Page 13 of Tell Me Again
CHAPTER FOUR
“You had a twin sister?”
“Who had a baby with your boyfriend?”
“And you didn’t know it?”
Sam dipped a carrot into the bowl of hummus in the middle of the table and took a bite. It was the lunch rush at a popular Denver restaurant, and all around them conversation swirled. Her three girlfriends stared at her while she chewed, as if they were alone in the space.
She’d met Kendall Clark—soon to be Kendall Bishop—and Chloe Daniels—who was now Chloe Haddox—a year after moving to Denver. The three had bonded over their shared bad luck with men. For the first time in her adult life, Sam had discovered women who supported her as the person she was trying to become.
Now Kendall and Chloe had both found love, and they’d added Jenny Castelli to their close-knit group. Jenny had grown up with Kendall’s fiancé, Ty Bishop, and was the most similar to Sam as far as how much she liked to run her mouth. She could dish out blunt comments like it was her job, which was why Sam knew she’d really shocked all three of them. Even Jenny didn’t have a quick comeback to her abbreviated explanation of the situation.
“That about sums it up,” Sam said after swallowing.
After introducing Trevor to David Henderson, the man who acted as her property manager and caretaker for Bryce Hollow Camp, Sam had made an excuse about a meeting in Denver. She’d needed to get away from Trevor and the loop-de-loops her stomach did each time she thought about their arrangement.
She’d made it about a mile from camp before pulling over to the shoulder of the two-lane highway and bursting into loud, sloppy sobs. She didn’t normally cry, but it was all too much—the storm damage at camp, Bryce’s betrayal, Trevor’s animosity, and the responsibility she already felt toward Grace. Pride drove her to handle whatever life demanded but she felt herself sinking under the weight of so much pressure.
Wrung out from her crying jag, she’d punched in a text to her friends and asked them to meet her for lunch. Sam was more comfortable giving support than receiving it, but this was one situation she couldn’t manage on her own.
“How could she keep something like that from you?” Kendall asked, her big green eyes wide with disbelief. Kendall was the anchor for a popular morning news program in Denver and looked polished in her taupe skirt and fitted silk blouse with a delicate strand of pearls around her neck. She also looked more content than Sam could remember seeing her. Taking control of her life and finding love was a good combination for her friend.
“Bryce and I didn’t speak for a couple of years before her death,” she admitted. “We had a big fight at my mother’s funeral and between my travel schedule and her issues, things were rough between us.”
“Oh, sweetie,” Chloe said gently, leaning over to wrap an arm around Sam’s shoulder. “That must have been so hard for you.”
“Hold on, Mother Hen.” Jenny pointed a finger at Chloe, who was the most nurturing of the group. “Before you engulf her in sympathetic hugs and kisses, we need to start at the beginning.”
“There’s nothing wrong with hugs,” Chloe protested, squeezing Sam’s shoulder.
“Agreed,” Jenny answered. “But if you get her going with the waterworks, we’ll never hear the whole story, and I need all the details to offer my best advice.”
Sam rolled her eyes. “I don’t ‘get going with the waterworks.’ I’m not a crier.”
“Right.” Jenny sniffed. “No doubt your eyes are red and puffy from allergies.”
“It is a high pollution day,” Kendall added.
Sam laughed despite herself. “I’m not going to admit Jenny’s right because then she’ll be even more intolerable.”
“You don’t have to admit it,” Jenny fired back. “We all know it’s true. I don’t know how the three of you accomplished anything other than eating and drinking before I took you on.”
“Another good point.” Sam reached for another carrot then narrowed her eyes when Jenny pulled away the bowl of hummus. “Hey, it’s healthy.”
Jenny flashed a dismissive smile. “Everything you eat is healthy. I’m holding the chickpeas hostage until you talk. Tell us about the twin sister.” Her smile widened. “Start at the moment of conception.”
“Um, no thanks.” Sam grimaced even though she appreciated Jenny’s attempt to lighten the mood. It made the choke hold on her lungs loosen, allowing her to breathe enough to actually process the memories invading her mind. “Bryce and I were inseparable as kids. Our dad was never in the picture and Mom had issues—drinking, bad choices in men, trouble holding down a job. I know she loved us.” She laughed then amended, “She loved us in her own way, but that way stripped all the fun out of dysfunctional. Bryce and I were a team. We didn’t even have to speak. It seemed like I knew what she was thinking as soon as a thought popped into her head.”
“I always wanted a sister,” Kendall murmured.
Sam nodded. “We kept each other sane in that small town. Just after we hit puberty, both of us sprouted up to our adult height. It made us stand out and Mom didn’t like it. We got a lot of attention, and neither of us knew how to handle it.” She pressed her lips together when they started to tremble, took a breath, and spoke again. “We were fifteen when we met Trevor. Some kids were making fun of us at the local pool. He’d just moved to town to live with his nana because his parents were some sort of traveling missionaries. He wouldn’t really talk about them, but I know things weren’t great until his grandma took him in. That first day he stood up for us. He pushed one of the loudest bullies into the deep end. There was a fight and... anyone who wanted to mess with us after that had to go through him.”
Chloe nodded. “Your hero.”
It had seemed that simple at the time. “I thought so. He handed me a lukewarm orange soda and told me a dumb joke when he thought I was going to cry. I was a goner. Now I think he was just an angry teenage boy who liked to use his fists to solve problems.”
At least that’s what she told herself because when she thought back to that summer, her heart still wanted to skip a beat. No one other than Bryce had ever stuck up for her before Trevor. “The three of us hung out all the time. But Trevor and I... it was different. He was the first thing in our lives that Bryce didn’t control, and it started the crack that eventually became a huge gap between us.”
