Page 38 of Butterfly Sisters
Maybe Nan had thought Meredith would need a place to live, while Leigh had already started her life elsewhere… Or it was possible that Nan felt the cabin might be better for an artist… But none of those answers felt right. Family was everything to Nan—why would she tear them apart like this?
Leigh squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them, forcing her focus back to the email, her untouched double-shot caramel latte sitting on the table next to her. With a deep breath, she told herself that the only way to dig out of this hole was to do what she did best and climb back up that ladder one rung at a time. She rolled her shoulders to alleviate the pinch and started typing.
…I’d like to introduce you to 24,100 potential customers. Meet the residents of Old Hickory, Tennessee, a neighboring town of metropolitan Nashville. With over 1,200 homes on the national historic register, it holds a vibrant past, and, lucky for you, a completely untapped market for Green Hat Coffee…
Forcing herself to get the initial introductions done, she took a draw of her latte, the sweet caramel and bite of the coffee helping to direct her. She continued, firing off emails to Top Mountain Supply Co., Rocket Pizza, and The Attic Light bookshop, with her contact information at the bottom of each one. She felt a little better after finishing, so she gathered her things, and just before she walked out of the coffee shop, she tossed her cup into the trashcan, sinking it in one shot, a tiny wave of who she’d been a few days ago washing over her.
THIRTEEN
The next day, after compiling more statistics for her pitches to the companies she was courting for Greystone, Leigh found Meredith and her mother sitting at the kitchen table.
“We were just talking about you,” Mama said when Leigh set her laptop on the table.
The two of them talking without her gave her a twinge of unease.
Meredith patted the seat vinyl beside her. “Take a load off.”
Leigh wasn’t sure what it would solve, but the truth was that she didn’t have anywhere else to be, so she sat down. The windows were open, letting in a fresh breeze despite the thick heaviness between them. Mama scooted a plate of fresh cinnamon rolls Leigh’s way, the sweet spice of them dancing into the air under her nose, but she didn’t take one.
“You said you were talking about me?” she asked, folding her hands and trying to look casual when she wasn’t comfortable in the slightest.
“I know our relationship is… strained,” Meredith said. “But it’s important to remember that Nan left the house to me. I didn’t seek it out.”
“That’s just it: youdidn’tseek it out. Do you even care to have it at all?” Leigh asked.
Meredith leaned over her cinnamon roll. “You think this makes any sense to me?”
Leigh shook her head, knowing the argument was the wrong one. Even if Leigh could convince Meredith that she was the one who deserved the cabin, it still didn’t change the fact that Nan had chosen Meredith. Leigh would have to live with that forever, and if Leigh resided in the cabin, she’d always feel like an outsider now. Tears suddenly swam in her eyes, and she swallowed hard while trying to blink them away.
“I know this is so difficult for you,” Mama said, reaching out and placing a gentle hand on Leigh’s arm. “It’s hard for all of us…”
“I’m sorry,” Leigh said, rising too quickly and knocking the table, the plate of cinnamon rolls shimmying on the surface. “I need to be alone.”
She rushed back to her room, closed the door, fell onto the bed, and sobbed into her pillow. She couldn’t stop the question of why Nan had done this to her. It rushed through her mind like a hurricane. She felt betrayed, belittled, like she was less than what she thought she’d been in Nan’s eyes. And with the loss of her job and the fact that she only had a few months of savings to make rent on her apartment in New York, she felt as if she were breaking. If she were completely honest with herself, there wasn’t anything left for her in New York. It was the worst pain she’d ever felt, and all those thoughts just kept spiraling around in her mind.
She prayed for some sign to make this all okay. “Nan, if you can hear me, tell me what I’ve done wrong so I can fix it. Whatever it is, I didn’t mean it,” she whispered into her pillow, her voice breaking with another sob. With no answer in sight, she rolled over and stared at the ceiling, the cloudy beaded light fixture blurring through her tears. Leigh stared at it until the numbness took over, her tears subsiding, her breathing lethargic and steady.
As her sadness and confusion settled upon her, she turned her head to the side and took in the view of the lake through her window. Unexpectedly, she wanted to take a walk, to breathe in the clean air and put her feet in the water. With resolve, she dragged her fingers under her eyes, grabbed her cell phone, and slid on her flip-flops. Then she headed outside through the back porch door, slipping past her mother and sister in the kitchen.
As she made her way across the yard and down to the soft sand of the lake shore, the morning sun casting its white light over the rippling water, she already felt more peaceful. The water lapped onto the sand as if beckoning her in. She slipped off her flip-flops and dipped her toes into the cold water, striding through the small waves. The breeze blew through her cotton shirt and then the trees, their rustling like quiet applause for her small success yesterday.
Her phone pinged with an email in her back pocket. She took it out and had a look at the notification, surprised. Rocket Pizza had come back to her already and wanted to have a call… She stared at it, wishing she could be elated by it. But, as she stood in the calming pulse of the water, it occurred to her that while everything else seemed to be going wrong, this new job was the only thing that was very slowly, little by little, going right. And it was the most positive thing in her life right now, so she had to give it the attention it deserved. She opened the screen and fired off a date and time to talk.
“Working while walking now?” Colton’s voice sailed over to her.
She turned around, slipping her phone into her back pocket.
“Whoa. You okay?” he asked, immediately noticing the emotion lingering in her stinging eyes and stuffy nose. Elvis came down the hill and headed for the tree line.
She shook her head, not wanting to speak for fear it would come out as a sob.
He stepped up next to her, the water darkening the leather of his boots, but he didn’t seem to mind. “Meredith texted me and said you were dealing with some issues and you might want to talk.”
She tried to answer, but the words were stuck in her throat.
While she didn’t love the idea of Meredith spreading around the fact that she was a head case, she was already glad Colton had come. Having him there was a comforting force in her storm.
He looked at his watch. “It’s almost noon. What do you say we go back to my place and I make you lunch? I make a mean coconut curry chicken.”
