Lessons From the Professor by Shyla Colt Page A

over to sit at the couch
across from her.
    “I think it’s time you head back home. You and Mom have had
plenty of time to cool off, and I want my space back to myself.”
    “Look, Sissy, I’m sorry about our fight—”
    “It’s not even about that, Carissa. I meant what I said
earlier. It’s time for you to grow up and take on your own responsibilities. I
will always be here to help you, but I’m done being taken advantage of.”
    “I wasn’t taking advantage of you!”
    “Yes, you were, and it’s not your fault because it’s
something I’ve always let you do. You made a mistake, and I took care of
everything while you got to carry on like nothing happened.   I can’t do that anymore.”
    “All of this over some man.”
    “No. Over my need to have my own life,
Carissa. I’ve spent so much time trying to please Mom and take care of
you that I lost myself. But that’s over.” Sutton placed her hands over her
sister’s and offered up a smile. “I think it’s time we get to know each other
for who we really are and stop playing our roles.”
    Carissa met her sister’s eyes and nodded as they glistened
with tears. “I never really hated you, Sutton. You were just impossible to live
up to, and if I couldn’t be like you I had to be the exact opposite.”
    “Carissa, the only thing you have to do is be you.”
    “Try telling Mom that.”
    “Mom is a lonely woman who puts too many demands on us, and
we’ve all let her because we feel bad about her losing Dad. I,
for one, plan on putting my foot down from now on.” Sutton shook her
head as she thought of
Jackson
’s
impromptu appearance at work.
    “Good luck with that one,” Carissa said.
    They glanced at each other and laughed. The rift between
them seemed to grow smaller now that everything was out in the open.  
    “We’re going to be okay, Carissa,” Sutton said as she pulled
her into a warm hug. It would take some time, but Sutton knew eventually they’d
get things ironed out between them.  
     
     

 
    Epilogue
     
    “Are you ready?”
Sidney
asked.  
      Sutton nodded her
head as she placed her hand in the crook of his arm, and they made their way up
the cement walkway that led to the two-story brick house she’d grown up in.
After almost nine months of dating, she and Sidney had deemed it past time they
visited her hometown. Her sister Carissa had warmed up to him months back, and
he’d even earned the seal of approval from her brothers. Landon, Wyatt, and
Noah had come up to visit for a long weekend and had ended up hitting it off
with her professor swimmingly. Her mother was the last challenge. She knocked
on the door and beamed when her mother answered the door and gave her a huge
hug.
    “It’s so good to have all my babies under the same roof
again!” her mother said before she pulled back.
    “It’s good to see you, too, Mom.”
    Sutton stepped back and smiled as
Sidney
wrapped a strong arm around her waist.
    “Mom, this is
Sidney
.
Sidney
, this is
my mother.”
    “It’s nice to meet you, Mrs.   Atkins,” he said as he extended a hand.
    She felt her heart race as her mother studied him quietly.
    “It’s nice to finally meet you, Sidney, and you can just
call me Ida.” Her mother stepped back and waved them into the house. “That’s
enough jawing on the porch. Come on in before we give the neighbors something
to talk about.”
    Sutton chuckled as
Sidney
led her inside. No matter how long she was gone, every
time she came back things were exactly the same.
    “You guys are the last to arrive, so everyone’s in the back
yard. We’ll start bringing out the food now.”
    Her mother led them through the kitchen to the patio door
that opened out onto the back porch, and Sutton paused.
    “Sid, you already know everyone
else, so why don’t you go outside while I help Mom?”
    He gave her a peck on the lips and gave her hip a squeeze
before he opened the sliding door and slipped outside to join her
siblings.   She