Page 11 of Stalker's Valentine

“There is noyou know who.” I giggled. “We don’t even know his name.”

“What if I did?” she asked, piquing my interest. “Would you go to brunch with me Sunday?”

“Brunch at the brewery?” I asked, wondering why the hell out of everyone, it was my oldest sister who wanted to be out and about on a daily basis. “Are you okay?” I asked, and when silence filled the line, something in my stomach tightened.

“I’m––“ she started to say, and I was almost positive she was going to say she was fine. Which if she did, I was more than ready to argue with her.

But she didn’t.

“I’m… I will be,” she said softly. My body went taut.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Nothing’swrong, wrong. No one is dying,” she tried to lighten the mood, but I wasn’t having it.

“Cora, talk to me.”

“It’s just, well… umm... Jack and I broke up,” she blurted, almost like she was ripping off a BandAid. I waited for her to laugh and tell me she was kidding because my older sister had a weird sense of humor.

But she didn’t.

“You two…” I couldn’t even say it out loud.Jack and Coral have broken up?They lived together. They always seemed so happy. So put together. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she sighed, “I just… I haven’t told anyone yet.”

“Babe––“

“He moved out on New Year’s.”

“What?” I gasped, shocked as hell. I tried to think about what Coral had been like after New Year’s, but my head had been so seriously muddled by my stranger, I didn’t even notice something was wrong.

“Yeah, okay, so, maybe that’s why I’ve been so pushy about going to the brewery? I didn’t want to be home alone and… I’m sorry.”

“There is nothing to be sorry about, Cora. What happened?”

“It was time,” she whispered, and I knew her emotions were getting the better of her.

“I’ll pick you up,” I offered. “We can go to the brewery or have the girls pick up the food and bring it over to your place, or we can come back here. Or if you don’t want to talk about it yet, that’s okay, too. Whatever you need, you know I’m here.”

“I know… I think I should tell everyone.”

“Okay. Your place or mine?”

“Do you mind it being at my place? You can stay the night if you don’t wanna drive after.”

“I’ll take a bag just in case and call the other two to let them know. Oh! I’ll bring the pot roast in the crock pot and chocolate chip cookies I made earlier, too.”

“Thank you.”

“Wine?” I asked and heard her sniffle. My heart hurt for her. I still couldn’t believe it! Almost two weeks, and she hadn’t told anyone. They had been together an entire decade! They never got married, but I figured it was one of those things neither of them wanted or that it eventually would happen.

Coral cleared her throat. “Tequila?” she suggested, and I smiled.

“Okay, the good stuff it is. I have a brand-new bottle of Don Julio!”

“Thank you, Scar. I’m sorry I didn’t say anything earlier. It’s just…” When her voice drifted off, I knew she was trying to fight the tears or they were already flowing. Either way, I walked around the house as I spoke and grabbed the things I would need.

“Nothing to apologize for. You can handle this however you need to. Just remember we have your back. Always.” I wanted to offer to kick Jack’s ass because there was no way I could believe it was just time after ten years together, but I didn’t.

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