Sisters in Love (Snow Sisters, Book One: Love in Bloom Series #1) by Melissa Foster Page B

caught him.”
    “That’s not so strange for a teenager.”
Danica wrote something on her notepad.
    “No, but…where do I start?” Just tell her.
Lay it all out on the line . “Okay, here’s the thing. Dave used
to talk about going to his basketball practices each week and about
how great their family life was, but according to Rusty, Dave never
went to his practices.”
    “Ah, I see. Dave lied to you. How does that
make you feel?” Danica sat back and watched Blake, her gaze never
wavering from his eyes.
    Blake’s nerves tightened in his chest.
“That’s not really what’s bothering me. Most people pretend to have
much better lives than they really have, I think. Everyone
embellishes something.” Blake fidgeted with his hands, then leaned
forward, unnerved by Danica’s silence. He looked up at her again
and realized that it was her jacket that was different. The last
time he’d seen her she was perfectly tailored, head to toe. Today
she wore a flowing, cotton batik jacket with what looked like a
cotton camisole underneath. On someone else it might make them look
frumpy. Danica looked anything but frumpy.
    Blake sat up and said, “I think what’s
bothering me is that this guy was my best friend, but I really
didn’t know him. I mean, we had the business together—he did his
thing and I did mine, and we skied together. But when it came to
knowing what he’d do in certain situations, or what he had going on
in his life on any deeper level, I have no clue. I mean, Rusty said
his dad didn’t give a fu—” Blake caught the word before he
finished. “Sorry. He said Dave didn’t give a damn about him or
anyone else, and that’s not at all the guy I knew. The Dave I knew
adored his family.”
    “Sometimes a teenager’s perception is skewed
by something they’re experiencing in their lives. He may have seen
his father’s attention as prying, a pain in the rear.”
    Blake thought about that. “Yeah, I guess so,
but he said Dave didn’t go to the practices, either.”
    “Well, teenagers are all about the here and
now, so maybe Dave had missed the last few practices, or maybe he
never went at all. Would that have changed things between you and
Dave?”
    “No, not between us, but it means he might
have lied to me.”
    “And how does that make you feel? How do you
think you could have changed that? Could you have done anything so
he wouldn’t have lied to you?”
    “I don’t know. I could have asked him
questions, talked to him more.”
    “Probably, but was that who you were in the
relationship? You see, Blake, I think we all serve a role in every
relationship. Sometimes we’re the aggressor, sometimes the center
of attention; sometimes we’re there for show, like a trophy wife,
if you will. Other times, though, we might be the person who builds
others up, or the one who needs building up. We can’t be everything
in every relationship.” Danica set her notepad down on the desk.
“You know, sometimes friendships are not the kind to share the more
difficult aspects of our lives; but that more superficial
friendship—or, just sharing the happier moments—doesn’t mean it was
any less valuable. I think sometimes it makes them more valuable.
Maybe that’s the type of friendship the two of you shared. Maybe he
felt like he could be this other person with you, the one with no
trouble brewing.”
    “But I think most people are a little bit of
all those things.” Blake leaned forward, paying close attention to
what she said.
    “Sometimes people can be, yes, but if all
those aspects of their personality are not already present, they
can’t really fake it very well. So you have to ask yourself, who
were you in your relationship with Dave?”
    Blake sat back again and crossed his arms. I was the guy he egged on, the one he envied. I was the guy who
made jokes and banged women. “I don’t think I was a very good
friend.”
    “That’s a pretty harsh judgment. Were you the
friend Dave needed? Was he