Page 60 of Butterfly Sisters
“I want to know her better. I want Meredith to feel like she can call me and tell me when things are going great. And when they aren’t…”
Mama smiled, looking distracted.
“What areyouthinking about?” Leigh asked.
“There’s something I haven’t told you, but I don’t think I can yet.”
“Mom, you have to stop with the cryptic messages or I’m going to lose my mind. Let’s get it all out in the open. What is it?”
Mama shook her head. “Nan told me not to say.”
Leigh blew air through her lips, unsatisfied. “This is ridiculous. I’ve got enough going on. Please don’t do this. Tell me what it is.”
Mama walked a little further into the water, her gaze on the hills on the other side of the lake, clearly deliberating. Finally, she turned around. “There’s another letter from Nan,” she said. “For you.”
Leigh had to close her gaping mouth. She splashed down into the icy water and demanded, “Let me read it.”
Mama shook her head. “I can’t yet.”
“Why in the world not?”
“I almost told you I had the letter earlier but I backed out…”
“Mom,” she said. “What’s going on?”
Mama turned around, the moon at her back. “Nan said I can’t give it to you until you and Meredith agree on what to do with the cabin.”
“What?” The word came out in a whisper as the reality of that sunk in. “So, she knew we wouldn’t be on the same page about it.” Her mind buzzed with this new information. “You mean, I have to get Meredith to agree with me on what to do with the cabin, and her only motivation in doing so is thatIget another letter from Nan? She’ll never agree.”
“In order to get Nan’s letter, you have to figure out a way to make her. Nan insists, and I love her too much not to follow her wishes.”
Leigh stared out at the lapping water, having absolutely no idea how to make that happen.
TWENTY
Leigh rocked on the hammock the next day under a warm quilt and the rustle of the trees, the morning dew shining on the shore, still thinking about her conversation with Mama. What was her end result? She used to say easily that it was a career, but she didn’t want a career at the expense of her loved ones. She wasn’t even sure that a career was the most important thing anymore. She’d hurt Colton, and if she’d had it to do over again, she would’ve easily given up the Greystone job to save that view from his house and make him happy. But she also knew that eventually, she’d go crazy without a career.
She also had Meredith and her mother to worry about. They should be the first ones she called when she wanted to share her life. The three of them had spent their lives fractured, spread out across the country when they should’ve been together. She’d lost time, but it wasn’t too late to make a fresh start.
What was at the center of Leigh’s life now? If she had to let everything else go, what did she really want most? If she were honest with herself, it wasn’t her job. She wanted people around her who cared about her. She wanted family. Even the cabin or whatever Nan had to say in her mystery note didn’t compare to that.
She got up off the hammock, wrapped the blanket around her shoulders, and went inside.
“Meredith?” she whispered, climbing into the bed in her sister’s room like she’d done when she was a little girl. “Hey,” she whispered.
Meredith sucked in a long breath and rolled over, gaining faint consciousness. “Hm?” she croaked.
“I wanted to tell you something,” Leigh said quietly, shaking her arm.
Meredith opened one eye. “What time is it?” She yawned.
“It’s a little after seven.”
“What’s wrong with you that you don’t sleep?” Meredith pulled the blanket and rolled onto her side, away from Leigh.
Leigh leaned over her sister and said into her ear, “I should’ve been there to celebrate your gallery opening. And I should’ve gotten the first dinner you served at the restaurant where you took your first job.”
Meredith rubbed her face, turning over. “What?”
