Page 78 of The Unplannned Project

“Was it Mom or Katie who told you about the baby?” I tried smiling, but nerves made my lips quiver.

“I’m not sure who blurted it out first.” Adriana grinned at me, her face full of good humor. “They are so excited for you. And the girlfriend sounds like a bit of a firecracker too. Which doesn’t really surprise me. You always did like spicy ones.”

We laughed together, but there was an edge of stiffness there. “Yes, just what I need, another woman telling me what to do.”

My sister’s eyes widened, and she took a sharp breath in. I could see the pain flicker there before it was replaced by that smooth, practiced calm.

“Fuck, Ana, that’s not what I meant.”

“I know. I know,” she said, squaring her shoulders. “I’m working on not taking every tiny thing as an attack on my character.”

“Can you teach me?”

“You never needed that, Brady. You’ve always been so sure of who you were. I was jealous.”

“What do you mean?”

“You were Brady Martinez. You always had a plan, something you were chasing. You knew what you wanted, and you went after it. God, how I wanted that, Brady.” Her gaze swept over me to stare at the curling roses above my shoulders. “It comes naturally to you. But to others…not so much.”

“Really?”

“They are teaching me here about how I essentially used partying then men and alcohol to fill what I believed was a gap in my life. That supposed lack of identity.”

“And now? How are things now?”

“I’m not sure I know exactly who I will be tomorrow. But today, I want to be better. I want to learn to be a good parent. I want to be a good daughter. A good sister. That’s enough for me.”

Silence fell around us. I was the first to speak. “Wow. No wonder this place is so expensive.”

“Right?” She reached a hand across to press lightly to my forearm. Her touch was gentle against my skin. “I really appreciate everything you’ve done for me. I know that things were really rough last time we talked. But I know it was you all these years trying to help put me back together again.”

“But I failed.”

Soft, twinkling laughter filled my ears. “You failed? Look at me. I’m here. I’m sober. I’m working on my mental health. You never failed me.”

“But—” I started.

“Don’t consider me a failure, Brady. I spent too much of my own life thinking that. I refuse to let that version of myself live in your mind either.” She sat back in the chair. “I like to think of myself as a second-chance success story.”

I gnawed on my lip, my anxiety still lurking just beneath my collarbones. “I’d like that too.”

Adriana turned her face to the sun, eyelids shuttering as she took in a long breath. “Katie and Mom say that I said some horrible things to you. Would you believe me when I say that I don’t even remember them?”

“I would.”

“Would you believe me when I tell you that I never blamed you for any of this? It was my mistake, my life that I screwed up. Just because you had a front-row seat doesn’t meant that you were responsible for it. Dad was wrong. I was wrong.”

Cold, icy emotion threaded down my arms, making my muscles tense, my brain slow. “What did you say?”

Adriana squeezed my arm again. “I was wrong. Dad was wrong. You deserve every good thing that has come to you. But also, you don’t have to worry about us. We can take care of ourselves too. Just like we can make our own mistakes, we can find our own solutions.”

“You believe that, don’t you?”

“One hundred percent. It’s time for you to move on past that night. It was a long time ago. Time to live your life and let me live my own. We aren’t those people anymore. And until you let that version of Brady and Ana go, neither of us can move on. Are you ready to do that?”

I stared at my sister, my heart suddenly thumping in my chest. There was no way that Adriana couldn’t hear it. “I’d like that.”

“Good. Maybe we can talk about something else? I hear you really screwed things up with your girl.”

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