Like One of the Family. Kimberly Meter Van

Чтение книги онлайн.

      CHAPTER FIVE

      LORA©STARED©AFTER©HER©SISTER, wondering what had just happened.

       First, if she could manage to get over the shock of her baby sister bawling her out when she’d never said a cross word to her in all her life, then she could focus on the bombshell Lilah had dropped as if it’d been common knowledge and not some major revelation.

      Heath? What? Of course, it mattered nothing to her if Heath had once had a crush on her, but surely she would’ve noticed, right?

       Lora searched her memory for evidence of this so-called fondness and something sat like a forgotten relic in the recesses of her mind. A flash of laughter echoed and the image of Heath’s twinkling eyes bounded back to her. Her heart warmed instantaneously until she remembered something else.

       He’d left her when she’d needed him the most. She stiffened against the wave of pain that followed. It was the memory of her mother dying, a small girl’s heartbreak and the search in vain for the island boy whose shoulder soothed her most. It was the pain of abandonment and loss, the humiliation of being easily left behind; Lora shied away from it as if afraid of being burned.

      Stop it. Stop wallowing in stupid childish thoughts that can help no one or nothing, she berated herself even as she floundered momentarily. In Chicago, she’d been able to be exactly what she chose to show people. Here, there was too much history to hide from and too many memories that followed. She’d preferred the anonymity of her windy adopted city. She’d even come to appreciate the loneliness that dogged her when she’d found herself a moment without work to fill it. Now that she’d returned home to the island, she was surrounded by everything she’d tried to run away from.

       She barked a mirthless laugh tinged with embarrassment at the idea of Heath feeling anything but animosity for her because of the way she’d treated him. Lora stared at her bare toes, squirming privately at the feeling that admission caused. She hadn’t been friendly or nice to anyone, really. Lora had been hyperfocused on getting good grades so she could get into a top college and leave St. John. It wasn’t that she hated the island, but her dreams were bigger than the island could hope to sustain. She returned to the memory of doing homework—a lot—and Grams teasing her about missing out on her childhood to keep her nose in a book.

       She picked at a mental image, unraveling it from her cache of treasures and exhaled softly at the wince of pain from its bittersweet sting.

       “You’re such a lovely girl,” Grams had said one day, frowning, her eyes sad. “Don’t you want to go to the school dance with a nice boy?” she’d asked.

       The high school had hosted a dance, something tiki-themed, of course, and Lora had been happy to miss it. The idea of mingling with the very people she sought to avoid during most days at school didn’t appeal. But Grams had been truly distressed at her choosing to remain home, which Lora had found odd. “Aren’t you glad I’m not running around giving you something to worry about?” Lora had said, hoping to coax a smile free from Grams’s worried frown. “Enjoy the calm before the storm that will be the twins when they get to high school. Trust me, at the rate they’re going through boys, they’ll have to start dating from the British side of the islands just to meet someone new.” She added with a shrug, “Besides, Grams, I don’t have a date. No one asked me.”

       “How about Heath?” Grams had suggested, and now that she recalled the conversation she realized Grams had been a little quick to throw Heath’s name out there. Had she known, too?

       Heath, the boy who had appeared at her family’s dinner table one night, obviously hungrier than she’d ever been in her life, the planes of his face sharp and angular from eating too little for too long, and she’d been shocked to see him after he’d virtually disappeared from her life overnight. After she’d recovered from the painful surprise, she’d pretended not to know him at all. It was easier than admitting that she’d been devastated when he’d disappeared. She’d had enough people abandon her in life; she didn’t need another.

       And if she’d noticed the furtive glances her way, she didn’t acknowledge them. She supposed he had tried to make a few attempts at explaining his disappearing act but by that point, Lora had sealed her heart tight and wouldn’t listen.

       If she’d been nothing but cold and dismissive, the twins, on the other hand, had been delighted.

       “Can we keep him?” Lindy had asked, passing the fresh papaya with a grin. When Lora had gasped that her sister had even suggested such a thing, Lilah had simply chimed in.

       “I’ve always wanted a brother,” Lilah had said in her soft, wistful voice that always managed to make it sound as if she were somewhere else in her head and not planted in the here and now like everyone else. “He seems like he’d be a very good brother.”

       Grams and СКАЧАТЬ