Page 20 of Tame Me

Her eyes flittered down to her teacup, and I sensed she was reluctant to answer. She licked her lips and adjusted her bra strap, and as I waited, I knew I’d touched on a difficult subject.

I reached forward and put my hand over hers. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to.”

She sighed. “It’s not that. We’ve always been honest with each other. But I’d hoped you’d never ask me this.”

I frowned, and unsure what I should say, I remained silent and just squeezed her hand.

“I was in love once. Deep, deeply in love.” She placed her hand over her heart. “The kind of love that makes it impossible to breathe when he’s near you, yet it’s equally impossible to breathe when he’s not.”

I was yet to find a relationship like that, but by the wistful look on her face and the love in her eyes, I knew this man had truly touched her heart. “What happened?”

She turned her pale blue eyes to me and sighed. “He fell in love with my sister.”

I blinked as I tried to process her words. The implication hit me like a lightning bolt. “Dad? You loved Dad? But how? What?—”

“He never knew—neither of them did. I never had the courage to tell him how I felt, and when Margaret told me she was sweet on Roger, what could I do?”

“Oh, Aunty Ann.” I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it would’ve been like to see the man you loved with another woman, especially your own sister.

She sighed long and deep. “I’ve gone over it a million times. If I’d just told him how I felt, maybe my life would’ve been so different.”

“You never met anyone else?”

She flicked her hand. “In a small town like this, you only get one shot, and I blew it.”

I knew exactly what she meant. “It’s not too late, you know.”

This had her laughing until tears rolled down her cheeks. “I wouldn’t know what to do with a man now, and I’d have a heart attack if he tried to kiss me.”

She started giggling, and I laughed along with her.

Aunty Ann was lovely to talk to, but the hours drifted away too quickly. My heart grew heavy when I realized it was time to leave, but I’d promised Mom and Dad that I’d be back to help decorate.

We kissed and hugged goodbye, and Aunty Ann came out onto her front porch to watch me walk home.

Mom was beside herself with stress over the party. According to her, nothing was going right, although I couldn’t see anything that had gone wrong. When I’d lived at home, my parents had rarely entertained. On the rare occasion people came to visit, Mom would spend weeks planning a simple backyard barbecue.

If something spontaneous happened, Mom would have a quasi-heart attack.

I sighed at her fussing about in the kitchen. “What do you want me to do?”

“Oh, there’s so much.”

“Mom, calm down. Just tell me one thing.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down. This stupid party was your father’s idea, and now he and Tyler have decided to play golf before they even come home from the airport.”

“It’s Dad’s birthday. You should be pleased he’s spending time with his son.”

She huffed. “The whole backyard needs to be decorated.”

“Okay, leave that to me.”

Grateful to be away from her, I stepped out onto the back porch, and with giant six and zero balloons dancing in the slight breeze beside me, I unpacked grocery bags full of cheesy party decorations.

Determined to get through this without getting gray hairs, I sat on a chair and set about pumping up all the other balloons with the helium tank that came with them.

Within two hours, I had the backyard transformed into a typical party setting that was fitting for small-town Mildura. Purple and white streamers hung between the trees and the porch posts. Balloons were secured to every possible anchor point, and I’d positioned plastic cups alongside every available cooler Mom and Dad had been able to borrow from the neighbors.

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