Page 32 of Racing Hearts

There were four bedrooms in their house. The guest room and her brother’s old room were completely vacant right now. Sierra’s moms could stay in one room, and her and her sister could stay in the other. It was perfect.

Much to Ellie’s surprise, her mom shook her head. “I don’t think that’s such a good idea, sweetheart.”

Ellie was shocked her mom would actually say no to this. “Aren’t you the one who is always preaching about going out of your way to help others? This is the perfect opportunity to dothat. Come on. It’s the holidays. They shouldn’t have to stay in a hotel. Not when we have the space.”

“I just really don’t think it’s the best idea,” her mom repeated.

“Why not?” Ellie asked. She definitely wasn’t going to let her mom off that easily.

“Yeah, why not?” her mama asked, clearly just as confused about Brinley’s reaction as Ellie was.

“I’ll tell you later,” Brinley whispered to Annalise as if Ellie wouldn’t hear it when she was standing right in front of them.

So odd.

Annalise smiled at Ellie. “They can absolutely stay at our house. We’re not making them stay in a hotel during the holidays. You’re right.” She looked at Brinley and lifted an eyebrow as if to tell her she needed to agree.

Brinley shrugged. “Okay, you’re right. We should definitely ask them. Just don’t be offended if they don’t say yes.”

Ellie squealed and gave both of her moms a hug. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

When they went back out, Brinley was the one who spoke. “We think you all should stay at our house. There’s no reason to stay at a hotel when we have the space and we’re just a few minutes from here.”

Brooke shook her head. “We wouldn’t want to impose.”

“Yeah, we couldn’t,” Tiffany added more firmly.

“As the one with the broken ankle, I think I should have the final say, and I’d feel the most comfortable if I stayed with a doctor while we’re here. That way, if I need anything, she’ll be right there to help,” Sienna said.

Ellie could have sworn she saw Sierra glare at her sister, but she didn’t say a word in response to her.

“She does have a point,” Brooke said. She looked over at Annalise and Brinley again. “But only if you’re sure. Like I said, the last thing we want to do is impose.”

“We are positive. The more the merrier, right?” Annalise asked. Everyone nodded in agreement, but only half the room seemed to actually mean it.

Sierra was not one of the people who looked happy about their arrangement, but now Ellie had time to work on that. It was shaping up to be a very interesting Christmas break.

Chapter 16

Sierra

“Why the hell would you tell everyone you felt more comfortable staying with your doctor?” Sierra whispered to Sienna once they were back in the car on their way to Ellie’s house.

“You’re welcome,” her sister said with a smirk as if she had actually done Sierra a favor.

Sierra didn’t want to stay at a hotel, and shedefinitelydidn’t want to stay at Ellie Finch’s house. She just wanted to be at home in her own bed where she could forget about everything that happened this semester.

She understood why they couldn’t drive there now, but it still didn’t make it any less hard. The only good part about going to Ellie’s house was that she definitely didn’t have to worry about old memories of Teresa coming up there. As much as she loved being home over Thanksgiving, she had to admit that it was hard being back in her old room in the bed where she lost her virginity to the girl she thought would be in her life forever.

But, really, Ellie Finch’s house? She was still trying to get a read on Ellie, and being forced to live with her was not the way she wanted to figure her out. Clearly, it was Ellie’s idea. That had to be why she asked her moms to go to the back to talk. Why would shewantSierra to stay? Was she really that desperate to talk to her and try to make things right between them? Sierra had to hand it to her. She was dedicated. She definitely didn’t give up.

After a few minutes, they pulled up in front of a modest two-story house that appeared to be about the same size as Sierra’s house. Sierra got out of the car so she could help Siennaout. By the time Sienna was out of the car and leaning all of her body weight against Sierra, Ellie was standing beside them.

“Do you two have bags I can grab?” Ellie asked.

Sienna pointed toward the trunk. “They’re back there. Thank god my moms picked me up from school on the way to the meet, so I actually have clothes with me.”

Sierra hadn’t even thought of that. Thank god she had enough clothes with her to last at least a week or two. Although, she really hoped she wouldn’t have to utilize two weeks’ worth of clothes, because two weeks spent in close quarters with Ellie sounded like absolute torture.

---