Page 43 of The Island Villa

Adeline stayed next to her, staring into the darkness. “We both know you’re not.”

“So? It’s the answer you gave when I asked you the same question in the car earlier. And I don’t believe you were fine either.” It wasn’t like her to be confrontational, but she wasn’t feeling like herself.

“You’re right, I wasn’t,” Adeline said, “but mostly when people ask how you are, they don’t really want to know the answer.”

Cassie almost laughed, because her thoughts had gone in the same direction. “That’s true. But I do.” She turned to look at her sister. “I asked because I wanted to know.”

“And I appreciated you asking. But when I’m stressed, I tend not to talk about it.” Adeline brushed sand from her legs. “It wasn’t about you, it was about me. I don’t find it easy to talk about my feelings.”

The fact that her sister had feelings was news. “Why?”

Adeline thought about it.

“I suppose it’s a bit like getting naked in public. There are some parts of me I don’t want other people to see.”

Cassie wondered what it said about her, that she had no problem with freely sharing her emotions. Maybe she was an exhibitionist.

Still, it was a relief to know she hadn’t entirely lost her ability to read people. “So you were stressed? I thought maybe I was imagining things and that being here didn’t bother you.”

“It bothers me a great deal. It bothered me before my father showed up unexpectedly, and now? I can’t think of a word to cover it.”

Cassie felt the tight knot in her chest relax. She’d promised herself that she wasn’t going to talk about anything personal with her sister, but that was before she discovered her sister might be human, after all.

“Did you really not know your dad was here?”

“I didn’t know.” Her voice was laced with hurt and bitterness, and Cassie recognized both emotions because she was feeling them herself.

“It was a shocker. I handled it badly.”

“I think your reaction was entirely human.”

“Maybe. But I should have been cool. Instead of running off and almost mowing down poor Ajax, I should have said congratulations and raised a glass. That’s probably what you did after I left. But I’m not you.” She felt her throat thicken and felt a rush of frustration toward herself. Her emotions were about as easy to contain as a litter of puppies. She would have given a lot to feel nothing, or at least to be able to pretend she felt nothing. “Unlike you, I’m terrible at hiding my feelings.”

“Well, it turns out so am I in certain situations, and that was one of them. Maybe you didn’t notice my reaction, but I didn’t raise a glass. I didn’t say congratulations. I guess one’s ability to hide one’s feelings depends on the circumstances.” Adeline wrapped her arms round her legs. “I don’t think you handled it badly, Cassie. Given the circumstances, I think you were restrained.”

“You do?”

“Yes.” Adeline turned her head. “You didn’t know either, did you?”

“That your dad was the man she was marrying? No. Of course not.”

“It must hurt that she didn’t tell you. I know you’re close to her.”

Cassie felt emotion rise. “Apparently not as close as I thought. And you’re close to your dad.”

“Apparently not as close as I thought. And yes, it hurts. This is...” Adeline broke off and took several deep breaths. “It’s difficult, isn’t it?”

“Yes.” The words were lean and sparse, an inadequate topping to the depth of emotions that lay beneath but it didn’t matter because they both knew what they were feeling.

There was a long silence, which Adeline eventually broke.

“We have to figure it out.”

“I suppose we do.” She liked the sound of the we. But what was there to figure out? It wasn’t as if their mother had given them a choice. This was happening, whether they liked it or not. Her stomach gave a loud rumble, and she gave an embarrassed laugh. “Sorry. My stomach doesn’t care about drama. All it knows is that it was looking forward to Maria’s food.”

Adeline scrambled to her feet and brushed the sand from her dress. “Wait there.”

“Where are you going?”

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