Page 41 of The Lies I've Told
“There is nothing to tell,” I said, gulping back saliva in my throat perhaps a bit too loudly.
“She’s lying,” Molly said in sort of a sideways conversation to Cora. “You can always tell she’s lying because she refuses to look at you.”
Cora glanced over at me. “Isn’t that a telltale sign for most people?”
“What?” Molly replied. “I don’t know. But, when we were kids and she was trying to lie to Mom and Dad, they’d sit her down in one of those wooden chairs in the kitchen and kneel down, so they were eye-level with her. It would be the funniest thing, watching her head bob around, trying to avoid their gaze. Decades later, nothing’s changed.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “Oh, like you’re any different.”
She rolled them right back—a real mature move for a brand-new mother. “That’s right because I wouldn’t lie in the first place.”
Letting out a laugh, I just shook my head in disbelief. “Right, because you didn’t spend twelve years lying to yourself that you were over Jake.”
She scowled and made a disgusted sound deep in her throat. “That’s different,” she said.
“Oh, yeah?” I pushed. “Why?”
Her face turned to the side before she finally met my gaze. “Because that happened to me.”
Silence fell between the three of us as I processed it, and finally, I couldn’t help it. A chuckle tumbled from my lips and then one more.
I met my sister’s eyes, and then the dam broke.
And, soon, the room was filled with laughter.
Quietlaughter.
Because we were not about to wake the baby.
We weren’t that crazy.
I stayed at my sister’s long after Cora had come and gone. I picked up dinner for all of us and cleaned up the kitchen after we ate. It was nice to feel needed now that the inn was in the capable hands of my parents, although I’d offered to help if they needed it.
But who was I kidding? They didn’t need it.
It was nice to spend time with my sister without having to rush out the door somewhere.
Because, for the first time in a long time, I didn’t have anywhere to be.
“So, you’re just driving him all the way across the state?” Molly asked.
Oh, right. That.
Well, I guessed I did technically have someplace to be.
But that was tomorrow.
Tonight was all about me and my sister.
Molly and Jake had finally put Ruby down for a nap. We were enjoying a little quiet time, because, in no time, that kid would be up and crying again, and that would be my cue to leave.
“Pretty much,” I said, answering her question as we sat on the couch once again, but this time, it was just her and me.
Jake had gone upstairs to catch a quick nap himself while Ruby slept beside us in the bassinet.
“Is there more to this story you’re not telling me? Because that’s an awful big thing, and you aren’t usually the person to—”
“To what? Do nice things for people?”
