Page 96 of Tomorrow Belongs to Us
“I’m not talking about now. Something happened that night. He brought your clothes back for chrissake. Why don’t you just admit what everyone knows?”
“Nothing happened,” I insist, but I start to wonder if she might have found out the truth, or if she’s just projecting the wild rumors that flew around back then.
Erica throws her hands up in dismay as she paces around the room. “Were you ever going to tell us this? That you’re seeing him? How? Why? I don’t understand.”
I clench my jaw. “Look, I don’t even know what’s going to happen. I’m looking for another job and I’ll probably have to move away …”
“You won’t. Not now that he’s here.” Her face is still twisted in anger. “You’re moving away with him, aren’t you?”
“No, I told you—”
My sister looks around the room. “Does he live with you?”
“No! No. No. This isn’t what you think. This is new. I didn’t go looking for him and he didn’t come looking for me. We met purely by chance.” I tell her how Lance came into my life and the campus shooting. Erica lives a two hour car journey away, and I’m not sure the shooting would have made a big ripple on her local news network. She waves a hand at me. “One of my friends said something about that. Is this the shooting in the college?”
“Redmond College.”
My sister’s face is set hard, unrelenting. “I didn't realize it was him.”
“It was. He was all over the news.”
“He lives here?”
“I didn’t know that until the shooting.”
“And then he walked into your life? Just like that?”
“I walked into his,” I say, softly, remembering the time at the crossing when I dropped my groceries.
I'm not going to tell her that this is the first time we've been fully intimate and I turn away from her and pretend to examine some paperwork lying on my coffee table but I can feel the heat on my face at the thought of what we’ve just done. My body starts to heat up just thinking about it. He’s the best lover I’ve ever had, and he’s a gentleman, and so good to me. I don’t care about the opposition from my family.
“Don’t make a mistake. Don't take it any further.”
“What?” I can't believe my ears. I can’t imagine not being with him again. I want to be with him again, in his bed, in his life, for as long as we have this time around.
“Walk away.” Erica stares at me coldly. “You’re moving away, getting a new job, a new start. Don’t mess it up. He’s caused trouble for you before, and he’ll do it again. People don’t change, Meg.”
I don’t know who Erica thinks she is. I know the reason Lance didn't come back, I know the real story of what happened and it’s enough for me. “He’s good to me.”
“He ruined your life.”
“No.” I shake my head. “Dadruined our lives. Lance helped me.”
She smirks. “We all know how much Lance helped his favorite student.”
“It wasn't like that.” I fold my arms. “How long do you plan to stay here?” I have no desire to talk about my relationship anymore. It’s none of her business.
“I was going to stay for a few days but I'll leave, because there’s too much tension here for my liking.”
“There doesn’t have to be.” I don’t see her often, and, as much as she’s pissed me off, my siblings and I are close. We get on. We have a good relationship, because we’ve had to look out for each other after my mother tried to take her own life. As much as I hate the advice she’s offering, I don’t want to fall out over this. “Are you going to be difficult?” I ask her.
“Am I going to get in the way of you and Mr. Turner?”
I bite my tongue. “He’s not Mr. Turner anymore, and no, you’re not.”
“I was going to stay for the weekend.”
“Then stay for the weekend,” I reply.
