Home with My Sisters (15 page)

“Can we just eat now?” Josh said.

“Selective hearing,” Faith said, opening the door to the restaurant and storming inside. Why on earth was she making such a big deal about this? Had she mentioned it in the car? Hope didn't remember that. Would it be anti-Christmas of Hope to give her sister a beating with a pair of fake reindeer antlers?

CHAPTER 16

They were seated at a large booth by the window, right next to a roaring fireplace topped with a giant wreath. Christmas lights were strung along the ceiling and carols played softly in the background. Outside, it began to snow again. Hope could stare at the flakes coming down forever. Nature was certainly a thing of beauty. After they had some food in their stomachs, and had relaxed, maybe they could focus on actually having a good time in this adorable village. “I'm getting a greasy cheeseburger and fries,” Hope announced. She glanced at Josh and Brittany. “How about you guys?” Their heads immediately snapped toward Faith. She shook her head. Brittany buried herself in the menu again, but Josh continued to stare at his mother.

“Why not?” Josh demanded.

Faith kept her voice calm. “It's not good for you.”

“Aunt Hope is having one.”

“If she wants to pollute her body with toxins, I can't stop her.”

“Hey,” Hope said. Since when was it a crime to have a cheeseburger and fries on holiday? Hope had a nice body and normally she ate very healthy. There was definitely something up with Faith.

“I'm vegetarian,” Joy said. She had a smug look on her face. Hope suddenly wished she hadn't tried to get together with them at all. She wished Austin hadn't come into the animal shelter that night. Deep-sea fishing with Michael would be better than this.

Liar. You like him
. She did like him. She wondered where he was. What was he doing right now? Had he been thinking about her? Her sisters might be giant pains in the rear, but Austin was still here.

“You're vegetarian?” Faith was saying. “Since when?”

“Since forever,” Joy said.

“You ate chicken the last time you were at my house,” Faith said.

“That was two years ago,” Joy said.

“Pardon me. I didn't have the converter to tell me that two years equals forever. Oh, right. That's because there isn't one.”

“Guys,” Hope said. “Can we just all calm down?”

“I think everyone should stop participating in the butchering of innocent animals,” Joy said.

Brittany squeaked. A look of guilt was stamped on her face. Hope snuck her hand across the table and took Brittany's. Unlike Faith, Brittany squeezed her hand back.

“We're supposed to be having a nice lunch,” Hope said. “Not scarring children with our current political whims.” Hope knew it was a mistake the minute it was out of her mouth.

“Current political whims?” Joy gripped her fork and leaned toward Hope.

“Never mind,” Hope said. “Let's just order.” She looked around. The service in this place was abysmal.

Joy let her fork clatter to the table. “You've never taken me seriously.”

Please don't start, Joy, please don't start.
Hope was so tired of fighting. “It came out wrong. I'm sorry.”

But Joy was not satisfied. She turned to Faith. “I told you. I told you.”

Hope's eyes darted to Faith. “Told me what?” Faith shot Hope a warning look and shook her head. Hope turned to Joy. “Out with it.”

“You really don't remember?” Joy demanded. Hope shook her head. “That time you, me, and Mom had a meeting with my teacher? Well, you didn't have the meeting and I probably wasn't supposed to be there, but Mom couldn't find a babysitter so she took us along.” Joy stopped and waited for Hope to validate.

Hope's mind raced. Did she remember that? Meeting, teacher. Meeting, teacher. Nope. She had nothing. “When was this?” Hope asked.

“Oh my God,” Joy said. “I can't believe you.”

“I just asked how old we were.” My God, she was livid. And Hope didn't really remember.

“I was nine, so you were thirteen or fourteen,” Joy said.

“Thirteen,” Hope said. Joy was always acting like Hope was over four years older and she was almost exactly four years older.

“Do you remember now?” Joy picked up the fork again.

“No, so just tell me what I did.”

“The teacher said I was a bright girl if I would just focus and you said—‘She's not bright, she just copies me!' ” Joy stabbed the table with the fork and shot daggers at Hope.

Hope waited for more, waited for the bad thing that she'd supposedly said to come. Instead, Joy stared at her, fuming, as if she'd already said it. “That's it?”

Joy threw up her arms. “You publicly belittled me!”

“Like sisters do,” Hope said. She glanced around the table with a smile. Harrison and Faith were suddenly buried in their smartphones, Brittany and Josh were staring openmouthed and eyes wide.

“You meant it. To this day you don't think I'm smart.”

Hope couldn't believe Joy was serious. She felt a pang of guilt. “I was joking. I was being sarcastic.”

“So you do remember it?”

“No, I don't.”

“Then how do you know you were joking?”

“Because it's not that big of a deal.”

“To you. It's a huge deal to me.”

“Obviously.”

“You're not even taking this seriously now.”

“Joy, listen to yourself. Faith? A little help here?”

Faith rearranged her silverware. “I'm not getting involved.”

“Right,” Hope said. “Because you weren't there anyway.” A heavy silence descended like an axe.

“Why wasn't she there?” Josh asked.

“Never mind,” Faith said.

“Don't blame her,” Joy said. “This is between you and me.”

“Oh my God,” Hope said. “I was probably just trying to get attention.”
Trying to survive without Faith.
“I'm sorry if you think it was some diabolical plan to make you feel as if you weren't bright.”

“You were telling the truth. You've never thought I was smart. You still don't.”

“Oh my God,” Hope said. “Is this for real?”

Harrison and Faith nodded their heads. “You're really that upset over this still?” Harrison and Faith continued to nod. Hope took a deep breath. “I'm so sorry. I don't remember saying that. I must have been jealous. Of course I think you're smart. I think you're so smart. And brave, and adventurous, and wacky. I love you, Joy. You're my sister.”

“Wacky? You think I'm wacky?”

Joy used to be wacky. Wonderfully wacky. When she was four she ate popcorn with her feet. She could pick up kernels with her toes and bring it up to her mouth, ensuring she'd have the entire bowl to herself. And when scolded she used to give this incredible little laugh, a trill that pleased the ears and instantly made Hope forget whatever it was that warranted the scolding in the first place. The woman before her was not laughing. Hope was truly sorry now; just speaking the words and seeing Joy's face crumple into tears filled her with spiky needles of guilt. Maybe she had bullied Joy a bit without realizing it. Maybe she had been jealous. But she definitely thought Joy was smart. Why had Joy buried this all these years? How could Hope pay for a crime she didn't remember committing? “You're my beautiful, sweet, smart, smart, smart baby sister,” Hope said, getting out of her seat and kneeling down by Joy. She hugged her knees. “Please forgive me.”

“Okay,” Joy said, sniffing loudly and wiping underneath her eyes. “So you believe I can make this coffee shop work, too, right?”

Oh God. Really? This?
Hope gritted her teeth as she slid back into her seat. Joy was smart. She had just outfoxed Hope. Got her feeling guilty and literally groveling at Joy's feet, and now Hope was going to be forced to publicly declare Joy's coffee shop a great idea. And no doubt this was all going to come back to haunt her when they were arguing over whether or not to sell the property. Hope shot a look at Faith. Was she going to help her now?

“You should show her the plans,” Harrison said.

“Like they care,” Joy said.

“We're not going to talk about your coffee shop right now,” Faith said. “I'm not sitting here talking shop, am I? Hope, thank God, isn't blathering on about dogs.”

“How could you talk shop?” Joy asked Faith.

Faith blinked. Her nostrils flared. “What?”

“You don't have a job.”

“Being a stay-at-home mom is the hardest job in the world,” Faith said.

“Give it a rest. Oprah is over,” Joy said. Hope took her seat and looked around for the waitress.

“What should I get, Mom?” Brittany stared at the menu like it was written in Swahili.

“A turkey sandwich and soup,” Faith said.

Brittany's face scrunched up. “Turkeys are animals.”

Faith glared at Joy. “You need to start watching what you say around my children.”

“I'm not a child,” Josh said. “And I still want a cheeseburger.”

“I have a right to state my beliefs.” Joy thrust her chin up.

“You don't eat any meat at all?” Brittany asked.

“I'm trying to cut down on eating anything with a face,” Joy said.

“Except for me,” Harrison said. Joy laughed and nuzzled his neck.

Faith slammed her fist on the table, jiggling silverware and sloshing water. “Enough! You two think you're so cute. You're not. You're totally transparent and immature.”

Hope raised an eyebrow. Faith normally kept her cool. Something was definitely going on in her personal life to make her so edgy. Hope had to at least try to restore order. “Why don't we all order what we want, just this once, and also—maybe we should stop talking until after we've eaten. I think we might all be suffering from low blood sugar.”

“Now you're telling us not to talk?” Joy said.

Faith piled on. “Who's the bossy one now?”

Forgive me, Father Christmas. All I want this year is to beat my sisters to a pulp. Just once. But thoroughly. So that all they'll wish for Christmas is their two front teeth.
Hope scanned the restaurant. “Is it just me or is the waitress atrocious?”

“Can we talk, Mom?” Brittany asked.

“Of course,” Faith said.

“Can we go sledding?” Brittany asked.

“Asked and answered,” Faith said.

“But Aunt Hope thinks it's a great idea.”

Hope was going to physically go and find the waitress. Maybe pummel her. She felt like telling Brittany that right now drugs seemed like a great idea too. It was too bad Faith was so stingy with her Xanax. Not that it was working. Despite her best efforts, Faith was the poster girl for anxiety. Definitely having marital problems. And taking it out on all of them.

“You like sledding, right, Aunt Hope?” Brittany's shining eyes were pinned on her. Faith glared at Hope even though she had yet to answer.

“I like sledding,” Hope said carefully. It was true. She did like sledding. How could you not like sledding? “But,” Hope said with a smile, “it's always a good idea to eat kale before you go sledding.”

“Why?” Brittany asked.

“Cut it out,” Faith said to Hope.

“Mom, if I eat kale can I go sledding?” Brittany asked. Hope slid down in her seat.

“No.”

“But Aunt Hope—”

“If Aunt Hope had children she'd understand.”

Hope threw down her napkin. “I am so sick of you saying that to me.” Joy's head jerked up. She smelled blood. Hope had always gotten the feeling that Joy loved it when Faith and Hope fought.

“It's true,” Faith said, stabbing her fork into the table. “Fur babies don't count.”

“I don't call my pets my fur babies,” Hope said. “But I think I'm perfectly capable of stating that I don't think it's too dangerous for your children to sled down a freaking hill in the middle of a winter wonderland!”

A waitress finally slid up to the table, alarm stamped on her face. “Sounds like you guys are hungry.” She dumped a basket of bread on the table. Josh reached for it, but Faith grabbed the basket and handed it back to the waitress.

“We don't want to spoil our appetite,” she said.

“Speak for yourself.” Joy grabbed the basket back and handed it to Harrison. “Want to spoil your appetite, baby?” she said.

He beamed. “I want to spoil you,” he answered.

Josh grabbed the basket out of Harrison's hand and snatched a roll and butter, before throwing the basket back down and glaring at his mother. He picked up the butter knife. “Can I use this, Mother, or is this dangerous too?”

“Josh,” Faith said. Her voice came out in a choke. Hope saw tears come to her sister's eyes. What was going on? Faith's hand dropped to her purse, where she rummaged around, then discreetly (or so she thought) slipped something into her mouth. Another Xanax. How much of that stuff was Faith taking? She would have to get Faith to tell her exactly what was going on. The table fell into an uneasy silence that continued until the waitress came back to take their order.

Everyone managed to place their order, including Hope, who changed her order to a chef salad because she didn't want to eat a cheeseburger and fries in front of Brittany and Josh. Maybe she'd come back later by herself and satisfy the craving.

“You caved,” Joy said, sounding gleeful.

“What?” Hope said.

“You still let Faithy boss you around.”

“I didn't tell her what to do,” Faith said.

“I'm taking the higher road,” Hope said.

“By switching from cow to pork?” Joy said.

“What?” Hope said.

“Chef salad has ham, and eggs, and bacon.”