Page 108 of Mark

“If you want me to lie to you, then yes, I take it back. I take it all back,” I begin, my tone softer, calmer. I never knew Danny was the boy she liked. Would it have made me break up with Danny? Most likely, because I would have felt icky about it. She drops down in the chair, sobbing into her hands. I follow, taking the seat opposite her. “You know I’m telling the truth, though. But it doesn’t need to mean anything, Esther. It doesn’t. Nothing has changed now that you know. Nothing at all. And if I knew Danny was the boy you liked, I would have broken up with him.We made it official that day and started to tell people. I never meant to hurt you.”

“You’ve humiliated me. You’ve hurt me. You keep lying to me. And you are saying it doesn’t mean anything,” she whispers. “It means everything! He is my husband. He is my family. I bet you’ve been laughing about it behind my back all these years, knowing you had shit on both of us.”

“Stop and think about what you just said,” I order, ducking my head until she meets my gaze. “Yes, I’ve known stuff about you both, but I have never once used it against you. I’ve never snapped during all the times you took digs at me or caused an argument.”

“You were probably waiting for the right time,” she spits out.

“I’m pretty sure it would have been the day you exchanged vows. Or at your engagement party. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to blurt out the truth but I didn’t. Because you are my sister, and deep down, I love you. I don’t want to hurt you. I don’t want you to feel like you’ve made me feel for the past couple of years. I never wanted you to know. And I’m sorry you had to find out this way.”

“You still hold all the cards. Every time he went back to you, it’s like you had a hold of him. Even after, he would always find excuses to speak to you. I can’t live without him, Freya. I can’t.”

I take her hands in mine. “You don’t have to. He’s not going anywhere. I can see he loves you too.”

“But not as much as he loved you.”

I snort. “We weren’t perfect, Esther. We argued a lot, and we both wanted different things. Was it out of the blue when he broke up with me? Yes. But after some time, I realised it was the best thing to ever happen. I never loved him the way you love him. And honestly, I don’t think he loved me the way he does you.”

She shakes her head. “If you told him you wanted him back, he’d jump at the chance. I know it. It’s why I’ve been acting so crazy.”

“Esther, no. That’s not true. I can only speak for myself, but even if you were never in the picture, no one could pay me to take him back. I also don’t get a vibe that he wants me back. All he sees is you. All this arguing and bickering is all for nothing. He is your husband and you are his wife.”

She wipes at the tears running down her cheeks. “God, I’m such a mess.”

“I’m really sorry you had to overhear my conversation. Truly.”

Her shoulders drop. “Can we just call it quits now? I promise to stop with all the Danny remarks. I just want to look forward to our future. I want to stop stressing about stuff. I believe you when you tell me you don’t want him.” She wipes at a tear. “I just want my sister back.”

I nudge her knee, smiling. “About time. I’ve been telling you that for months.”

“I mean, you do seem pretty serious with the hot guy,” she teases.

I shrug. “It’s not serious.”

“Oh, come on; you like him.”

I smile despite our earlier argument. “Yeah, yeah I do.”

“He’s never going to like me, but I don’t blame him. I really didn’t mean to hurt his sister. I know I can be a bitch at times, but it really was an accident. I deserved what they did.”

A frown lines my forehead. “What they did?”

“They broke into our cabin somehow and cut up all my bikinis and underwear.”

Inwardly I’m smiling because I have a feeling Hayden did that. “Maybe it was someone else.”

“They also broke every heel on my shoes in a way they were sturdy for about thirty minutes. Then suddenly, they would break and I’d be on the floor. It took me until the third shoe to realise it was deliberate. I checked every single one after.”

“Is that why you are wearing Mum’s flip-flops?” I ask, pressing my lips together so I don’t laugh.

She rolls her eyes. “Yes. I deserved it. Hopefully now they’ll forgive me and we can all go out to dinner or something. Like a double date.”

“It really isn’t serious,” I assure her. Even if it was, there is no way I’m going on a double date. “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”

She lowers her gaze. “Do you promise not to tell Danny about the stuff you know? I’m worried he’ll never forgive me.”

“Esther, I promise. He won’t hear any of that from me.”

“Won’t hear any of what?” Danny asks, startling us.

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