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And then he spotted Natalie waiting for him on the stairs leading up to his room and the anger returned.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Natalie released a relieved breath as Cody walked out of Summer’s room with the dinner tray. He didn’t kiss her good night. He hadn’t stayed the night in her room.
Thank god!
“You should be in bed.” Cody walked past her toward the kitchen.
She frowned, stood, and scrambled down the three steps to catch up to him. “I’m not a child with a bedtime.” Why couldn’t her parents, and especially Cody, see that she’d grown up?
Cody made some dismissive noise. “You want to be treated like an adult, then act like it.”
She trotted along behind him. “I am. I’m here to make things right between us.”
Cody set the tray on the counter by the sink, then slowly turned to her. Something in the way he looked at her didn’t bode well. “And how do you plan to do that?”
“By apologizing for upsetting you. I’m so sorry, Cody. I made a mistake. Summer had a headache. At the time, I didn’t understand how serious that could be. Now I do. I will apologize to her in the morning.”
“So she can wait, but I can’t.”
“Yes, because our relationship means everything to me. There’s never been any anger between us. I don’t want there to be now because of her.” She tried not to make it sound like she blamed Summer, when in reality, she did. Without Summer here, everything would be fine. Normal. The way it used to be.
Cody folded his arms over his chest. God, he looked good tonight with his shirt sleeves rolled up, his tie loose, his hair perfect. “Why can’t you try to get along with her? All she wants to do is get to know you and everyone else here.”
Especially you.
All anyone in the house talked about was Summer. Her dad, Haley, and especially Cody went out of their way to spend time with her.
They all thought Summer was perfect and they sympathized with her sad life.
Well, that life looked pretty good to Natalie.
Summer had money to buy whatever she wanted, homes around the world when she wanted to travel. She had a good job and the looks to get any man she wanted, even if she preferred to be alone. At least it seemed that way until she locked on to Cody and used his sympathy to reel him in.
Natalie wasn’t giving him up so easily. “You’re right. I’ve been skeptical of her. I mean, she could have found Dad anytime she wanted to, but she didn’t.”
“You know why.”
“If it was me, I’d do anything to meet my father, even if it was just to tell him how shitty it was to leave me.”
“It sounds easy, doesn’t it? You can’t imagine being left or dismissed so callously. You have no idea what it’s like to have someone be that cruel to you. Summer knew that kind of hurt all too well, even as a small child. While you were here, surrounded by your family and me and Brooke, every holiday and birthday and specialand ordinary day celebrated and enjoyed without a second thought about us being here, Summer believed her father didn’t want to share any of that with her. Summer didn’t know when her mother would come or go, who’d be with her for her birthday or Christmas, or if she’d be alone with the staff.”
Yeah, that sucked for her. “You’re right. I don’t know how that feels, because we are so close. But right now, it feels like she’s changing things here.”
Cody nodded. “She has. But you’re the only one who thinks that’s a bad thing, instead of seeing that you have another sister who wants to be a part of your life and be there for you always. She’s that kind of person. I don’t understand why you can’t see it.”
“I simply want to take my time to watch and listen and learn more about her. I want to know that she’s here for the right reasons. I don’t want Dad or anyone else to get hurt by her. I don’t want our family messed up because she doesn’t know how to belong to one.”
Cody’s arms loosened and dropped. “She’s trying her best to fit in.”
“I feel like she’s been rather pushy with me.”
“Because you’ve been so resistant.”
“She should respect that I need time to adjust to this new normal for us.”
“Then you should do that without taking advantage of the perks of having a big sister with a fancy car you canborrowto show off to your friends while you turn your back on her when she needs help.”
