Page 61 of Love In Translation

A rattling, vaguely familiar sound drifted through the open window, and Rheo looked down. A battered van braked in front of the house, announcing its arrival with a high-pitched squeal. She hadn’t seen the van for over ten years, but it looked exactly the same, a faded powder blue as familiar as her signature. They hadn’t fixed the ding above the tire, nor the long scratch on the driver’s door.

Jesus Christ, her parents were here.

What the crap were they doing here?

Rheo ran into the hall and skidded on the smooth floor. She yanked open the front door and flew down the steps, cursing when one of Paddy’s iceberg rosebushes snagged her shirt. She wrenched it free and passed through the gate leading to the sidewalk, reaching the van as her dad stepped out. She braked, not sure how to greet him. They’d never been touchy-feely types. Her dad took that decision out of her hands, pulling her into a brief, hard hug. Gulping, Rheo turned to kiss her mom’s cheek, inhaling her wild sage perfume. Rheo lowered her head and noticed the familiar rings on her mom’s big and baby toes, the intricate tattoo covering the top of her right foot.

Her parents were here...

Yes, they infuriated her, she didn’t understand them, but it was still good to see them.

“And me? Don’t I get a hug?”

Rheo’s eyes widened as her cousin stepped onto the pavement, a vision of tanned skin, blond hair, and bright green eyes in a happy face.

The gang was all here...

Right. Well...

Okay then.

Carrying her cousin’s backpack, Rheo followed Carrie to the room she always used, the smaller one at the back of the house. Rheo threw her pack onto the bed, still covered by a quilt that Grandma Jean, her mom’s mom, made for Carrie’s tenth birthday. Rheo had been gifted one too, but hers was in storage back in Brooklyn. Because she’d put the quilt into a plastic bag and kept it away from sunlight, it was brighter than Carrie’s. But her cousin’s seemed warmer, lovelier somehow, despite its faded squares. More interesting.

It was an apt metaphor for their lives. Hers was shiny and bright, but Carrie’s waswaymore interesting.

Carrie flopped backward onto her bed, and Rheo perched on the edge of a wingback chair, confused. “Okay, explain again...why are you all here?” she demanded.

Carrie leaned back on her elbows and shook her head to move her hair off her face. “Your parents drove here from Houston—”

“Texas?”

“Houston, British Columbia,” Carrie corrected her. “They came because they sensed a thaw in your attitude, and they wanted to capitalize on it. It’s also a good time for them to return to Gilmartin, because Paddy is halfway across the world.”

Rheo ran her fingers across her forehead, trying to take it all in.

“I’m here because I told Fletch I would be. Your parents said they’d pick me up if I flew into Seattle, so I did. I hope we can spend some quality time together...if you can yank the stick out of your ass.”

Rheo frowned at her. “What stick?”

“The I’m-so-better-than-you-I’ve-got-life-sorted stick,” Carrie told her.

Rheo wanted to retaliate, but her hot words died in her throat. She bit her lip, forcing herself to admit that she could sound prissy and pretentious. She echoed Paddy, and took her cues from her grandmother, never stopping to consider her family’s feelings. That ended, today. Right now.

“I’m not better than you, and I don’t have my life sorted,” Rheo murmured.

Carrie flashed her megawatt smile. “Good girl. Where is Fletch?” she demanded, sitting up to tackle the buckle on her sandals.

“Currently, he’s in Portland,” Rheo told her, blinking at the change of subject.

“When is he back?”

“I have no idea,” she answered, unable to keep the frost out of her voice. Had he forgotten how to use the damn phone? Were his fingers broken?

“Ooh, you look pissed off.” Carrie tossed a sandal in the general direction of the cupboard. “What has he done?”

Rheo might as well share—she wouldn’t be able to keep their affair secret now that the Pink House was full of her family. Nor did she want to. She wanted Carrie to know she and Fletch were together...that Fletch was attracted to her.

Ego again, Whitlock? When are you going to stop feeling second best?

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