Brenda Novak - Big Girls Don't Cry

Unfortunately, admonishing Gabe did little good. He was too stubborn. His granitelike expression didn’t soften, and Reenie could tell he was making Lucky uncomfortable. Every few seconds, her eyes darted his way as if she was looking for some small sign of acceptance.

“So…should we rent something in Boise?” Reenie asked, trying to keep Lucky distracted by pressing forward with plans for their father’s sixtieth birthday party.

“I don’t think so,” she replied. “Boise’s over an hour away and too impersonal.”

“But Dad’s been in the state senate for…what? Twenty years? He’s got a lot of acquaintances and professional associates. We need someplace big.”

Lucky tossed her curly, strawberry-blond hair over her shoulder. “Who says we have to invite all his professional associates? I vote we include only those people who are closest to him. Then we could have the party right here in Dundee.”

When there was still no response from Gabe, Reenie jumped in. “You have a point,” she mused. “We don’t want to turn this into another tedious political engagement. Lord knows Dad’s suffered through enough of those.”

“Exactly,” Lucky said, and her gray-blue eyes darted Gabe’s way once again.

Reenie added another spoonful of sugar to her coffee, even though it was already too sweet. She needed something to do with her hands. “In that case, I guess our best option would be to have it at the Running Y Resort.”

Lucky’s reaction held a little too much enthusiasm. “That’s perfect. Don’t you think, Gabe?”

“Fine by me,” he muttered, but it was hardly the warm endorsement Reenie knew Lucky had been hoping for. Their half sister seemed to crave Gabe’s approval. She asked about him all the time. Whether or not things were going well for him and Hannah, his new wife. Whether or not he’d be at the family dinner on Sunday. (If Lucky was planning to attend, the answer was always no.) Whether or not he might come to dinner at her place if she were to invite him….

The smell of coffee filled the air as the waitress stopped by with a steaming pot. Lucky leaned back to allow her to reach across the table. Then, when the waitress walked away, she asked Gabe if he’d like more cream.

When he barely answered, Reenie wanted to kick him under the table. She would have, except she knew it wouldn’t achieve anything. He wouldn’t feel it. The car accident that had ended his professional football career almost four years ago had left him paralyzed from the waist down. He’d been in a wheelchair ever since.

Nothing to do but plunge ahead. She’d hoped planning Garth’s birthday would draw them together. Lucky had even left Sabrina, her one-year-old daughter, with her in-laws this morning so the three of them could meet without any added distractions. But considering Gabe’s smoldering resentment, Reenie’s expectations were falling fast. At this point, she only hoped they could survive this little get-together without Lucky heading home in tears.

“So how many should we invite?” Reenie asked.

“Gabe?” Lucky asked, immediately deferring to him.

He shrugged. “I don’t know. A hundred?”

Lucky cleared her throat. “A hundred is still quite a lot,” she said, obviously trying hard to be tactful. “What about thirty or forty? We want it to be comfortable, not too crowded. I think it’ll be more meaningful to Dad that way.”

Reenie knew Lucky had been so focused on trying to state her preferences politely, she probably hadn’t even noticed a muscle flexing in Gabe’s cheek when she referred to Garth as Dad.

God, this was miserable. Reenie understood that Gabe was trying, or he wouldn’t have come today. She also understood that he was still struggling with the changes that had been forced on him in recent years. But what had happened between their father and the most notorious prostitute in town wasn’t Lucky’s fault. “I think thirty or forty is the way to go,” she said.

This time Lucky ignored her. “Gabe?”

Reenie watched her brother’s deep blue eyes, eyes that were almost a mirror image of her own, meet and clash with Lucky’s. She curled her fingernails into her palms. “Never mind my…er…our surly brother,” she said quickly. Gabe’s eyebrows shot up at the “brother” part, but Reenie continued anyway. “It’s already two out of three, right?” She plastered another smile on her face.

“I’d like him to have some input,” Lucky said, her voice steady. Instead of glancing away, like before, she glared at him.

Gabe clenched his jaw again, and the gap in the conversation stretched, filled only with the sound of clattering dishes coming from the kitchen and the murmur of voices around them. Reenie would have piped up with something, but she knew it was unlikely either of her companions would respond. They were in their own little world now. Lucky’s demeanor indicated she’d finally given up trying to change Gabe’s attitude.

“What is it you want from me?” Gabe asked at last.

“I’d like to know what you hold against me,” Lucky said. “What I’ve done to make you dislike me so much.”

Reenie swallowed hard, expecting the situation to blow up in her face, and was surprised when Gabe backed off.

He jiggled the ice in his water glass. “Do whatever you want,” he said gruffly. “As far as I’m concerned, the two of you can plan the whole thing. I—”

“Forget the party,” Lucky interrupted, holding her chin at a challenging angle. “Just answer my question.”

His scowl darkened. “I don’t want to talk about this.”

He started to wheel himself away, but Lucky stood and intercepted him, boldly placing a hand on his well-muscled arm. “No, I’ll leave. You stay and keep on pouting about the fact that your father slept with my mother twenty-six years ago, since you can’t seem to get over it,” she said. “But I want you to know I’ve finally realized something.” She grabbed her purse before turning her attention to him once again. “I was a fool for wanting you to like me. I was a fool for trying as hard as I have to convince you I might make a good friend.” She gave him a bitter smile. “Go to hell, Gabe. I don’t care if my husband loves you like a brother, if the father I’ve grown to respect worships the ground beneath your feet, if Reenie insists that you aren’t the ogre you seem to be. The moment I come into the picture, you’re not the man everyone thinks you are, and I don’t want to be part of your life anymore,” she said. Then, head held high, she strode proudly to the exit.

Reenie heard the bell jingle over the door as Lucky left, but it was several seconds before she could let go of her breath. “Happy now?” she muttered.

Gabe was still staring after their half sister, looking stunned. Finally he blinked and focused on Reenie. “I didn’t do anything to her. I’ve never done anything to her.”

“That’s not true, Gabe. All she wants is your acceptance. But you’ve turned your back on every overture she’s made.” Reenie slid around the vinyl seat. “As far as I’m concerned, you got what you deserve.”

“Where are you going?” he asked, obviously surprised that she’d desert him, too.

“Keith will be home today,” she said. “The girls and I have things to do.”

Los Angeles, California

ISAAC COULDN’T HELP puzzling over Keith’s behavior. He vacillated between believing he must have misconstrued the situation, and wondering what his brother-in-law was hiding. A forty-five-car pileup was no small thing. A traveler would definitely notice something like that. And Isaac didn’t believe for a moment that Elizabeth had mixed up the dates. She wouldn’t have pressed her husband as hard as she had if there was any possibility of that.