“If you need anything while you’re in town, just let me know.” He stared at her so intently, Lainey had to look away. “In fact, I’m going to take over coverage of the adoption fair this year.”
“Are you sure?” Lainey figured that should make her happy, but instead her stomach flipped uneasily. “Don’t you have more important things to do?”
“Nothing is more important than you,” he answered.
“Oh.” Lainey gave herself a mental shake. She’d been worried about the anger she’d encounter but now was uncomfortable at Tim’s friendliness. “I mean, thank you.” She took a small step back and patted her large tote. “I brought this year’s press kit. Should we take a look?”
He studied her another long moment then nodded. “We’ll make a great team, Lainey,” he said, gesturing down a long hall. “This way to my office.”
Chapter Four
“You wear a thong? Really?”
Lainey leveled a look at her sister. “One—why is that so hard to believe? And two—it’s not really the point of the story.”
“I know, I know.” Julia held up her hands. “I just figured you more the granny panty type.”
Lainey didn’t answer, unwilling to own up to how right Julia was. About ninety-five percent of the items in her lingerie drawer—if you could call it that—were of the basic cotton variety. Her work schedule didn’t leave time for dating. At least that’s what she told herself. It was easier than admitting the truth.
She’d dated a few guys casually between assignments in her early twenties. But something had changed. As her friends had begun to marry and start families, she’d drifted away from them.
Her biological clock should have stopped ticking since she couldn’t have children. Since that hadn’t happened, she’d taken far-flung assignments, spending more time on the road. It had been great for her career and much easier than watching the people around her build lives she could never have.
Her gaze settled on Julia’s round belly. “So where is Jeff?” she asked, changing the subject away from her underpants. It was odd to see Julia back in their hometown but stranger still that she was so pregnant and here alone.
With some effort, Julia hoisted herself out of the chair and paced the length of their mother’s small hospital room.
Vera had been taken to one of several daily physical therapy appointments. The doctor would come in after this latest round to discuss her rehabilitation in more detail.
“He’s in South America,” Julia finally answered. She stood at the window looking out at the hospital’s courtyard, her long fingers massaging either side of her lower back. “He had research to do, and we didn’t think it was good to spend the whole pregnancy in the mountains of Brazil. He’ll be back before my due date.”
“But you won’t want to settle in Brevia with Jeff’s job at the university. Why aren’t you at Mom’s? Is it because I was coming home?”
Julia shook her head. “I needed my own space. Mom gets a little overbearing, you know? I’m renting an apartment near downtown. Just temporary, of course.”
“That makes sense,” Lainey agreed, although something in Julia’s tone made her wonder if she was getting the whole story.
“There was nothing keeping me in Columbus with him gone,” Julia continued. “I can cut hair anywhere.”
“You still work? I thought—”
“A couple hours a week. My blood pressure skyrockets if I stand any longer. Val says I can come back after the baby’s born.” Julia shrugged. “But who knows where Jeff and I will be by then.”
Lainey’s mouth dropped open. She clamped it shut before Julia turned around. “You’re working at The Hair House?”
Julia glanced over her shoulder and smiled. “It’s almost as hard to believe as you in a thong.”
“I didn’t mean …” Lainey’s voice trailed off. Val Dupree had owned “The Best Little Hair House in Brevia” since they were kids. She couldn’t picture Julia at Val’s any more than she could see her sister in Brevia for the long haul.
She took a deep breath. Julia had only been in New York six months before returning to Brevia that summer. She’d wanted Ethan back, but Lainey had already been pregnant. Julia was so angry she’d left town again as soon as Ethan had offered to marry Lainey.
Lainey didn’t know if she had the power to fix all the broken pieces in her relationship with her sister. Since she was here for the better part of the summer, she’d give it her best shot. “Val probably realized how lucky she is to have you,” she offered, although it sounded weak to her ears.
“Why?” Julia countered. “Because most of her girls think Marie Osmond is the epitome of high style?”
“Among other reasons.”
Julia walked to the chair. “Don’t blow sunshine,” she said with an eye roll. “You got out and I was sucked back in. Mom’s already given me the ‘you should have stayed in college’ lecture. I messed up. Bad.”
The ability to disappoint Vera—at least they now had that in common. Lainey felt a twinge of sympathy, an emotion she’d never associated with Julia. “You had some decent modeling jobs at first. Maybe if you’d had more time …”
“Being voted ‘prettiest girl’ in your country-bumpkin senior class doesn’t count in New York.”
Lainey shrugged. “All the ‘nicest girl’ award got me was the assumption that I’d say yes to anyone who wanted to cheat off me. I should’ve been voted class doormat. I was always jealous of you in high school. You were popular, prom queen and had the football captain for your boyfriend.”
“Until my little sister stole him away. Nice girl. Yeah, right.” Julia laughed, but there was no humor in it. “I wish the voters could’ve seen that move.”
“You’d broken up with him,” Lainey said through clenched teeth, bristling at the decade-old accusation. Guilt was one thing, but Lainey only let things go as far as they had with Ethan because she thought Julia had moved on.
“We were on a break,” Julia fired back.
“Give me a break. You ditched him for the big-city modeling agent. Chewed up his heart, spit it out then ground your heel in it for good measure.” The idea that Lainey could have stolen Ethan from her sister was ridiculous. “I was there, remember?”
Julia leaned forward. “I remember. And you’re right. Ethan and I were over long before you were in the picture. Still, you did the chewing, spitting and grinding.”
“No,” Lainey whispered, finally ready to admit the truth. “That was my problem. After you left there wasn’t enough of his heart for me to hold on to.”
Julia inhaled sharply. “Are you joking?” she began. “Do you know how long he waited—”
The door banged open, interrupting her. Vera’s wheelchair rolled into the room, pushed by a strapping physical therapist who looked like he’d just left a biker bar. His bald head glimmered in the fluorescent light, the lines around his eyes etched deep as a dried riverbed as he watched Vera, his gaze filled with rapt adoration.
Even pushing sixty and ravaged by the stroke, Vera radiated energy like light from the mother ship to the opposite sex.
Vera glanced between Lainey and Julia. “Can hear you down hall.” She spoke slowly to make her pronunciation clear.
“Sorry, Mom,” both women chorused.
“Fighting