Page 69 of Leave It to Us
“Because he can’t,” Tami said.
Both Lana and Isaac turned to see her standing near the island. She had mugs lined up and was placing tea bags in each of them. Apparently, they all needed a cup of tea tonight.
“Tami,” Yvonne scolded, “let them talk.”
“I was,” Tami said. “But I know how he feels.” She looked over at Isaac. “Lana’s going to keep asking him a question he doesn’t have an answer to right now because that’s how addictions work. He knows what he’s doing is wrong, but he just can’t stop. Won’t stop—untilhedecides that’s what hehasto do.”
All eyes were on Tami now as Lana frowned. “Why would you say you understand? What kind of addiction do you have?”
Her sister shook her head. “I didn’t have an addiction, but in my support group that my therapist got me into, there are people struggling with different issues. Some have drug or sex addictions, others have compulsions or other symptoms of mental disorders that make them feel helpless to stop certain things.” She took a breath and then looked from Lana to Yvonne and then to Isaac. “I used to believe that I couldn’t stop messing up. No matter what I did, I was going to make the wrong decision and disappoint the people I loved the most. That kept my anxiety ramped up, and that only exacerbated my ADHD. I was a complete mess.” She shrugged. “I still am, on most days. But what I know for certain is that things got better once I decided I needed to play an active part in making them better.”
She finished with the tea bags and folded her arms over her chest as she faced the table now. “When Isaac decides this isn’t what he wants his life to be anymore and that he needs help getting to a better place, then he’ll be able to pull back the layers to see why he felt so compelled to gamble even when he knew he was in over his head. You asking him repeatedly to answer a question he doesn’t have an answer to at this moment is pointless.”
Lana was silent. She didn’t know what to say. Not to Isaac at this point or to her sister, who continued to surprise her. These past weeks that they’d been back at the summerhouse, Tami had been different. Still the same sometimes, like her ability to always be the first to laugh and to have fun in the midst of turmoil. Like tonight, when she’d run straight into the family room and started to sing. She had a naturalexuberance that made her personality sparkle. But besides that, she’d been doing a great job with the renovations. And now, apparently, she was a therapist as well.
“I don’t want this to continue,” Isaac said when he turned back to Lana. “I want to do better, for you and for our child.”
Looking into his eyes now, Lana felt a little bad that this discussion had ended up taking place in front of her sisters. But then again, she didn’t. Yvonne and Tami had been here for her in the past month, even when they didn’t know what they were supporting her through. Having them close had been both a distraction from her problems and a comfort as good memories from their past came pouring in. Sure, they’d struggled through some things—who didn’t? But this was how it always ended with them. One. Two. Three. Each of them standing together like one, two, three.
Yvonne walked over to the table with two mugs in her hands. She walked around them so she could set the first mug in front of where Lana sat, and then extended her arm to put the second one in front of Isaac. “I’m going to say something, and then I’m going to drag Tami out of here so you two can have some privacy.”
When Isaac looked at her with a raised brow, Yvonne only smiled and shook her head. “You know how sisters are,” she told him. “We might not be together all the time, but we’re a united front when we need to be.”
Lana almost smiled. She’d been thinking something similar.
“I can loan you the money to pay these loan sharks off,” Yvonne said, and now both Isaac’s brows were raised.
Lana sat back in her chair, shaking her head.
Yvonne held up a hand before either of them could speak. “Just hear me out,” she said. “When we found out about this house and the land coming to us, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do about it. I mean, I thought, let’s just sell it and do something else with our proceeds. But then we came down here, and Tami was so passionate about makingthis place what Grandma Betty always wanted it to be that I started thinking. Tami was closest to her, so she’d be the one to know what our grandmother wanted.” Yvonne clasped her hands on the back of the folding chair in front of her.
“Lana, you’re the planner and the detail person, so you were gonna watch the budget like a hawk; we all knew that.” A smile ghosted her lips, and Lana sighed. “But I agreed with you. I didn’t think we’d have enough money in that escrow account to take care of all the renovations. So I took out a loan from my 401(k).”
“Yvonne, no,” Lana said on another sigh. “No.”
“Oh my goodness,” Tami added.
“That’s why I told Deacon to go ahead and call those termite people, and it’s why I’m offering to loan you the money you need to pay this fool. Because if he comes after my sister, he’s gonna have to get through me first,” Yvonne said with a curt nod to Isaac.
“And me,” Tami added. “But next time, I’ll have something better than a spatula.”
Yvonne rolled her eyes at Tami, and Lana brought her hands up to wipe her face. “I can’t let you do that, Yvonne.”
“I’m not offering it to you,” Yvonne said to her. “Isaac, you’re the only brother we’ve got. You’re our family, and family—not just sisters—stick together too. You take this money, pay that man, and then you and I will work out a payment plan for you to pay me back.”
Lana saw that muscle twitch in Isaac’s jaw again. He was agitated and worried. And she was fed up.
“If you take this money from my sister and pay this man, it’s still not enough,” she said, and all eyes immediately fell to her. “I told you once that I couldn’t keep doing this; now I’m telling you for the last time: Iwon’tkeep doing this.” She was crying again, and that was annoying her on a totally different level. Because crying wasn’t something she did often. “I heard what Tami just said, and I’m sure there’s some truth to it—but for me, as your wife, I’m telling you to either getsome help and work through this or I’m leaving, and we can figure out a co-parenting plan instead.”
She knew she sounded harsh, knew that her sisters were shocked, especially since it seemed that Yvonne had just given them a solution to the problem. But Lana knew the problem was much bigger than this particular debt. And as she locked gazes with Isaac, she was certain he knew it too.
“What Tami said actually made a lot of sense,” he said finally. “And I’d thought about that on that long ferry ride over here. I’m gonna get help. The job has some type of therapy program, and I’m gonna look into it. I told you I want to fix this, Lana. I’m not playing about that. I want my family.” He reached for Lana’s hands again, bringing both of them to his lips, where he kissed each before looking over to Yvonne. “Thank you,” he said, and when she nodded at him, he said it again, his voice cracking a bit. “Thank you.”
“Can we talk about the fact that I’m gonna be an auntie now?” Tami asked, clapping her hands while she smiled brightly.
Yvonne shook her head. “No, girl. We’re going to bed and leaving these two alone ...” Then she walked around the table and turned back to add, “To clean up this kitchen.”
Chapter 25
