Like One of the Family. Kimberly Meter Van

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      CHAPTER THREE

      LORA©CLOSED©THE©DOOR behind her, leaning against the wood. Pops was losing his mind. There was no getting around that fact when the evidence had just slapped her in the face. Her breath hitched in her chest as the pain spiked in her heart. How could she pretend for Pops’s sake that Grams was still alive when she’d worked hard to put that grief behind her so that she could cope with the loss?

      No, Grams, no…I can’t pretend you’re still here…it’ll kill me… Lora sank to the floor and clutched her knees to her chest, hating how lost she felt. Losing Grams had been far more painful than losing her own mother, if that was possible.

       She remembered her mother’s funeral as if watching a scene from someone else’s life. The memories she had of Lisa Bell were fogged and distorted, snatches of a life she barely recognized. At one time, her mother had laughed with joy but the Lisa Bell Lora remembered had tears in her eyes from her husband’s abandonment. Lora hated her father for that. Cancer had taken her mother, but Lora always believed that a broken heart had been the true killer.

       Lora shuddered, gulping against the tightness in her chest. She was stronger than this, she told herself fiercely. Get up! Get off this floor and stand tall. There were people depending on her to figure things out. Wiping the tears from her face, she struggled to her feet with the fragile resolve of someone pulling themselves together with little more than grit and determination. This, too, felt familiar.

       Snatches of her earlier conversations with Heath came back to taunt her without mercy. Why did he bring out the worst in her? Granted, she wasn’t a girl who was known for her niceties but there was something about Heath that had always made her snarl.

       But even as the thought ran through her head, something nagged at her. No, she hadn’t always disliked Heath. In fact, once… She shrugged off where her mind was going. It was so long ago, she could hardly remember how she’d felt then about Heath Cannon. All she knew was that today he rubbed her the wrong way. And he seemed stuck to her family like a pervasive mold.

       Lora dragged her luggage to the bed and swung it on the bed. She popped the lock, slid the zipper open and threw open the top. Everything was packed with military precision, making it easy to find what she was looking for—her bikini and cover-up. Grateful to get out of the constricting and smothering business attire she wore for the plane, she made quick work of slipping into her island clothes, then put away her packed clothing into her dresser. She didn’t plan to stay long but she never kept her clothes tucked in her luggage. She liked everything to be where it belonged, if even for a short visit. After she’d hung her blouses and put away her luggage, she took a quick survey of her room. Nostalgia tugged at the corners of her mind but she pushed it away. She’d spent half her childhood here, in this room. Her mouth softened as a small smile threatened. She closed her eyes and drew in the soft scent of coconut suntan lotion that seemed a part of the wicker furniture and let the peace that followed permeate her soul, if even for just the barest of moments. She would allow herself that small comfort.

       The sound of her youngest sister’s voice echoed below in the terrace. Lora’s eyes opened. She needed to speak with Lilah immediately and seeing as Lilah had failed to meet her at the ferry, that told Lora her baby sis had deliberately avoided her to circumvent a confrontation. Well, time to get this out of the way… .

       Lora headed downstairs to have a chat with the youngest of the sugar bird Bells.

      * * *

      LILAH BELL©HAD©WATCHED her sister disembark from the ferry from her perch at the Rush Tide Bar and Grill. She’d pleaded with Heath to go and pick up Lora for fear of what her older sister might say to her in light of her failure. Lilah chewed the side of her cheek, her stomach gurgling in distress at the turmoil causing havoc in her intestines. She’d always had a persnickety tummy, as Grams used to call it, which had resulted in Lilah being the pickiest eater. Lilah knew she gave off the impression of being frail, so most people continued to baby her, except Lora.

       And while Lilah sometimes chafed at the way people coddled her, Lora had made her realize that people babied her because she was incapable of handling a true crisis. Her failure at being able to navigate the obstacles facing Larimar and necessitating the SOS call to Lora only served to deepen her own disappointment in herself. And frankly, her oldest sister was the last person she wanted to see right now. She certainly didn’t need to hear Lora berate her for letting things get this bad.

       So, she’d begged Heath—who had his own issues with Lora—to get her from the ferry. Yes, it’d been cowardly, but Lilah hadn’t cared.

       She could only imagine the fireworks that’d accompanied that car ride.

       But Lilah knew she could avoid Lora for only so long because the island was a mere nine miles wide and eventually, the odds were that they’d bump into each other.

       And that moment had come, she realized as Lora descended from the private section of the resort to meet Lilah’s wary gaze. If it’d been Lindy, Lilah’s twin, there’d at least be hugs and exclamations of affection before the shouting. At twenty-eight, Lilah shouldn’t be afraid of her oldest sister, but her stomach was roiling even as she forced a smile.

       Of course, Lora looked stunning as she always did, if it weren’t for the grim set of her jaw. Lora had changed from the plane into island clothes, though she didn’t look local. Too much time in the corporate world had sharpened Lora’s gaze as if she were constantly looking for the angle people were trying to use to their advantage. It saddened Lilah to see how much her sister had changed—and not for the better. In that moment, she deeply missed Lindy, but her twin was off in Hollywood, well on her way to becoming famous.

       “How was your flight?” she asked, trying for some sort of civility before the fight began. Lora’s lips pressed together before she cocked her head to the side with an expression of exasperation. Lilah sighed. “So no small talk first? Okay. I missed you, too. We should probably go into Pops’s office to do this.”

       Lora nodded and turned to pad barefoot into Pops’s tiki-themed office. Lilah had always loved Pops’s laid-back style to business, but now that she’d been thrust into the management department, she’d realized a more orthodox style would’ve been easier to step into. As Lora would discover, Pops had left a nightmare to untangle when it came to the books. But as they entered, they found Heath sitting in Pops’s chair. This wasn’t an uncommon sight for Lilah, but it certainly was an unwelcome shock to Lora, as evidenced by her hard stare.

       “What are you doing?” she queried sharply to Heath, and Lilah sent him a silent apology for her sister’s rudeness. Lora looked to Lilah for an answer, crossing her arms and looking sorely vexed, as the islanders would say. “Last time I checked you were a handyman…now you’re sitting in my grandfather’s chair? I want an explanation and I want it now.”

       “God, Lora, stop treating Heath like he’s a criminal or something,” Lilah muttered, knowing Lora wasn’t going to like the explanation. Heath had been stepping in for some time to help and Lilah had been terribly grateful. He’d always been like the older brother she never had and she cared deeply for him. The fact СКАЧАТЬ