Page 53 of Pretend To Be My Cowboy
“You can tell me all about it when you get home.” She flashed an impish grin. “All your stories from Aspire will help pass the time while we work on floral arrangements and make a final decision on which shoes will match our dresses the best. I also want you to check out the selection of fonts I’ve chosen for the order of service. There are three that I adore, but I want your help with the exact design before we print them out and start folding them all.”
Emma laughed. While Lizzy’s fiancé was loaded and had given Lizzy a fair chunk of money for the wedding, she’d spent most of it on the venue and her dress, which meant their parents had to cover everything else. Lizzy and Emma’s parents weren’t exactly rolling in the dough, so the sisters were trying their best to do most of the planning and execution themselves.
Lizzy sighed. “Oh, Em, I can’t wait to pick you up on Wednesday. We have so much to catch up on. And so much to do!”
Emma winced. “Yeah. About that…”
Lizzy’s face grew bigger as she pulled the phone in. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Um, well…” Emma reminded herself of what Nash had said. It didn’t always have to be about what Lizzy wanted, right? “I’ve decided to stay.”
“You what?” Lizzy’s voice got all high and tight.
Guilt flooded Emma’s veins at the anxiety in her sister’s voice and she rushed to reassure her. “Not forever, just another week.”
“A whole week?” Lizzy sounded so distraught, Emma found herself pacing her bedroom, reconsidering all her plans.
“Dealing with this inheritance has been harder than I thought,” she said. And that was putting it mildly. “I don’t want to leave here until I’ve spoken to all of Frank’s daughters and have at least some idea of what they’re all thinking.”
“We’re all thinking we should sell,” Lizzy said.
Emma arched her brows. “How would you know that? Have you talked to your other five sisters?”
Lizzy looked away from the screen, but not before Emma caught a flicker of guilt.
Emma sighed. She didn’t mean to make her sister feel bad, but Lizzy had a tendency to ignore problems rather than face them head on. Derek once said Lizzy shared their mother’s convenient blind spot, and Emma couldn’t help but agree.
Their mother wasn’t sure how to deal with the fact that their father had another daughter with his high school sweetheart, so what had she done?
Ignored the issue entirely. Out of sight, out of mind.
And she knew without a doubt that was what Lizzy was doing now with their newfound sisters. It was what she’d done their whole life when it came to their father.
They’d both loved Derek like a father, but while Emma often wondered about Frank and stashed his cards away like rare treasures, Lizzy had been content to pretend he’d never existed.
Her birthday and Christmas cards could always be found in the trash the day they arrived—after she’d taken out the money, of course.
The silence grew too long and uncomfortable and Emma was the first to break it. “Look, I get that you don’t want anything to do with them. But I have to see this through. It’s important to me.”
Lizzy turned her gaze back to the phone with a grudging smile. “That’s because you’re too nice for your own good.”
Emma rolled her eyes. “I’m notthatnice.”
“Yes, you are. But please don’t tell me you’re going to stick around all summer, okay? I need you here with me. I can’t do this wedding without you. And I still don’t see why you can’t make these calls from Chicago.”
Emma wasn’t sure either, so ignored the comment and focused on the wedding stuff. “You have mom to help you with wedding prep. And Sarah.”
Lizzy pouted. “It’s not the same.”
Emma laughed at her sister’s over-the-top expression that was partially teasing. “I’ll be back in ten days. And hey, just be grateful I’m not sticking around for four months until Daisy gets here.”
Lizzy’s brows shot up. “Four months?”
Emma nodded and settled on her back to fill her in on her latest conversation.
“Well,” Lizzy finally said when she was done. “At least this one was friendly.”
“Mmm,” Emma agreed. “That was a nice change.”
