Page 85 of A Brother's Secret

“All of us have our stories, chickadee, yours ain’t nothing new in this circle,” Shelly said rolling hereyes.

The steam from the espresso machine went off and I jumped, nearly hitting the roof, but I wasn’t the only one. Dani shot me a shy smile and shrugged her shoulders. Maybe it wasn’t so far off, what Shelly was saying.

“Who wants to go first?” Doll, er, Hayden, asked.

“I will,” Ashton murmured and I blinked. Where had she comefrom?

She smoothed the skirt of her cute little Havana dress under her and took a seat. Everett came back over and handed me a saucer with a cup on it that might as well have been a bowl. I wasn’t really comfortable with the sharing is caring group therapy vibe that was going on, but as long as they were the ones sharing and I was the one caring, I coulddeal.

Holy shit, did they share… Ashton’s ex was a piece of work. Shelly had been through hell and back because of a rape. Mandy had grown up in an ultra-religious abusive household, and Everett, well, for as tough as she seemed to be, she divulged she didn’t really feel like she was due to her circumstances. I mean, she’d had a normal childhood save for her parents dying young, her mom while she was being born and her dad right as she got out of high school.

Maren’s mom was a nut-job, as in certified institutionalized, and she was raising her brother. Bailey and Hayden were both born rich girls, and the way you heard them speak, that was its own special kind of hell despite the money. Hayden fully admitted she had it easy, but Bailey's own brother had tried to have her raped into compliance.

“Wouldn’t mind giving him a Falcon Dick Punch,” I muttered.

Hayley was normal comparatively, just working poor like me. I could relate and appreciate, but then she got into Duracell, who I guess was a brother who had died recently. She belonged to both him and Blue and they had a baby on the way that was more than likely Duracell’s. The grief was palpable and I did everything to ground and center myself so I didn’t burst into tears just from what was coming off ofher.

Melody, too, was working poor but had everything but the kitchen sink happen to her. Mostly back in Arizona where she’d come from. Douchebag ex, fucked up family, pretty much the whole nine yards.

Throughout it all, Dani was silent, watching me and I got a real uneasy feeling that whatever her story was, I wasn’t going to like it and that I was about to eat feeling sorry for myself.

I was right. Her story was almost as bad, if not worse, than Faith’s back in Florida. Like, damn. I had nothing to really whine about. More perspective… these women were just as damaged if not more broken than I had ever come close to being. I stared into the bottom of my coffee cup and swallowed past the lump in my throat.

“You don’t have to say anything,” Everett said and I gave her a scathing look that said, really bitch? Y’all are gonna spill and not expect a fuckin’ thing out of me? There was nervous laughter and Shelly spokeup.

“She means it. Just because we showed you ours, doesn’t mean we expect you to show us yours.”

“There are a lot of bad people in the world, Amalia. We aren’t any of them,” Ashton murmured.

I nodded slowly. I was starting to get the idea, and now I was starting to feel bad. I didn’t trust anyone as a general rule. The last solid chunk of my life, I didn’t get close to anyone, either. I could do those things now, but old habits diehard…

“Oh, you crafty bastard,” I whispered. Habits…19 days… Kyle had said it takes 19 days to form new habits and I’d been at the shop for 19 days. I guess he was trying to open me up to the potential of some new habits.

Shelly grinned over the rim of her teacup and shared a glance with some of the other women. All of them glanced at one another and my unease grew. Dani spokeup.

“Sometimes, you have to go backward, to move forward,” she said, and produced a white envelope from the seat beside herself. A trickle of dread went down my spine as she reached across the space between us with it. I handed my cup and saucer to a pair of hands nearby, waiting to take it. My entire focus on that red rose seal, dusted ingold.

I plucked the envelope from her fingers and cracked the seal. I had a feeling. I knew, I just knew… I closed my eyes as The Tower slippedfree.

I turned it over and on theback?

Go back to the beginning…

Shit. He was right. All had fallen down. It was rubble at my feet and I had to start all over again. What was left when the tower or your house collapsed? The foundation.

Where did Kyle and I first meet? The school. Whose house did we go to first? His. I rolled my lips and sighed.

“And I’m off…” I said and dragged myself to my feet. “Thanks for the coffee and the reality check.”

“Anytime, Sister.” Shelly winked as she said it and I smiled even if it was a bit wan. Everett let me out of the shop, and I realized that the guys all had to be at home with the kids so that they could be. That was some more food for thought as I got back behind the wheel of the 4Runner.

I went back to Kyle’s house, and taped to the garage door? Another fucking envelope. I got out of the SUV and went to it, snatching it off and tearing itopen.

The Hierophant.

The card represented change and expansion, a balance between old and new. I looked up at the familiar old house with its new paint and new windows. This place, here, was surely that. I pulled The Tower out of the bag at my hip and read the message again.

Go back to the beginning…

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