The Broken Sister (Sister #6) (14 page)

“No. I guess I just thought she’d cave quicker.”

“Well, she hasn’t. I think she’s trying to turn a new leaf or something. I have to date her a little bit. So get off my back. I always get things done, don’t I?”

His grandfather came around Tristan’s desk and laid his hand on Tristan’s shoulder. “Yes, you do, son. I’m sorry I was pushing so hard. You’re right, you’re not your father or brother. I know you’ll not fail. You’re not a failure. They are. You are a winner. I know you’ll get this done the best way possible.”

Tristan pushed back from his desk. “What’s the big deal about this? Neither girl is doing anything more. Can’t we just monitor it and wait and see?”

“Well, I guess that is our strategy. But the sooner you can produce some insurance the sooner we can relax.”

“She’s not going to do anything. I really believe she did it anonymously because she has no intentions of ever coming forward.”

“How can you be sure?”

“How often am I wrong? You always say I have a read on people. Well, I have a read on her. So just… please, back off.”

His grandfather’s head tilted as if figuring out a riddle. “My intent is to get that Cadence to talk to me about taking some money in exchange for a nondisclosure agreement. It’s going to take a few weeks to finesse her cooperation. She thinks she’s too good to take our money to buy her silence right now. But we’ll motivate her. I think we can manage it before Christmas. Can you keep an eye on this Kylie until then?”

“What’s Christmas? Why is that a magical date for all this?”

“I think that’s how long all this stuff will drag out. I trust you but I like the idea of a timeline. Can you?”

He dropped his head to stare at his knees. He knew what Grandfather was doing. Both bolstering his commitment to him and tapping into Tristan’s age-old phobia of not being the screw-up useless pieces of crap his father and little brother were. His head jerked up. Christmas? That was like six weeks away. Six weeks. He could be with Kylie… no, get to Kylie in six weeks, couldn’t he? Sure. He could. He let out a breath and sighed, and felt considerable weight lifted off his shoulders. Not yet. He didn’t have to do it yet. “I can.”

“Good. If you don’t see any signs she’s going public, we can finesse the situation a bit. Plus if she’s busy with you, she most likely won’t be poking around, causing so much trouble for Tommy. So… actually, yes, this is a good route too. Tommy’s had his friends and their girlfriends make Cadence’s life pretty miserable. They let it be known no one wants to hear what she has to say. I believe it will make her very willing to take some hush money to go away.”

“What are they doing to her?” He frowned, not liking the sound of bullying some other screwed-up eighteen year old.

“You know, just making it seem like no one believes any of it. Making little, petty pot-shots at her. What we do know is she is pretty much hiding in her dorm room, with no friends, and no one is listening to her in any kind of serious way.”

Disgusting. It all left a sick feeling in his stomach. He leaned forward and picked up a pen. “Look, I need to finish these reports. Do you mind?” His tone was surly. He did have actual, legitimate work to do outside of the immoral, pretty awful things he was planning to do to and with Kylie.

“Sure. Sure. See why I trust you, Tristan?”

He didn’t glance up again. He stared with unseeing eyes at the stack of paper before him. Sure, he saw why his grandfather trusted him; he did everything the old man ever asked. Always. Without question. Without fail. And regarding that same trustworthiness—he had a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach—Kylie felt that way about him too.

He sighed and shut his eyes against his stomach pinching in distaste. He hadn’t lied to Kylie, not about anything real. He had screwed up at work and miss-placed important information he needed for a presentation. His mind had been scattered and unsure, like he had never done his job before. He’d had a crappy day where his grandfather had railed into him. And to deal with it? He’d gone directly, almost anxiously, to Kylie’s apartment. Then hung out while she did homework with some other girl. He had done it for himself, not this stupid plan of his grandfather’s, and that almost had him feeling worse than thinking about what he intended to do before Christmas.

****

He called! Kylie gave in to the crazy and out of character urge to dance around her apartment. She’d been writing a paper on how gender roles had changed over the last fifty years, when her cell had chimed and there was Tristan’s name. She could not believe he had actually followed through and called her again. She thought he might just disappear into the ether. Their talk, though intimate, and seemingly real was far too personal. In fact she was sure she wasn’t wrong about its realness. She had the distinct impression that Tristan did not usually speak like that. And that talking so intimately about his long-lost sister wasn’t something he’d done before. He was telling the truth. And instead of drawing them closer, she thought it would be the reason he’d never call again. And she’d be damned if she’d crawl after him, begging him to notice her. So when he actually called again, she gave into the crazy and unheard of urge to dance around as she kept her voice neutral with the hello.

He asked how her week had gone. What had she been doing? He listened intently and as if it mattered to him what she said while she prattled on about nothing. Classes, studying, random facts about people she knew or gossip she’d heard on campus. She cringed at her own life. He didn’t scoff, however.

“You want to go out this weekend?”

She shut her eyes when he asked it after their conversation had finally fallen silent. Go out. Her stomach pitched and roiled with pleasure as her fingertips and even her toes seemed to tingle. She felt a funny laugh wanting to escape her mouth. She was giddy! She knew it. But no boy, no guy, no man had ever just asked her out like this! It was crazily making her blush and feel so… so what? What was the big deal?

Special. He was making her feel so special, and she never had felt like this before.

No man had made her feel like this, not since her father was part of her life.

She jerked her spine straight. Where did that thought come from? Of course she’d been special to people. Her mom. Donny. Ally. Grandparents. Gretchen and Tony. Olivia. So many people in her life, but as always that wasn’t enough for her. She was always greedy for more acknowledgement. And yes, the last time she felt this stupid-happy and carefree was when getting attention from Micah.

But Tristan was waiting for an answer to his casual, normal, very adult question. It wasn’t like this should be such a big deal.

Even if it was.

“Yes. I would.”

He chuckled and it vibrated through her ear. “I thought perhaps you were thinking of a way to gently let me down. You sure?”

“I was…” Well, hell, why hide it? Why not let it out. Maybe he’d run from her sooner. “I was dancing around a little bit.”

There. He’d laugh at her. She was an idiot. Totally stupid and lame. “Dancing around? Because…?”

“Because I was happy you asked. No one’s ever asked before. Well, I mean, not like this. You know, like you meant to. Like you put some thought into it… into me.” She should cut her tongue off. Who admits this stuff? “Not that I haven’t been out. Lots. Just more hook-up style, then, you know, like this. Like you—”

“Kylie?” He cut her off.

She slumped down and leaned against her kitchen cabinets. “Yes? You’re going to renege now, aren’t you?”

“I was going to say, I’m glad I’m the first and I made you dance around because you were happy. It makes me happy. And I was having a shitty day and so, thank you for the smile.”

“Why were you having a shitty day?” She instantly sobered up, her tone serious.

He sighed. “Stupid corporate stuff. Stuffy asshole bosses who expect things they would never do themselves.”

“Ugh, sounds like a dream come true. Can’t wait. Maybe I should stay in school a few decades longer.”

He laughed. “Yes, well, eventually one has to support themselves. It’s not always happy dancing. So anyway, this weekend? That was a yes?”

“Yes. It’s a yes.”

“Saturday? We could go to dinner.”

“We could.”

He hesitated. “There was a decided lack of enthusiasm over ‘dinner.’ No dancing there. What? You want to go to a club? Actually go dancing?”

“No, no. Dinner’s nice. I just, I forgot I promised my mom I’d come home for dinner. She was worried about me and I wanted to soothe her. It was before we met and I hate to break it. I came home upset and—”

“What were you upset about?”

She closed her eyes. Tommy. Date rape. The website. She really needed her usual reticence and filter with this man. He just drew it all out of her and it wasn’t even his own doing, it was hers. “I ran into someone I hadn’t seen in a while. He just… well, he was a bad experience freshman year. Anyway, I got down about it and went home. Momma love and all that.”

There was an extra-long silence. She thought maybe they were disconnected. “Tristan?”

“Yeah, yeah, I’m still here. Um, dinner… you shouldn’t break your word. We could do it Friday.”

“I work. But…”

“You’re going to have to start completing your thoughts. I really don’t know what you’re thinking. You’re a little… erratic. And oddly, I think I kind of like it. But you still have to tell me what it is you’re thinking or feeling.”

“You could come to Calliston with me. We could go earlier in the day. It started snowing up on the mountains. Outside of Calliston. We could grab the sleds from my house and take a drive up there. Then just have dinner with my mom and Donny. I mean, if that’s okay. It might be too soon. It’s just dinner though. You know? No real commitment.”

Silence again. He was the one who begged for her to “talk.” Claimed he liked her craziness. She might be crazy true, but he had asked for it.

“Sledding, huh? Never been asked to do that before. Snow skiing, I’m there… but sledding?”

“I can’t ski. Mom and Donny tried to teach me but I was hopeless. Now Ally, she took to it—”

“Perfectly?” he supplied. “I’m getting that’s the theme of your childhood and yours and her relationship. Okay, so skiing is out and sledding it is.”

“What time?”

“Nine? We can get an early start.”

“Okay, I’ll see you then.”

She agreed, hanging up while her heart was still erratically beating and a surge of warmth filled her blood. It was excitement, interest, and anticipation, pure and simple. It was that thing Olivia had described when she started dating Derek. It was a crush. She finally was developing a crush, a liking, an interest in a man. An interest besides sex. Girl or boy, she’d never felt these things and it was a heady, intoxicating, exciting experience. She finally understood it.

Only two days! She quickly started gathering her snow clothes, which were stuck in different and relatively odd spots around her apartment. Her mom! Crap, she needed to call her and explain just who was coming to dinner…

They would not believe it. She was bringing home someone that just might be more of who Ally would date. It was incredible to think they might be impressed with who was choosing to be with her.

WHEN TRISTAN PICKED UP Kylie at promptly nine o’clock, she came out wearing black leggings and a puffy black coat and carrying a bunch more outdoor gear in her arms. She got into his car with a soft smile. She was so shy. So happy. Something stabbed his heart. Her smile was so there and it was clearly for him, and yet she was so sweet. So not what he expected from her. Ever.

They took off towards her hometown and she was quiet. So was he. Guilt was eating him. He hadn’t counted on her constant sweetness. Her likeability was not something he had foreseen. Not from what he pictured of a girl who would make wild claims against a guy anonymously on a website about rape.

But she was so sweet and genuine. Each layer of sweetness revealed to him made the guilt that much thicker.

He swung into the small suburban house that was her parents’. He had not intended to meet her family. He shook his head. He was letting her become more and more real to him. A complete picture. It was dangerous. Each little piece of her just made what he had to do all that much harder.

But then her little jolts of reality. The story about Tommy and running home here. That was for sure when she ran into Tommy at school. She all but admitted she wigged out and it was that day she posted on the website. So… yeah, a huge blaring connection and red flags flashing for Tristan. It was also startling to realize she was talking about his brother. It was like going from feeling intimate, almost connected to her, to feeling like a giant wall had suddenly sprung up between them and they were now total enemies. It was an odd connection he couldn’t totally make sense of. Any of it.

She smiled, her nerves obvious. She had attempted conversation and he hadn’t reciprocated with much fluency. He just wasn’t sure about any of this.

He followed her, feeling his anxiety rise. He pushed his hands in his pockets as he followed behind her, able to see over her head as they walked. She gave him an unsure smile as she then walked in without knocking. “Mom? Donny?”

It was a young teen who came to greet them. “Kylie!”

“Hey, Ju-Ju. Where’s Mom and Donny?”

“Getting the sleds out of the shed. Can I come?”

“No.” Kylie leaned down and whispered into Julia’s ear. “I’m on a date.” Then she winked at her as Julia giggled and glanced his way.

She was a startling young girl, breathtaking with blonde curls, maybe in her early teens. He smiled finally, losing some of his nerves and stern attitude.

“This is my little cousin-sister Julia.”

He put out his hand to shake hers and smiled at her. “Nice to meet you, cousin-sister.”

She giggled and put her small hand out to his. “Oh, there are Mom and Dad.” She spun around and headed off towards them.

“Mom and Dad? Isn’t your mom her aunt?”

“Yes, but no. She calls my mom ‘Mom’ as long as her own isn’t around.”

He followed them farther into the home. It was… pleasant. Homey. Small. They weren’t rolling in money. The house was a small rambler, with a typical floorplan. From the entry a hallway took off down the left and to the right was the family room. A few more steps and they were in the kitchen. It was a galley style, clean, neatly decorated, but nothing lavish.

Her family. Mom turned out to be an attractive redhead with a warm presence and smile who treated Kylie with a gentle hand. He stood back observing, trying to not intrude. Donny seemed like a nice enough guy. He kept sending Tristan clear signals. He was outwardly respectful enough, but there was a far more subtle weariness towards him.

Kylie introduced them and Tristan stepped forward, shaking hands, with eye contact, and participating in easygoing small talk. He was good at that. Years of practice. His mouth engaged while his heart evaluated what he was learning.

She came from a good family. Not good like in name or status, but good like love and values and chemistry. He almost dropped his shoulders in defeat. It wasn’t at all the picture he’d painted when he’d first decided who Tommy’s accuser must be.

“I’ll bring the sleds around,” Donny said as Tristan followed him by some unspoken pact. It was obvious Kylie wanted a moment alone with her mom. There was an eagerness in Kylie to talk to her mom. A caring he didn’t expect. He took it as his cue to follow her stepfather/uncle.

“That what you drive?”

Tristan glanced up at Donny. He didn’t seem so impressed with his car. It was usually the opposite. “Uh, yeah.”

Donny considered him. He dug in his pocket and popped out a set of keys. He threw them towards Tristan, who grabbed them out of reflex. “Take my truck. It’s got four wheel drive. I don’t want you two getting stuck up there. Kylie knows where she’s going so listen to her. Don’t go too far, but stick to where she says so if you two don’t show back up I know where to come looking.”

“Okay.” He really didn’t want to drive the other man’s vehicle. But there was no asking.

Donny eyed him. Then his car. “How old are you?”

“Thirty.”

“Little old for her, aren’t you?”

“I don’t know. I mean, we get along well enough.” He hadn’t ever been grilled by a girl’s parent. If he’d met parents most liked him, especially in the last few years, when his success showed through his vehicle and clothing.

“How’d you meet?”

“She was my waitress.” True enough. He almost felt the need to proclaim he hadn’t slept with her. He didn’t expect the grilling by her father-figure.

“You…” Donny started to say, but then Kylie and Tracy came through the front door towards them. Smiling. Kylie walked with her arm around her mom’s waist. Donny immediately smiled and his entire intimidating act dissolved. Tristan blinked. Had he imagined the whole thing? No. He hadn’t imagined that.

Donny put his hand out as if to friendly handshake. “Have fun. Be careful.” Tristan got the implied “with her” and Donny didn’t really care how Tristan fared.

They got in the truck and pulled away. “I hope you don’t mind the truck. I think Donny’s right.”

“No. It’s fine.” His tone was absentminded as his thoughts drifted.

Snow. They finally hit it once they’d gone about thirty-five minutes from the main road up back roads on the mountains. It was soon covering the road and they hit an area where the tire tracks petered out.

“Here?” she said, her eyes eager with anticipation. He parked and watched as she pulled her snow pants on and reapplied her parka. She stopped as she reached for the door handle. “Aren’t you going to put yours on?”

He had snow gear. It was used for snow skiing, not frolicking like a child in the snow. With a sigh he started pulling it all on as she jumped out.

But by the time he’d put his stuff on she was out of sight. He followed her footsteps through the six inches of powdery new snow. He found her down a hill that went down towards a wide, shuffling, and swift creek. It was glossed over in thick shelves of ice on both sides. Snow glittered like diamonds shavings were strewn all along it. It was blinding as the sun shone off the water, ice, and snow in eye-searing reflections. The sky was bright blue and sharp against all the pristine white of trees outlined in crusty snow. And in middle of it was Kylie down on a long thick flat shelf of ice. She was poking her way along, tapping before she stepped to make sure she didn’t fall through. He watched her. Almost confused. He felt compelled somehow to pull his phone out and take some pictures of her. She just looked so happy. Carefree. She was literally frolicking like a kid in the snow and trying to ice skate, without the benefit of clear ice or ice skates, but laughing as she slipped and fell hard to her butt.

Her snow outfit was all black with a bright purple hat pulled low over her head. Nothing about her was snow-bunny hot. There was her in too big of pants and coat because she was so skinny it all hung on her as all her clothes did. As she liked.

And still he clicked her picture, unbeknownst to her. She was just such an anomaly he couldn’t figure out. She spotted him and waved him down. He finally half slipped, half walked, half slid on his ass towards her. The ice, snot-like in its slipperiness, made Tristan step carefully towards where she frolicked.

“Isn’t it glorious?”

It was. Truly. He paused and raised his head up and his gaze up higher. How often did he do that? Look around? Notice nature? It was a stunning day. Blinding, really, in color and vibrancy. He closed his eyes as the piercing cold air stung his face, and yet the sun’s warmth could be felt on his skin. Odd contrasts. It was somehow invigorating. Kind of like the girl he was with. He mentally shied from the thought.

He marveled until a hard pack of snow smacked his cheek and eye and went up his nose. Startled, he pushed the snow off him and turned towards her. She was already backing up while she giggled and laughed and then full-on turned and tried to run. But her sliding steps had her in a cartoonish slow run. He started after her, much more coordinated and on surer feet.

He got close enough to launch himself at her and tackle her, turning so he took the brunt of their fall to the ground as they ploughed into a snowbank of powdery snow. It shook down all around them. She struggled, laughing and gasping as he finally rolled her under his weight.

All the layers kept them separated but she was laughing so hard he could easily take a fistful of the white powder and stuff it in her face, into her mouth and down the top of her coat where it gapped around her chin. She ate the snow, almost choking on it when she sucked it in from laughing so hard in gasping breaths and screams.

“Not smart, Kylie McKinley. Not smart at all. You get that I’m way bigger than you,” he finally taunted.

She squealed, “Oh my God! It’s so cold,” as the snow hit her chest under her coat. He grinned wider.

“So smart. I got you! No matter what you do to me from here, I got you first!” She was still laughing. Her cheeks were pink with cold. Her nose was wet and dripping snot from the cold and all her laughing. She merely took her glove and wiped at it. There wasn’t one pretentious thing about her. She was real. Out there.

It all made her laugh harder. He sat back enough to let her finally catch her breath. She laughed for a full five minutes, squealing about the cold. He studied her and then her laughter started to still and she seemed to realize he was watching her. Her eyes fluttered open and focused on him. Her face was still red and splotchy from the cold and tears from laughing. He leaned down and his lips found hers. He kissed her with just his lips, easy and soft until he lifted his lips barely just off hers. She blinked repeatedly.

“Why’d you do that?”

“Because I couldn’t think of anything else I’d rather do.”

Her cheeks were already pink from the cold but his comment drew out more color.

“Why’d you attack me?” he challenged.

“You were grouchy. Thought maybe you’d relax.”

“I was grouchy?” His head snapped back in surprise. Grouchy? Had he ever been called grouchy? He imagined Morgan calling him grouchy and the image made him smile. It was what a mother called her tired, spoiled, annoying kid who needed a nap. It wasn’t something he was called.

She nodded, her eyes losing their mirth. Her mouth twisted. “Yes. Meeting my family… it was too soon, huh?”

“You think they made me grouchy?”

“Yes.”

He shook his head, on top of her still, but he could hardly feel her through all the poufy layers. “Am I still?”

“Grouchy? I don’t know. But at least you smiled.”

He stared down at her. His mouth wasn’t smiling now. “I find it particularly easy to smile with you.”

Her eyes grew wide and then dimmed.

He sighed. Yes, grouchy was kind of the word to describe his earlier mood. He hadn’t wanted to look forward to seeing her today. He didn’t want to like her parents, or respect how her mom was so careful with her. Or why his heart felt heavy with tenderness understanding why her mom was so careful with her. There was something about Kylie that begged him to be kind to her. A softness that totally didn’t match with how she dressed or how she enjoyed the boys of college, but that same fragility seemed to evoke a protectiveness in him he didn’t understand.

Yesterday he’d noticed a homeless woman who was sleeping on the corner of the parking lot and he wondered if Kylie would really just go up to her and start talking to her as if she was someone she’d met in an elevator or grocery store. But easier still, he could picture the kindness coming from her to do so. He’d, of course, done neither. He’d merely slammed his car door and headed into the office building, leaving the woman shivering cold outside with her grocery cart and cardboard box. But it was something new that he noticed her. Maybe, given time and enough of Kylie’s influence, he’d do something more productive than notice her.

He lowered his head, resting his forehead against hers. He sighed deeply and whispered, his lips cold against her skin right by her ear, “It’s all too soon. Don’t you feel that?”

“Yes.” Her voice was almost a conspiratorial whisper back. Her eyes widened an infinitesimal amount and she just barely smiled as she added, “That’s why I keep waiting for you not to contact me again.”

He didn’t answer. She was perceptive. More than she first let on. He leaned forward and his lips touched her as his tongue gently slid into her mouth. Her body shifted, letting him fall more comfortably against her. He closed his eyes as her warm, wet mouth surrounded his and everything fizzled from his brain like snow melting on a hot plate.