Page 1 of Things I Read About
1
“You sure you don’t mind if I leave you?”
Honestly, I won’t really notice.
I pause to edit myself before responding. I almost chuckle at my older sister, Skye, who has been skiing “with me.” Her idea of bonding is to be next to each other, each with our noise canceling headphones on, doing our own activity. I don’t really mind. It’s skiing after all; we can’t exactly chat while sliding down a mountainside.
I smile. “I’m sure.”
“Thanks, I don’t mind slow pokin’ it with you on these bunny slopes, but Matthew is restless.”
“Um, I am not the one who fell four times so far,” I tease.
“Would we call that falling? Or maybe just stopping awkwardly?” She brings a hand to her eyes to search the next plateau for my brother-in-law.
“And,” I add, “This is a blue trail. Blue is intermediate.”
“It is?! You should head back to the greens, Sal. That way.” Skye points with her hand, but her eyes are locked on her husband. I spot his short dark hair and athletic frame. His light brown eyes gaze up at her with a knowing smirk, like she’s the most adorable thing he’s ever seen. She kind of is, huge neon headphones and frizzy hair all caked with snow because she keeps biting it, hard.
“To absolutely no one’s surprise, Shep and Sadie apparently challenged us to a couple’s race, so I better get moving,” she explains with a wave.
I nod and watch her attempt to glide away. It’s more of a shuffle.
I sigh.
One trip.
I asked for one sisters’ trip.
A weekend, not even the whole of spring break. No husbands, no assistants or bodyguards, no Canton International business meetings, just the five Canton kids themselves, goofing around and blowing off steam together.
But when Emerson Clark says he has the hookup for the swankiest ski resort in the whole country, how could my sister Samantha, the new Mrs. Clark, not freak out? She and Susan practically had our whole trip planned before I could respond with awhat happened to sisters’ weekend?text.
I start to move down to the ski lift. I glide a lot more gracefully than Skye, without a doubt. Why I’m always relegated to the green trails is a mystery.
No.
Not a mystery. It’s to keep me safe. Intact. Happy, whole, thriving.
It’s fine.
It’s because they love me.
Is it a huge deal to share my sister ski trip with my hilarious brothers-in-law? No. So why speak up about it? Not worth it.
I hop onto the lift and spot all my sisters together down below. They’re laughing and smiling. Actually it’s more like beaming. They’re like little sun rays. Samantha the most, with her bright blonde hair, versus the other three who have golden light brown hair. Her gleaming blue eyes match her extroverted personality.
They’re all about the same height, Susan might be a smidge taller, her body curvier from having three kids. Her eyes look dimmer, too.Hazel, like mine and Skye’s. Sadie’s eyes are teal, like Dad’s, and her hair, not frizzy at all, is clearly getting styled with better hair product. My hair is a duller brown. Looking at them, I feel boring in comparison.
But boring also means drama-free.
They needed this, this break.
I smile as I watch them in secret. It’s totally fine. It’s fine that I didn’t get my sisters’ trip. The last couple years have been crazy and now, thanks to my idea, they can recuperate a bit.
Iwillhave my girls’ night tonight, at least for a few hours. Susan mentioned it in passing and I made her promise we’d actually follow through. She may drive me insane with her attempts to mother me, but if she says she’s going to do something, you can plan your entire life on that promise. Susan Canton, oldest child, the gold standard, she shows up.
Dad once joked you can bet on Susan like you can on the seasons changing; to which Sadie said, “I’d take Susan over Oklahoma’s erratic seasons every day of the week. One day it’s seventy-nine degrees, the next day it’s twenty-nine, and the next day, tornadoes. Why do we even live here?”
