Page 42 of Leave It to Us
“Girl, you are spittin’ facts tuhday!” For just a second, Lana thought her comments might be giving something away—but then, she just didn’t care.
Yvonne had been the one she’d run out of the bathroom in the middle of the night to wake up and whisper in her ear when she’d gotten her period. Her big sister had also been the one to go back into that bathroom with her and wipe her face because Lana had cried the moment she’d seen that stain in her panties. Then Yvonne had pulled out the box of sanitary napkins from the cabinet under the sink and had begun the explanation of how and when to use them, cleanliness, and the most important part of that bit of coming of age—how tonotget pregnant.
“And marriages don’t always last,” Yvonne continued.
Now Lana was silent. And so was Yvonne. They sat like that for what felt like endless moments. It was hot outside, and as Lana stared down at her glass, she swore she could see the ice cubes already starting to melt. That made her take another sip.
“Do you want to fix it?” Yvonne asked suddenly.
“Do I want to fix what?”
Yvonne turned her head so she could look over at Lana, who was already staring at her. “Whatever’s going wrong in your marriage. Do you want to fix it?”
Lana blinked, and then she blinked again. Then she sucked in a breath and released it slowly before responding, “I don’t know.”
Chapter 17
TAMI
“This is what you callsubtle?” Lana asked, her face scrunched into a frown.
To be fair, Lana’s face was often frowning, especially anytime she was inside the house. And it was such a shame, because she was easily the most beautiful woman Tami had ever seen. Lana’s deep-mocha skin had always been flawless, just like her body: perfect C-cup breasts, which still seemed to be high and perky; what she knew from hanging around Gabriel and his friends would be called a fine “apple” ass; and a slim waist. At five feet, seven inches tall, when Lana put on heels and makeup, she was a goddess.
Albeit a grumpy-ass goddess, who was currently driving Tami to drink.
“I think it’s pretty and fun,” Tami replied, and moved over to the wall, unrolling the paper she had in her hand in the process. “And I never said I was getting something subtle.”
“Isaid subtle,” Yvonne chimed in, because it just wasn’t a normal day of summerhouse renovations if the older Butler sisters weren’t ganging up on her.
“Well, I’m the one who was up bright and early this morning to be on that first ferry,” Tami said, and then lifted her arms to press the wallpaperagainst the wall. “And I’m the one who stayed in town, riding around with Hitch and Frank while they picked up one thing after another, saving the wallpaper store—the one place I needed to go—for last. You see it’s almost six o’clock, and I just got back forty minutes ago.”
“Yeah, that’s not subtle,” Yvonne said as if she hadn’t heard a word Tami had spoken.
“It’s actually kinda loud,” Lana added.
Tami looked at the floral pattern in pretty, cheerful pastels. Some of the roses were much bigger than the others, but they were all lovely blush and cream colors amid the multicolored background.
“It’s called Romantic Pink-Teal Watercolor-Chic Floral Pattern,” Tami said, and smoothed her hand over the paper once more.
“That’s a lot of name,” Yvonne said.
“And it’s a little ugly,” Lana countered.
Tami shot them both a seething glare over her shoulder. “Y’all just hate me.” She turned and attempted to walk to the other side of the powder room, where the window was, but she’d unraveled too much of the wallpaper off its roll, and she tripped over it. Cursing, she tried to bunch it up under her arms.
“We don’t hate you,” Yvonne said, and started toward her. “Come here, let me help you get that back on the roll.”
“I can do it myself,” Tami said, hating the pouty sound of her voice. “I was just trying to get this powder room done so it would be one less thing on our list to do.” She was still trying to wrap the excess paper around one arm when the roll slipped from her other hand and traveled across the floor.
Now the watercolors stretched out like a red carpet from where Tami stood by the vanity, past the toilet and the doorway that Yvonne had just come through, and out into the hallway, where Lana was standing. Nobody said a word as they watched it travel.
Then Lana sighed and picked it up. Yvonne reached for the end of the paper currently wrapped around Tami’s arm.
“Stop taking everything so personally,” Yvonne told her. “We can not like the wallpaper you selected without it meaning we don’t like you.”
From in the hallway, Lana yelled, “But for the record, I’m not enjoying chasing a runaway roll of wallpaper, and that’s solely your fault for standing there whining like a babyface!”
Tami grimaced. She’d always hated when Lana called her that, which probably explained why her sister had chosen that moment to say it.I’m not a babyfacewas on the tip of her tongue, but she clamped her lips shut and returned her attention to helping Yvonne straighten out the paper she was still holding.
