Remember—we didn’t give her any warning.”
Which had been Jesse’s request—that Claire not tell Nicole she was coming back. “Maybe that was a mistake. Maybe I should have let you tell her. Not that I think it would have made any difference. She’s still angry with me about something that didn’t happen.” Exactly like Matt. He was furious about the past he remembered, not the one that had happened.
“She’ll get over it,” Claire said soothingly. “Give it time.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Not really. She’ll come around.”
Jesse wasn’t so sure. “It’s unfair. I kept telling her before and she didn’t believe me. Now it’s five years later and she’s still pissed.”
“You didn’t try very hard,” Claire pointed out.
Jesse stared at her. “Excuse me?”
“You weren’t very convincing back then. You kept saying nothing happened.”
“Nothing did.” Jesse couldn’t believe it. She was being judged on the way she’d tried to defend herself?
“We thought you meant Nicole shouldn’t be angry because you and Drew hadn’t actually gotten far enough along to have sex.”
“What?” Jesse couldn’t believe it. “I meant nothing happened as in nothing happened. Not, gee, we were interrupted and I’m really bummed about it.”
Why would they have thought otherwise? Why would—
She rubbed her temple. Nicole would have assumed the worst because she was used to her baby sister being a disaster. Because the worst was easier to believe.
“All this over words,” she murmured. Lives changed forever, chances lost because of semantics?
“Words matter,” Claire said. “Nicole was devastated. I’m not sure she would have listened to anything you had to say.”
Claire was right, Jesse thought. But at least if she’d made her sister understand what she’d meant, they might be getting along better now.
“Nothing happened,” Jesse repeated. “Drew and I were never involved, never had sex, never wanted to have sex.” She paused. “Okay, he did, that last night, but I have no idea where that came from. I was in love with Matt and I was completely faithful to him. Drew was a friend, nothing more. Is that clear enough?”
Claire touched her hand. “I totally and completely believe you.”
“Great. When you get a chance, pass it on to Nicole.”
“Give her time. She’ll come around.”
Jesse nodded. It wasn’t like she had much choice.
Claire smiled. “You’ve changed. You’re a grown-up.”
“A hard-won victory.”
“An impressive victory.”
“I have so much I want to do,” Jesse told her. “So many things I want to achieve. Coming back here is just the beginning. Reconciling with Nicole is a part of that, but ultimately the decision is hers.”
“I agree. So do what you can and then try to let it go.”
“That doesn’t seem possible.” Let it go as in not care? “I appreciate that you stayed in touch with me.”
“I didn’t have the same emotional energy about you that Nicole did,” Claire said.
Because they hadn’t grown up together. They were still practically strangers who just happened to be sisters.
“I’ll get through it,” Jesse said, knowing one way or the other she would. “I’m strong. I think I was always strong, I just didn’t know it then.”
“You know now,” Claire said. “Isn’t that what matters?”
JESSE SAT IN HER CAR and pulled out her cell phone. She pushed the button to dial a familiar number, then smiled when she heard the slow, low, “Hello?”
“Hi, Bill.”
“Hey, Jess. How you doing?”
“Okay. Good. Sort of.”
He chuckled. “Still trying to decide.”
“Oh, yeah. Nothing is like I thought.”
“Better or worse?”
“Both.”
“That happens.”
She gave him a brief rundown of her time in Seattle. “I’m going to be staying six months and working at the bakery. I wanted to let you know so you could replace me.”
“I’ll never be able to replace you but I’ll hire someone to
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