Page 62 of Love Me Reckless

“Do you still ski as a family?” Below us, skiers dot the slopes, their bright clothing like confetti against the white snow.

“Not as much now.”

“Why is that?”

She swings her skis back and forth, reminding me of when we sat in the hot tub that first time. Like she’s daydreaming. “My dad’s too busy, and my mom says it’s too cold for her now.”

Our chair passes the first tower, bumping through the sheave wheels. I can’t help but glance up to watch. “That’s why they make insulated clothing, right?”

If she and her mom spent more time together doing something fun, would it make it easier for Kirilee to talk to her? Explain why this fixed marriage plan sucks?

“She doesn’t eat enough.” Kirilee shrugs, but her tone has turned somber. “She’s always cold. They had to take in her mother-of-the-bride dress again.”

Our chair bumps past another tower.

“You think she doesn’t eat… on purpose?”

“I know she doesn’t.”

I wince. “That sounds rough.”

“I want to help her, you know? But she just waves me off, says she’s fine.”

A gust of wind cuts across the treetops, shaking pockets of snow from the branches. “For people who are sick, it’s hard for them to understand help when it’s offered. It just feels like a threat.”

“That’s exactly it.” She shakes her head. “It makes no sense though. I care about her.”

“Have your brother and dad noticed?”

“My brother has, he’s worried too. I mean, she’s always kind of been like this, but it’s gotten worse with the wedding. My dad… he just tries to get her to eat more, but she says she’s not hungry, and it’s morphed into this weird kind of cycle. Like she takes his nagging as a sign of him caring about her. She kind of lights up when he does it. Sofie told me that sometimes a person can fear that getting better means the people around them will stop caring.”

Sofie’s studying to become a child psychologist, so I’m sure she’s right. “So… she’s hurting herself in order to get, what… noticed? That sounds like a rough place to be.”

“I wish I could tell her that.”

“Maybe if all three of you confronted her, she would listen?”

“That would require all of us to be in the same place at the same time.”

“You’ve got one of those coming up, don’t you?” We bump through another set of tower sheaves, and the grade steepens.

She gives me a playful scoff. “You want me to use my wedding as ground zero for an intervention?”

My gut wriggles. I don’t want her to even show up at this wedding. “Aren’t there other events surrounding the actual ceremony where you, Grayson, and your dad could have a conversation about how to approach her?”

“A couple, actually. I could talk to Grayson about it first.” She slides the basket on the end of her pole up her ski to peel off the layer of snow accumulated there. “Why aren’t you close with your half-brother anymore?”

I try to hide my surprise by sitting back in the chair and pretending to gaze at the view. “Because of his choices.”

Her lips twitch, like she’s thinking. “Did you ever have to confront him?”

Answering this is complicated, and messy. “Yeah.”

“Is that what happened?”

“When we were little, he was this hyperactive little shrimp that the other kids liked to pick on. I protected him. Always. Somewhere along the way, he started to depend on me bailing him out. Doing riskier and riskier shit. Getting in trouble. Stealing. Gambling. Then I found out he was using those fights he pulled me into for money.”

“Sawyer, that’s awful. What did you do?”

---