Page 73 of The Other One

“Oh, sorry…” I begin. Then I see who I ran into.

Cesily.

She looks surprised to see me, which makes sense considering when she called me a couple days ago to track down my whereabouts, I was still in Philadelphia.

Standing still for a moment, cursing my bad luck, the anger fills my chest, making it tight and uncomfortable. I was hoping to avoid seeing her for the next two days before she leaves on her honeymoon, but no, that would mean the universe was on my side for once.Yeah right.

“Abigail. What are you doing in town again?” she asks, her eyes uncomfortably darting to the side. Oh, we’re going to play that game.

“Seriously? No, ‘hi sister, sorry I sent your asshole ex-boyfriend after you at a work event.’ Just what am I doing here?” I shake my head in disappointment. I don’t know why I would have expected an apology from her for basically putting my job at risk and throwing my life into turmoil, but her nonchalance at seeing me is really pissing me the hell off.

Cesily straightens her spine. “None of that would have happened if you had just heard Davis out. Is it unfortunate that it turned into what it did? Of course, but Jackson was the one who caused the scene. Not Davis.”

She’s honest to God defending the jackass. Apparently, my ex isn’t the only delusional one in this scenario.

“No, Cesily.” Exasperation laces my tone. “It wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t pretended to want to know about my life and gotten information about my schedule so you could send him after me.”

“Abigail, you know how Davis can be. Dawson was just trying to do right by his brother and help get him what he wanted. He told me about Davis’s plan to come up there and asked if I wouldn’t mind getting some information to help him out. You should be happy someone in Davis’s position still wants a relationship with you. You certainly haven’t made it easy,” she sneers. My sister actually has the audacity to chastise me for not wanting to be with a serial cheater.Wow.

“It’s nice to know that Dawson’s relationship with his brother is more important than your relationship with me.” I scoff. “And as for Jackson causing the scene, it was only after Davis admitted todrugginghim to get him to make a fool of himself at your wedding. I think getting off with a busted nose is way less than Davis deserved.“ She can’t possibly excuse that behavior.

“Abigail, you have to understand Dawson is myhusbandnow,“ she says, holding up her left hand and showing me her ring. Well, apparently, I was wrong. Being her brother-in-law is all the excuse he needs.

“And I’m your sister, Cesily. A little loyalty to me wouldn’t have killed you all those years ago when our relationship went down the shitter, and it wouldn’t have killed you now.” My hands grip tightly to the handle of the shopping cart. “I’m done with excuses for why everyone feels the need to put their nose in my relationships. I’ve never been good enough for any of you on my own and I amsodone caring. The truth is I have a family of my own making that loves me no matter what and accepts me for who I am. I am enough to those people, and I’m done spending my time caring about people who never will.“ I’m winded and invigorated at the same time after my kiss-off speech to my sister.

She stands in the middle of the grocery store with her mouth hanging open, looking around to see who heard us. Heaven forbid a fucking country clubber is here, and this gets back to those stuck-up bitches.

“I wish you well, sister, but I’m done here.” I hold up my hand and begin to walk away and get the much-needed wine I came here for.

“What will Mom and Dad think about you just blowing off your family, Abigail? Don’t you think about anyone other than yourself and what you want?” she hisses at me.

That is so fucking rich coming from her.

I turn and stare her dead in the eye. “Well, frankly, my dear, I don’t give a fuck,” I reply in my haughtiest Southern accent.

Without sparing her another glance, I make my way to the wine and blindly grab several bottles. I need to calm the hell down and pay attention to what I’m doing. This breakdown of Cesily’s and my relationship sure as hell isn’t worth buying crap wine.

I never thought me and my sister would be where we are today. I could tell myself I’m surprised, but I’m not. It doesn’t mean I’m not disappointed. But if I’ve learned one thing in the last few weeks, it’s to spend my energy and love on the people that deserve it, blood or not.

When I get back to the ranch, Julia is waiting for me in the kitchen, having already made a pan of brownies and various other desserts for our girls’ wine day. Fuck the wine night. I need a whole day. Don’t judge me.

“You will never believe the run-in I had,” I tell her, setting the bags on the counter from my trip.

“What happened?” Julia asks, cutting an edge piece from the brownie pan because obviously that’s the best part.

“First, don’t even dream of eating all the edges.” I point at the pan for emphasis. “Second, I ran into Cesily.”

Julia’s eyes go wide as she shoves the piece into her mouth.

“Let’s just say she wasn’t at all sorry about telling Davis about where I was. And she completely tried to blame the whole wedding debacle on Jackson.”

I go about opening our first bottle while Julia grabs the glasses and brownies and heads to the living room.

“I don’t know, Julia. Maybe I shouldn’t have come down.” I’m suddenly concerned I brought a load of trouble to my friend’s doorstep. “Now, my mother and everyone else are going to know where I am. I don’t want anyone showing up here and you guys having to deal with it,” I say as I follow her and have a seat next to her with the brownies between us.

“Knock that shit off right now. You don’t need to worry about anything. I have a hose and I’m not afraid to use it.”

I snort out a laugh, remembering the story of when she turned said hose on Raelynn after she was caught cheating with Davis.

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