Page 90 of Tempted Away

“It’s okay. This isn’t your battle.”

“Are you crazy? Of course, this is my battle. You’re my little sister, and what she did… Actually, I have no words for what she did. I couldn’t imagine ever doing something like that to Darby or Ethan. And until she somehow finds a way to fix things, she’s dead to me.” I lean in and hug her, silently showing my appreciation. “I owe you an apology, she says when I pull back.

“For what?”

“For not standing up for you sooner. I wasn’t blind to how things were for you growing up, and I should have said something. But I told myself it was between you and Mom. I was selfish.”

I sigh. “It is what it is. At least I had Gran and Gramps.”

“That’s true. They did love you the most. I mean, they left you the bookstore after all. It’s an emotional wound I’ll never get over,” she teases.

“As if you’ve ever willingly read a book for fun,” I scoff. “You should probably talk with Darby and Ethan. I’m pretty sure they were eavesdropping.”

We look over to where Gabriel’s leaning against the car, both kids safely in the back seat. “Yeah. I just don’t get it,” she says, shaking her head again. “Anyway, I better go. They need to be fed before they start chewing on the backseat. If you ever want to talk, just give me a call. Anytime. Just call, okay?”

“I will,” I promise.

“And the next family dinner will be at my place. Just you and us.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

BAILEY

IT TAKESme a few seconds to make sense of the roughly drawn tree with multiple branches snaking from its trunk, but then I do, and I can’t hold back my giggle.

“Come look at this,” I whisper to Kallan.

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he says, peering over my shoulder.

“Keep your voice down,” I hush, taking in the disapproving looks pointed at us.

“For fuck’s sake, it’s Santa Clause’s family tree, Bailey. And back there,” he whisper-yells, throwing a thumb over his shoulder, “they have freaking statues of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. And a family portrait of Bigfoot. Big hair and everything.”

“Well, Santa Claus had to come from somewhere.”

I try to keep a straight face but dissolve into a fit of giggles at his incredulous look.

“That’s it. I’ve had enough,” he mutters, grabbing my hand and pulling me out of the building. “When you suggested a museum, I thought, cool, I’m not the greatest fan of museums, but Cryptozoology sounds interesting. Should have freaking googled it.”

I’m still laughing when we pull out onto the road. “Oh, come on, the ten dollars was well spent. I bet you haven’t laughed that much in years.”

“That was the weirdest two hours of my life,” he gripes, but there’s no hiding his twitching lips and the crinkles around his eyes.

“What’s weird is that we seemed to be the only two people there who found it funny. I’ll have to remember to tell Piper about this place. She’ll love it.”

“Piper likes that kind of stuff?”

“She’ll definitely get a kick out of it.”

We spend the ride back cracking up over the exhibits we saw—from the FeeJee mermaid to the Abominable Snowman and everything in between—and by the time we stop to grab some burgers, my cheeks hurt from all the laughing.

Back in the truck, I fiddle with the radio, trying to ignore the mouth-watering smells emanating from the brown paper bag I’m clutching on my lap. The sounds my stomach is making would give a boulder rolling down a rocky hill a run for its money. Eventually, I can’t take it anymore and concede defeat grabbing a fry, and jamming it into my mouth. Damn, it’s good, with just the right amount of salt.

I’m just about to munch down on my second one when I catch Kallan staring at me out of the corner of my eye.

“What?”

“You planning on sharing any of those?”

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