Page 70 of Tulips and Lost Time

“So Kari knew from day one,” Kane surmises. “And Britt obviously knew. And neither of them said a word?”

“Nope.” I sit back and run my fingers through my hair. “They both kept their word. Britt wasn’t saying shit, and she had no clue Kari knew. And she sure as hell had no clue the woman I was pining for was her best friend. So it wasn’t weird on Britt’s part. And Kari wasn’t saying anything, because she hated me, and she didn’t want to fracture the relationship she had with her foster sister. She understood Britt had no clue, so it wasn’t a crime on Britt’s part.”

“Just yours,” Jess acknowledges. “Kari was mad only at you.”

“I have no clue what life was like for her for the next few years,” I admit. “She didn’t come home to hang out. No Christmases. No birthdays. Not even when Mr. and Mrs. Turner set off for their world trip. Nothing.” I glance down at the table and spy my empty coffee mug. Yearning for more but not quite ready to get up and make it. “She was gone, and as far as I knew, she was dating Blake. I was locked out, and no one even thought to give me intel, since I couldn’t tell them what was going on between us. I especially couldn’t tell them why she was mad at me.”

“But you snuck information from Marcus.” Jess wanders to the kitchen counter, holding Billy in one experienced arm and pulling the fridge open with her free hand, while Kane sets the twins on their feet and allows them to explore.

Our home is already kid proofed. Toys abound, and soft edges ensure everyone is safe.

Thanks to Kari.

“You and Marcus were always pretty tight,” Jess continues. “Same age. Same grade. Ang and Scotch were in the band as well, but they were close, and you and Marcus were close. It’s just the way things were.”

“Right,” I agree. “So I caught updates from Marc, mostly. That Kari was doing well in school. That she was graduating. That she was preparing for her NCLEX.” I look at Kane. “She had to sit those final exams before she could practice and take a placement in the hospital.”

“Why didn’t she stay in the city and work there? Earlier, I get she wanted to come home and be with everyone else. She wanted to be with you,” he clarifies. “But by the end of her degree, she was pissed and wanted nothing to do with you. Whether Ten was gay or straight, she’d clearly created a special relationship with him. So why not stay there and work at whatever hospital he ended up at?”

“She did,” Jess answers. “Sort of.” Closing the fridge, she turns with a bottle of regular cow’s milk and sets it on the counter. Reaching up, she grabs a couple of small, plastic cups, and prepares to pour a little for the girls. “Blake failed his NCLEX the first time they sat it. He’s good at his job. And he’s a good guy. But I guess things just weren’t working in his favor that year because he bombed.”

Kane studies his wife expectantly. “Did Kari bomb?”

I snort. “No chance. She graduated top of her class, since clearly she had all that rage to fuel her education, and a secret gay best friend to keep her mind off guys. She tests well. But Blake on the other hand?—”

“Failed his NCLEX,” Jess adds. “Then he re-sat them at the next opportunity a few months later. Bombed those, too.”

Kane grits his teeth that way people do when they’re thinking ‘eek’.

“Kari wasn’t having it,” Jess finishes. “So she studied with him for the third attempt. It was one of those no man left behind missions. So while Blake was freaking out about his future, Kari was sitting on a nursing degree and able to practice. She refused to bail on the poor guy, so she signed a twelve-month contract with the hospital in the city.”

“Which isn’t common,” I clarify since Kane wouldn’t know. “Typically, a nurse just gets his or her job and… that’s it. They stay. Or they don’t. When they’re leaving, they give two weeks notice. Kari, being the clever one she is, was headhunted for a clinic in the city, and in exchange, she got some kind of grant that essentially wiped out her college debt.”

“Money,” Kane acknowledges, “in exchange for a year of her life.”

“Right. And since Blake was spiraling, it worked out anyway. Laine and Britt were in their final year of college too, and Jess was spreading shit out, since she likes to be difficult.”

Jess, our lawyer, only grins. “Difficult? Or thorough?”

“Difficult,” Kane decides. But he winks when she flattens her lips. “So everyone was still in the city.”

“Yep, for that extra year,” I clarify. “I learned that through Marcus, too. I learned about Blake’s NCLEX failures. And Kari’s contract that would keep her away. I learned about the clinic she was helping build. And the relationship I thought she was having with Blake was seemingly flourishing.”

“Since she decided to stay back and be with him,” Kane sniggers. “Makes sense.”

“So by the time the girls graduated and were preparing to come home, I was on the edge of my fucking seat, dying for information on what Kari would be doing. They were giving up their apartment since the others were coming back. The question I was screaming in my mind was, what about Kari? Was she moving in with the ten-inch dick, or was she coming back to town and settling in at our hospital, which was the plan all along?”

“And let’s not forget your gentle manipulations,” Jess giggles. “The, ‘Oh gosh, Marc, didn’t she promise to come back and work at our hospital?’ and the, ‘Oh gee, don’t you miss her, Macchio? You should visit the city this weekend and remind her of the job she could have if she came back.’” Snickering, she fills the plastic cups halfway and offers them as each twin marches through the kitchen. “‘Wow, the crime rates sure are getting a little high in the city these days, Marc. How do you feel about that?’”

“I did what I had to do,” I grumble. Though my lips curl with smug satisfaction. “You three were coming home, and the options, as far as I saw them, were between forcing her home, even if she didn’t like it, or letting her shack up with the dick.” I firm my lips and lift a single, challenging brow. “I knew which route I was taking.”

“Though god forbid you pick up the phone and just…” Jess rolls her eyes. “Call her.”

I shrug and look down at sweet Billy. Her eyes are open, which isn’t a super common occurrence for her yet. She’s still in the calm new-newborn phase. The one where I’m not sure she’s aware she was even born yet. “I was getting desperate. She left as a teenager. She was, at that point, a beautiful, intelligent, and dangerously stubborn mulish woman who needed to be reminded of the promises she made years before. I wanted her back here, and I was willing to annoy Marc to make it happen.”

“Pretty sure the courts call that coercion.” She brings her free hand up and studies her nails. “Controlling, even.”

“I call it a gentle nudge for the greater good.” I smile when she drops her hand and looks across. “From where I stood, she’d been in a long-term relationship, and Marc wasn’t setting the city on fire. She was grown. She was sexually active—or so I thought—and she had graduated from school.”

---