Page 23 of Breathless With Her

I loved my sister. She’d always been there for me, even when our parents weren’t. After all, our dad walking out on us because he just didn’t want a family or whatever story he’d told our mother kind of changed things when we were growing up.

Our mom was a little insane. Okay, a lot. Probably clinically, but she refused to get help. She left us as soon as I turned eighteen, and then it was just Jenn and me. And Jenn’s family. I loved Jenn’s family.

“Hey there, Jitterbug,” Jenn said, and I laughed.

“Jitterbug?” I asked.

“What? I’m trying out new things. Junebug. Jitterbug. I don’t know. I’ll think of something.”

“We live in Colorado. Not Texas.”

“Colorado is getting a twang, haven’t you heard? It’s all the Texans moving up here.”

“Are we going to start saying ‘dude’ more often since we’re also being filled up by Californians?” I asked, smiling again.

“I don’t know about y’all, dude, but sometimes my accent has no idea what it’s doing.” She added a heavy drawl and a surfer dialect all at the same time, and I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I love you.”

“I love you, too, darlin’.” She drawled out the worddarlin’like she was a cowgirl, and I just snorted.

“What’s up, Jenn?”

“I was just checking in on you since I haven’t heard from you in a couple of days.” My sister pulled the phone away as she yelled at one of her children in a nice, happy tone, but it was a mom yell, nonetheless. I could just picture the look on her face. Jenn was an amazing mother. And her husband was one incredible dad.

And though our mom had tried her best, it hadn’t been the best. It had been adequate. We’d had a roof over our heads and food in our mouths, but not much more. It wasn’t what Jenn gave her daughters.

But our mom had worked long hours, and after a while, I was pretty sure she resented us. Now, she was off in a commune of all places, learning to be one with the world and putting herself first for the first time in her life.

And while I applauded her for putting herself first because, hell, all moms should do that sometimes, she had cut ties with us in the process. And I was pretty sure she hadn’t met a single grandchild.

That wasn’t something I could forgive. Not for my sake, it didn’t affect me, but for Jenn’s.

“I’m fine,” I said after Jenn got back on the line.

“Oh, you keep saying that, but I worry about you. You are my little sister.”

“I’m fine. Just working.”

“That douchebag hasn’t come by and bothered you?” Jenn asked, a sharp sting to her tone.

Jenn had never been a fan of Nicholas. Oh, they’d gotten along just fine at holidays and things, but she’d always wanted me to ditch my boyfriend from high school and find someone else. To live life a little before I settled down with a man that had been my one and only. Well, just because my sister ended up being right about that didn’t mean I wanted to think about it. Damn it.

“He hasn’t bothered me at all.”

“His stuff’s still in your garage?”

“Yeah, but it’s not a big deal. I’m fine. Really.”

“You say that, but until I see you happy and settled again, I’m not going to believe you.”

I pinched the bridge of my nose. We’d always had this problem. We had issues. We were siblings. We had been born to fight, even as we loved each other.

“I’m never going to get married again. I did that already. And you’re doing wonderful at that. I’m just going to be the cool aunt Erin.”

“You already are the cool aunt Erin. You were the cool aunt Erin when you had that douchebag, Nicholas.”

“Do your kids know you call him ‘douchebag?’”

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