“Tate is f**king Wood’s sister?” Caroline asked and I nodded.
“That’s what Wood said.”
“Wood?”
“The other guy I’m sleeping with,” I informed her and her eyebrows shot up.
“You’re sleeping with him?” she whispered, getting closer so, when she did, I got closer too.
“Not sleeping sleeping just, you know, sleeping and maybe fooling around a bit. He gets up early and I get home late –”
“Laurie!” she hissed. “How could you –?”
“I don’t know!” I hissed back. “Tate went out of town and he took me for a ride on his bike and he kissed me before he left. But he didn’t tell me he was going. He just said he wanted me on the back of his bike when he got back. But then he was gone. For a month. He didn’t call. Nothing. He just vanished. Then I got my car from Wood and he said he’d seen me on Tate’s bike and he didn’t want to tell me what he had to tell me because he wanted me to be on the back of his bike but then he told me Tate was with Neeta, Wood’s sister, and she’s married.”
“The back of his bike?” she asked, looking confused.
I shook my head. “I don’t know, I don’t get it. I think it’s biker slang for they want a date or something.”
“What did Tate say about what Wood said?”
This was the tricky part therefore I mumbled, “Um…”
“What?” she asked.
“I didn’t ask him,” I admitted. “When he got back…” I moved even closer, “Carrie, when he got back I think he came straight to me, straight to the bar, he grabbed my hand and pulled me into the hall and kissed me and told me he didn’t find Tonia’s killer but it was good to be home then I threw the whole Neeta thing in his face, he got pissed, said some nasty stuff and stormed off.”
“You threw the whole Neeta thing in his face, a big, badass man with a bad temper?”
“Yes.”
“Why on earth would you do that?” she whispered loudly.
“I don’t know!” I whispered loudly right back, “I’m me, he’s Tate, we haven’t known each other for very long but that’s what we do.”
“When was that?” she asked.
“Two days ago.”
My sister stared at me.
Then she said, “I don’t get it, did you make up?”
“No, he was just there when you called me. We’d just finished trading barbs and you phoned and… and…” I took in a breath then took a sip of Kool-Aid then finished, “now he’s here.”
“Now he’s here,” she repeated, staring at me intently.
“Yeah,” I said.
She kept staring at me.
Then she shook her head and muttered, “Some things never change.”
“Sorry?” I asked.
“Honey,” she whispered and that one word seemed to have grave meaning but she said no more.
“What?”
She lifted up several inches and looked down at me. “Let me get this straight. You and Tate don’t get on then you do, more than likely because you really got on just one or the other of you didn’t get that, and I’m guessing the one who didn’t get that is you. Then he says he wants you on the back of his bike, which I think you don’t get means more than a date. Then he takes off and doesn’t call and some other guy talks trash about him to you behind his back. You listen to this trash and believe this guy. You don’t call Tate. When he comes back you don’t ask him what’s up. You just listen to some guy with an ulterior motive talking trash. Tate gets home, you throw it in his face, he gets pissed like you know he’s going to do, storms off but ends up a day later flying halfway across the country just to hold your hand because your Dad is sick? Do I have that right?”
Uh-oh. I hadn’t thought of it that way.
My eyes slid to Tate again to see he and Mack were walking up the yard toward us.
“So where is it now?” Carrie asked.
“We had sex for the first time this morning,” I answered and I heard my sister gasp again.
I closed my eyes.
“Laurie,” Carrie called and I didn’t look at her, I just opened my eyes and stared at Tate getting closer.
“Mm?” I muttered.
“Big Sister, I love you but you’ve always held a mean grudge and you’ve always, but always, leaped before you looked.”
My eyes moved to hers. “What?” I whispered.
“Brad was a dick and you thought he was something special and he gave you attention so you grabbed hold, never seeing he was a dick. That wasn’t good, not for years, and you followed him to Phoenix and lived a life you hated and did whatever you could to keep hold. That didn’t work out and you sold everything you owned and took off in your car and wandered the country. Now you’ve set up a life in the middle of nowhere and you got a man who’s into you and you listen to another man who’s into you and you don’t set the story straight, you just believe, shut down and, I’m guessing, intentionally piss him off to shut him out. A day later, he’s at your side during an intense time in your life, what I’m guessing again is pretending to be your boyfriend to get in the face of your dickhead ex-husband and then you leap into bed with him. Laurie,” she moved so her face was close to mine, “you’re smart in a lot of ways but that doesn’t mean you don’t need to learn how to think.”
Okay, I had to admit I’d heard that before, not only from Carrie but from Dad and Mom.
Still, I said, “Carrie –”
“Talk to him,” she whispered as we heard the men approach. “Give him a chance to set the story straight.”
“Right,” I whispered back because the men were almost there, we needed to stop talking and because she was right, she usually was. She was my baby sister and I knew I should be the smart and responsible one but I never was. I was always a good girl and I was always a nice person but I wasn’t always smart and responsible. That had always been Caroline’s role.
She got to within an inch of my face. “And listen,” she finished.
“Right,” I repeated still whispering.
“This doesn’t look good,” Mack remarked from close and Carrie moved back so we saw them both standing four feet from the hammock. Mack had his arms crossed on his chest. Tate had his hands resting on his hips. Mack’s eyes were assessing and they were on Carrie. Tate’s face was carefully blank and his eyes were on me.