Page 34 of Home Tears

“Your mother was a good one.” Aunt Mae’s voice rasped out, thick with emotion. “Life’s not been easy for you, but you had one great mother. You got a good start in life.”

Dancing herbs and magical spices. Dani closed her eyes, but chuckled. “Erica used to sneak into my bedroom. She’d tell me that it was because our mom came to her. She wanted Erica to check on me, make sure I was okay.” Dani grinned fondly. “Erica was scared of the dark. She slept with me for three years.”

“Erica loved you. She looked up to you.”

Not when she used her.

Not when she betrayed her.

Not when she forgot Dani was in love with someone.

Erica hadn’t idolized her then.

Dani pointed out, “Until she was eleven. It was Julia after that.”

Mae’s hand came down over hers. “Erica was an idiot.” She squeezed lightly. “Pure and simple, tried and true. That girl was an idiot. She loved you, and I knew she loved you. She worshipped the ground you walked on.”

A tad dramatic, but Dani enjoyed her aunt’s flair.

“I know you think I’m just exaggerating, but I’m not. Your sister, your littlest sis, she—Erica was a lot like you, more than you think. She kept the world away, like you do, Dani. You keep the world away. Erica did that. She gave one face for everyone to love, but she had another face behind her. Your little sister, I watched her. I saw it. She wasn’t the Erica everyone thought.”

“What?” Dani asked. “She wasn’t really as self-absorbed as I thought? She didn’t want to be a goddess like everyone deemed her?”

It was laughable. And it was bullshit.

“Why do you think she fell in love with Jake?”

Dani frowned.

Aunt Mae added, “I never talked much to those two, but I saw plenty. Julia with her nose in the air, prancing in Kathryn’s shoes. You skulking wherever you thought no one would look, and Erica was the youngest. She watched, too. She got by. She played the part Kathryn wanted, but she kept you in her rearview mirror at all times. Your little sister, she idolized you no matter what you say. I know it.” She continued, “Little Erica was smart. Smarter than Julia. She had everyone in town wrapped around her pinkie, but by my thinking, she hadn’t counted on her fatal mistake.”

Dani wrapped her fists in the blanket now.

“She fell in love with your Jake. And your Jake fell in love with her.”

Dani closed her eyes as if to ward off the impending assault.

“She loved him because he loved you. I’ve had a few years to ponder the two of them. I’ve come to my conclusions, and I’ve got to say that Jake loved her. Hook, line, and sinker. It was the part of you that she had inside of her. That’s who he fell for.”

Dani caught her breath and released it slowly.

“Erica took a part of you that she loved and she made it a part of herself. That’s who Jake fell for. And I know it’ll hurt, but Jake was needed by Erica.”

“What?” The words cut from Dani’s throat. “You don’t think I needed him?”

“No.” Aunt Mae continued, “Not like she did. Jake was her soul. You were his, but he was hers. She needed him. You didn’t, and that’s what reeled that boy in. You didn’t need him, Dani. You didn’t need anyone.”

Did she need Jake?

What about Boone?

“That boy didn’t know what train was coming his way. Erica was the train, and she barreled over him, but she didn’t know. She didn’t have no stupid driver. Erica was playing life just like the rest of us. She was going forward, but she couldn’t stop. She had no idea until you left.”

Dani stood, holding the blanket around her. “I don’t want to hear any more.”

“You got to.” Aunt Mae scrambled to her feet. “Because you have a sister in the grave you haven’t mourned yet. You have to mourn her. You got to make right with her.”

“She’s dead!” Dani snapped. “She’s dead! She doesn’t give a rat’s ass what I think.”

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