Page 18 of Mistaken Intention

I turn back again. “I’m sure he is, and I wasn’t going to say anything.”

She sighs, shaking her head. “D—Do you think we could try to be friends?” she says, surprising me.

“Friends? We’re step-sisters.”

“I know, but we’ve never acted like it, have we?”

I can’t deny that. “No. I guess not.”

She leans a little closer, nudging in to me. “I’ll always be grateful you were there for me when I found out I was pregnant. After Dad reacted the way he did, I had no-one else to turn to, and even though Drew stepped up, I relied on you, Josie. I don’t think you know how much. Please don’t think I’m ungrateful for what you did. I—I’m sorry I didn’t stay in touch after Maisie was born, but… well, life’s complicated.”

It’s a lot more complicated than she thinks. “I know.”

She smiles. “It’s just, if I’m gonna move here, it’d be nice to think we could see more of each other, maybe build a relationship? We never really tried before, did we?”

“When we were growing up, you mean?”

“Yeah,” she says.

“I guess we never spent that much time together.”

She smiles. “No. You were always too busy with horse riding and martial arts.”

I chuckle, recalling the long-forgotten interests of my youth. “Yeah… and you were only interested in ballet and dance classes.”

“God… yeah. I was obsessed.”

“You looked great in a tutu, though.”

She laughs, although it quickly fades, and she stares at me for a moment. “Of course, everything changed, didn’t it, when…”

“When I got sick?”

“Yeah.” She moves her hand closer to mine, although I don’t think she expects me to take it. “I didn’t approve of what my dad did,” she says in a quiet whisper. “I thought he treated your mom really badly.”

“He’d never treated her well, Lexi.”

“No. He’s not the easiest of people. I—I guess he was jealous of the time she spent with you.”

“I was in the hospital. What did he want her to do? Abandon me?”

She pulls her hand away, holding it up. “I’m not trying to excuse him, or what he did.”

“He broke her heart.” I can hear the crack in my voice and I cough to cover it. “When she found out about his affair, on top of everything else she had to cope with, it was… it was too much for her.”

Lexi nods her head and I look down at my plate of untouched food, my appetite gone as I recall those dark days of my illness and the aftermath. My mom had thought life had thrown its worst at her when her boyfriend abandoned her after she told him she was pregnant with me. My illness knocked hersideways, hitting her harder still. Lexi’s father had never been the kindest of men. He had a temper and could say the cruelest of things when riled, but I don’t think Mom ever believed he was capable of such deception.

Except, it seems, he was.

And it broke her.

In my opinion, it killed her… and although none of that was Lexi’s fault, it’s hard to forgive her father for what he did.

Neither of us ate very much last night, and after we’d cleared away, Lexi said she was tired and went to bed. I didn’t blame her. The atmosphere between us was too frosty for words.

I came to bed myself, unwilling to do anything that might make a noise and wake Maisie, although I struggled to sleep, unable to forget our conversations, and rid my mind of all those memories of my mom and her dad, and my illness… and Drew.

I heard Maisie wake in the early hours, and I listened as Lexi fumbled around in the kitchen. For a while, I contemplated getting up and offering to help, but the noises quietened down after a few minutes and I settled back into bed, and eventually, I guess I must have drifted off to sleep…

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