Mary Brady - Silver Linings

“No. He was born in Chicago, and most of his family is from that area. His grandmother was from Maine. He lived here from the time he was in sixth grade until he finished high school. His parents moved back to Chicago and he followed them to go to law school, but he came back for the summers and lived in his grandmother’s house. His parents would come for a week or two when he was there.”

“So how long were you in love with him?”

This time Delainey snorted, drank more coffee and took another bite of the Pirate’s Roost sausage-and-egg breakfast-bake special of the day Christina had been keeping warm in a toaster oven. “I guess from the time he came in the door of the sixth-grade classroom until he drove away for good.”

“He didn’t.”

Delainey shrugged and nodded. She felt the searing pain as if he had left her behind just today and not years ago. “We had each graduated from college, me here in Maine and he in Illinois. He came here that last summer to settle his grandmother’s estate. His father was ill and he volunteered. He called me the first day and we went out for pizza that night. It was the first time he ever kissed me.”

“No. All those years. You two are slow movers.”

“I didn’t know he ever thought of me that way. We were pals. We studied. And remember, the only reason I got elected prom queen to his king is two other girls were fighting and I won by default.”

“You deserved it.”

“I was a wallflower, and I— Well, he was so popular and I didn’t think I stacked up.”

“Honey, you stack up.”

“I might stack up now. I didn’t then. I was too skinny and Mom insisted I wear those long shirts and khakis to school.”

“But you’ve always had a great smile and you used to be lots of fun.”

Delainey took a feeble swing at her sister. “Shut up.”

“And—you have a great personality.” Guffawing, Christina flopped over on the couch to duck the retribution.

Delainey reached out and helped her sister sit back up. “I don’t know what we really have to talk about, but we have to work together and can’t go around flinching and ducking when we see each other.”

“So what did you two do all those years when you spent time together besides study?”

“We saw movies, fireworks, ate too many burgers and pizzas to remember, but he never even tried to kiss me until after college. The only time he held my hand before that was when we walked on those big rocks along the shoreline and he was afraid I’d fall into the ocean.”

“And now?”

“I’m picking him up at the Murphys’ at five-thirty and we’re having dinner at the diner out near the Interstate.”

“Ooh, that sounds like fun.”

“Yeah, at least I’ll have my own car so I can run away when I need to.”

“No, wait.” Christina sat forward on the old chair cushion. “Make sandwiches and get a bottle of wine. Go to the ocean.”

“It’s winter.”

“Talk in the car. It doesn’t get much more private than that.”

“Um, it’s cold this time of year?”

“Um, that’s why they invented blankets.”

“And the sun goes down at five-thirty.”

“Oh, stop. Maybe he’s looking for another chance with you and doesn’t know how to ask. It’s been a long time in coming, you know.”

“I don’t think so.” Delainey remembered the wonderful feeling of Hunter’s lips on hers, his hands on her body. No time at all had passed in that memory file. “I think he’s messed up because of something that happened to him in Chicago. It’s got him, I don’t know, edgy. Today he stood in the doorway of my office and twice he looked over his shoulder to make sure there wasn’t anyone there.”

“Maybe he didn’t want anyone from the office to overhear the two of you.”

“He could have come into my office and closed the door.”

“Life in the big city has made him jittery. Maybe you can calm him down. Lawyer’s big-city trauma healed by small-town girl.” Christina waved a hand in the air as if outlining headlines.

Delainey didn’t want to talk about Hunter. The more she thought about him, the more the pain of his leaving surfaced. “Did you do any of the work you were supposed to do before I got back here?”

Triumphantly Christina held up a pink legal tablet. The pages were mostly ruffled and wrinkled, meaning they had been flipped over so the next page could be written on.

Delainey took the tablet. Granted, the writing was scribbled and a lot of it was crossed out, but there was an impressive list of things to be done. Something was going right.

“The ones with the asterisk beside them are ones Sammy and I can do ourselves.”

“Wow, most impressive.”

“Ha. Baby sister grows up.” Christina threw her hands up in the air and wiggled in celebration.

“It’s not as if I didn’t think you could get work done. You were Bandal’s top engineer for over two years. That’s nothing to sneeze at, sis. You just—”

Christina eyed her with suspicion. “What?”

“You just never seemed to have time to do things for yourself, and this project seems to be for you.”

“Oh. I...um...guess I never expected you to notice.”

“Big sister finally wakes up to the fact that little sister is an outstanding human being.” Delainey waved her hand across the imaginary headline. Then she dropped her hand to her lap. “It’s true, Christina. Once I stopped seeing you as a five-year-old, you know, last year—” her sister smiled, as she had hoped she would “—I recognized you are a most amazing woman with the most amazing talents.”

Christina looked shocked and then amazed and speechless.

“I think you can thank Brianna. She made me realize how strongly I felt about the people around me, the people I’ve been closest to my whole life and maybe taken for granted at times.”

“Well, thank you, Brianna.”

“I even forgave Hunter. He never meant to break my heart. Whatever he did at the time was the best he had that day.” Delainey sighed. How she wished their best had been different that summer.

“I guess it comes down to whether or not we can live with the best they have to offer on any given day,” Christina said, and smiled.

“Does that mean you heard from Sammy?”

Christina’s smile held a bit of dreaminess. “He called last night and did a phone tour of the houses with me. He’s excited to get here. He gave his notice and in two weeks he plans to arrive on my doorstep.”

Plans, hopes, wants, dreams. Sammy dealt in all of these, often at her sister’s expense. Delainey hoped his best was good enough to deserve Christina. “Do I get to meet him this time?”

“Meet him. Greet him. You just don’t get to date him.”

Delainey laughed. “Deal.”

“So I plan to start in the kitchen.” Christina’s tone was pure excitement. “I’ll get it stripped and buy some secondhand appliances so in a couple months I can live here. The bathroom on this floor still works. The furnaces are all still running, so the water pipes haven’t frozen.”

“I brought these blank contracts as samples. They can give you ideas of the kinds of things you might want to include.”

Christina took the contracts and tucked them on the clipboard with her tablet. “Thanks. I’m so eager to get started. I had to stop myself from stripping the wallpaper here and now. Thanks for getting all this for me.”

“You’re welcome. I’m having fun watching you get so worked up, but I guess I’d better get going.”

“They’ll all think you’re a slacker, ducking out to visit your sister two days in a row.”

“Yeah, but the food is great.”

“Are you up to it?” Christina asked.

“Up to what?”