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“I have too. You aren’t the same person you used to be. You quit acting out, which I liked. You started eating and not looking dead, I liked that. You began being the kid you used to be when I met you, I liked that. I thought that if I said something, you would go back to being angsty Agatha. That’s why I don’t want you near Chris.” Sera pushed Agatha’s hair behind her ear as a tear fell down her cheek.
“I’m not going to fall for Chris again, Sera. I’m smarter than that now.” Agatha hoped that would be true.
“Love doesn’t care about how smart you are. Be careful,” Sera whispered, wiping away another tear.
“I am. I don’t let anyone into my heart, Sera. Ever,” Agatha stated firmly.
Instantly, Agatha knew she had said the wrong thing when Sera drew in a sharp breath. Sera wanted her to find love, but not with Chris. Except Agatha was beginning to fear that her heart was only meant for Chris. It didn’t matter how he treated it; it was his.
“I want you to, but not with him. Not again.” Sera leaned in and hugged her tight, too tight.
“It’s just fun. He will leave once his house is done, and then I’ll get to say I’m completely over him.” Agatha grinned and accepted the hug as she tried not to think about Chris leaving her again. But he didn’t belong to her, and he never would. The past had shown her that, and they were not even a couple now. Whatever they were wasn’t permanent.
Sera hugged her one more time and turned to Aspen. “I had my lawyer draw up paperwork for the sale. Everything is the same, except I changed the selling price to five dollars. The house was never mine; I was just holding it for the girls. Now one of them needs it, so it will be hers.”
Aspen grabbed the paper and looked it over. She let Agatha sign, and by the time it was over, Agatha owned the big house she loved. Though her sisters would always be welcome and could move back in whenever they wanted to, Agatha would know they had a place to land when needed.
When everything was said and done, Sera took Agatha to the closest bookstore and bought her books, all six that were currently out. And nine copies of each one, one for each sister and one for herself. In true Sera fashion, they waited for nearly an hour as a worker scoured the back room to find enough copies. But Sera was determined to get a copy for everyone, including Louisa and Frankie in Chicago.
Since it was Sera, she told everyone in the bookstore who would listen that her daughter wrote and drew the pictures, nearly forcing everyone who got close enough to buy a book. Then she made sure that Agatha signed every copy available. The store workers just let it happen.
By the time Agatha made it home for the day, it was already almost time for Violet to come home. Sera had taken the day off after discovering that her daughter was an author. She invited everyone over to celebrate the books, even if Agatha didn’t want to. There would be so many questions she didn’t want to answer, so many jokes she didn’t want to hear. Or was it because she had no idea how to be the sister with good things happening in her life? It had never been her before, and she didn’t know what to expect.
Now she had to decide what she was going to do about Chris. If she invited him to go with her, he would know who she was and would not be happy. She was starting to think she should have told him a long time ago and was maybe digging a hole that might fall in on her.
Sitting on the step, she looked over at his house. There were two dozen men going in and out, trucks lining the block in both directions. It wasn’t going to take long to fix his house with all these people.
She noticed his Turkish blue shirt first. She knew what it said, and she knew the hard muscles it hid. He saw her sitting there and flashed her a smile and a wave. Chris stopped what he was doing and walked toward her. All she could see was him; all she wanted to see was him.
As he walked across the street, she knew that she had not lied to her mom today. She didn’t let anyone new into her heart. But Chris had never left; he had always had a small corner of it.
Her breath stopped at the knowledge that she was still in love with him, that she had never stopped. His smile made her just as weak-kneed as she had been at sixteen. His hands knew her body as well as they had when she was twenty-four. But for the first time in all those years, it seemed he liked her for her. Maybe it wouldn’t last once he knew who she really was, but right now, he liked her.
“How was your day, Agatha?” he said from the sidewalk.
“Good, and yours?”
“Productive. Gary said he wanted to work late tonight to get the sheetrock up, so I am going to be late getting home.” He grinned. Did he even notice that he had called her place home?
At least she didn’t have to worry about inviting him to dinner. “That’s okay. I’m heading over to Sera’s for supper.” No need to tell him the truth today.
“Shoot, I wanted to meet your sisters, but I need to be here for questions, and the flooring is being delivered. Tile for the kitchen.”
“That will look nice.”
“Are you heading over there after Violet comes?”
“No, Sera will meet her. I just had to drop some stuff off here, and then I’ll go.”
“Well, I won’t keep you then. Have fun with your mom and sisters.” He kissed her lips, right in the middle of the neighborhood where anyone could see.
“I will.” She leaned her forehead into his and savored the moment. Not too many of these would be left after she told him.
“I am going to miss you.” He ran his thumb over her lips.
“You won’t even notice I’m gone.” She bit her lip to not let it quiver at her words. She wondered if he felt it.
“I miss you every moment you’re out of my sight, Agatha. I miss you now, and I still have you in my arms.” His lips replaced this thumb for another kiss.
