Page 3 of Legacy of Smoke
Said picture was a paper photocopy. I’d given it to him because Mom never would. And Austin was lying. My mom used to be gorgeous. Especially so in the photo I’d sent Dad. I was rounder, shorter, and plainer than she was when she was my age. “Thank you for saying that.” I shook his hand and ignored the butterflies in my stomach.
For a brief moment, the handshake stilled, and I got lost in the layers of color in his eyes. The interior was a starburst of caramel. Outside that, varying greens ranging from moss to pine filled in the gap before it transformed into a deep gray that was almost black encircling the magnificent whorls of color.
“Get a room,” Sprout joked.
Austin broke away first. And that stung. Worse, he apologized to me. For once, I didn’t want to be Pinner’s girl. Or a childhood friend. I wanted to be a woman, falling deeply and madly in lust with a man ten thousand leagues more beautiful than I was.
It took an act of will to be professional and take down Austin’s information so he could start work. Sprout escorted him out, showing him around the site, and introducing him to the crew. And I wasn’t eavesdropping out the window. I wasn’t.
I’d almost recovered my sanity and managed to get a head start on documenting the variables for the personnel shift Sprout requested, when the screen door slammed against the side of the trailer, and the main door did that whoosh-sucking thing a finely sealed frame should.
“Mamasistah!”
I cringed. Lily had been calling me that since she was eight. It was cute then. Once she turned fifteen it took on aflavor. And now that she was an adult, it was a reminder of my failures.
“Have you seen that man crop of hotness out there? Who is the tall, dreamy, and deadly newbie? Dibs!”
That would be Austin. I know she wasn’t talking about Sprout. He wasn’t deadly. Just tall.
I greeted my half-sister, “I thought you had work?”
“I do, tonight. I uh… need gas money though.”
Why don’t you ask your mother for it?I squashed that thought down. And the next one that maliciously replied, “because dear old mom smoked it up.”
“Pleeeeeeese, bestest half-sister of mine? Pretty please?”
“I’m youronlyhalf-sister.”
“Still, the best.” Lily flashed me a brilliant smile. It was so sweet and not devious at all. It was kind of magical how she could do that when I knew there was much more to her request. Yet, sucker that I was, I asked, “How much do you need?”
“Only forty. I hope that’s okay?” She looked down, then back up at me through her fading dyed-black hair. It was naturally honey blonde. Perhaps lighter than that. I hadn’t seen the real color since she was ten.
“I can do forty.” I reached for my purse.
“I get paid Friday, I’m good for it.”
No, she wasn’t. By Friday she’d either forget she owed me money, or a new catastrophe would hit. “How’s the new job?”
“Ah, it sucks, like all jobs do. You’re so lucky Sprout keeps busy here. Can you put in a good word for me? Maybe-please?”
Instead of answering, because I made the mistake of asking already, I dug faster for my wallet. “Are you sure forty is going to be enough to tide you over?”
“Absolutely.”
She was lying. I didn’t push. Instead, I pulled out three twenties. “Here, make sure you eat. And if you want, stop by the house for dinner tonight so you have a cushion. I’m working from home the rest of the week.” If there was food at her mother’s house, it was expired and potentially deadly.
Lily took the money and hugged me. She smelled faintly of cigarettes, as her clothes trapped the odor despite me never catching her smoking. I tried to not let it worry me. “You are the best sister ever, thank you!”
I tried. She didn’t make it an easy task. “And you are the prettiest, warmest, greatest sister.” I infused my words with positivity, because I knew she needed them. It wasn’t easy for her. We were nine years and different mothers apart. Thingsweren’t great with my father and mother, but Lily was proof of his cheating that my mother couldn’t ignore. No sooner than I found out I was going to have a baby sister, my mom packed everything that would fit into two suitcases and dragged me to Hawaii where her parents lived. I’d only ever known Skilletsville, Pennsylvania. With its bikers and small-town backwater roots. Hawaii washerhome,herheritage. Dad and the Destroyers were mine. I missed them, my home, and the sister I never got to hold.
Nine years later, I moved back to Pennsylvania. I enrolled in a community college nearby, lived in the basement of Dad’s little ranch house, and took care of Lily afterhermother almost got her killed the first time. Unfortunately, Dad had to split custody. If things had been different, Lily would have turned out better. And Dad would still be free.
Every chance I got, I tried to repair the damage I couldn’t prevent.
Tears gathered at the inside edges of Lily’s eyes. “I don’t deserve you.”
“Yes, you do. You are the most awesome person ever.”
