoebe. "You know how stubborn I am. Well, you and I are going to work very hard to get you back on your feet as soon as possible. We have too many things coming up for you to be sick. There's the kite festival and the Fourth of July, your favorite day of the year, and we have clam chowder to make, and you promised Megan you'd show her how to needlepoint this summer, remember?"

Tessa watched as Alli held Phoebe's gaze with her quiet confident words. Maybe Sam was right. Maybe Alli did act like an adult sometimes.

After a few moments, Phoebe's eyes grew tired, and she drifted off to sleep once again. It was then that Tessa realized she and Alli were truly alone, no one to act as a buffer. How long had it been since there had been just the two of them in a room? What on earth would they say?

Alli's eyes met hers and she saw the same conflicting emotions.

"She'll probably sleep for a while," Alli said. "You can go if you want. I'll stay with her."

"I can stay, too."

"You must be tired."

"No more tired than you."

Alli opened her mouth, then closed it, looking down at Phoebe as if seeking some guidance. A minute later her gaze returned to Tessa. "Sam and I are separated, did he tell you that?"

"Yes," Tessa said carefully, not sure she wanted to talk about Sam right now.

"I'm sure you weren't surprised."

"Actually, I was. I didn't think you'd ever let him go. You worked so hard to get him in the first place."

Alli looked at her in amazement. "Me not let him go? You're the one with the steel grip on him."

"I haven't seen Sam in years."

"And that only makes you more interesting, more desirable. You're the one who got away, the one he should have had if only he hadn't made that one stupid mistake."

Tessa felt her temper flare. It had been a hellish forty-eight hours, and the last thing she needed was this conversation. "For God's sake, Alli, you got Sam. You won. What more do you want from me?"

"I don't want anything from you," Alli said. "I gave up counting on your support years ago."

Tessa stared at her in disbelief. "Why are you mad at me? I'm the one who should be angry, not you. Why don't you just get over yourself?"

"That's right. I forgot. You're perfect, and I haven't done anything right my whole life."

"You do cause an amazing amount of trouble."

"I made some mistakes," Alli admitted. Her voice remained low, controlled, but Tessa heard the pain and anger there. "Sleeping with Sam was a big one," Alli added, shocking Tessa with the unexpected honesty. "I saw my chance, and I took it. I was young and stupid and reckless and I wanted him. At the time, it didn't really appear that you cared one way or the other."

Tessa joined her at the foot of the bed, her voice a sharp whisper. "I did care about Sam. I loved him."

"So did I," Alli said.

"Then why are you divorcing him?"

"Because he's still in love with you. Don't you know that?" Alli said in a rush of words that burst from her lips like a dam that had broken. "Oh, God, why did I say that?"

Alli walked away from Tessa to look out the small window. She barely took in the dark, dirty alley below, the trashbins, the laundry trucks. Her mind was repeating over and over again the words that she had never meant to say out loud.#p#分页标题#e#

"You're wrong," Tessa said from behind her.

Alli slowly turned around. "I'm not wrong."

"Sam doesn't love me. He couldn't. Why are you saying this? What game are you playing now?"

"I'm not playing a game."

"You always have something up your sleeve, Alli. I've been tricked too many times to believe anything you say."

"Then ask Sam. You trust him, don't you?"

"I did once," Tessa said pointedly.

Alli studied her sister's face, noting the lines of strain etched across Tessa's forehead, the shadows under her eyes, the remnants of berry lipstick on her lips. Tessa was still beautiful, of course, but she looked tired. She looked older.

Funny, but Tessa had never really aged in Alli's mind. Not even occasional unexpected glimpses of her sister on a magazine cover had prepared her for this woman, a woman who almost seemed as human and as confused as the rest of them.

"I don't understand you," Tessa said with a quizzical shake of her head. "I didn't come here to get into any of this. I came here for Grams. And I'm sure the last thing she needs is to hear us arguing about Sam when she's the one who should have our attention."