And now it was later. The boxes had been sitting undisturbed for
over a week while she had spent her days trying to cultivate local
clients, sending e-mails and meeting with potential clients. She
had gotten three confirmed new accounts and had solid leads on
half a dozen more. Nashville was proving to be more lucrative
than she had originally planned.
However, she was still practically living out of a suitcase.
She had unpacked the clothing she would need, and the rest of
her belongings sat in these boxes. So she had granted herself two
days to organize things. Today she would figure out what she
needed and the rest would go into a storage unit. Then she would
set up an office for herself. She d been working from her laptop
and briefcase, but she really needed an established space to work
in. Determined to accomplish her goals, she began separating
the boxes into stacks according to the descriptions written on the
outside.
By midafternoon she had sorted all of the contents and
carried a stack of cartons into the empty downstairs bedroom that
would become her office. She loaded the ones bound for storage
into the back of Jimmy s pickup, intending to take them later. She
was pulling the garage door down when Meredith pulled into the
driveway next door.
" 95 "
ERIN DUTTON
Good morning, she called as Meredith began to remove
plastic grocery bags from the back of the Jeep. Let me help you
with those. Isabel grabbed the remaining bags and followed
Meredith into the house.
Thank you. I saw Reid briefly this morning and she
mentioned that Chase won his game on Saturday.
Yeah. He s pretty good.
Well, Jimmy was very athletic. And if I remember correctly,
didn t Amanda excel at basketball in school?
Her college team won a regional championship and she
held the school scoring record for quite a while. Isabel began to
unpack the bags and Meredith put the groceries away.
Meredith paused with the pantry door open and glanced at
Isabel. Reid also mentioned that she spent the evening with you
and Chase.
Yes, we had dinner and then watched a movie. Unsure how
much Reid had said, Isabel didn t volunteer anything more.
I appreciate your including her. She has a tendency to spend
too much time alone when she s upset.
Isabel shrugged. That s just how she deals with things, I
guess.
Abandoning the groceries altogether, Meredith rounded the
counter and stood near Isabel. Reid takes too much responsibility
for things that aren t her fault, especially when she can t bear to
place the blame where it really belongs.
What do you mean?
That day at your grandparents house, for example.
Surprised by the reference to the event from so long ago,
Isabel set down the jar of peanut butter she d just unpacked and
gave Meredith her full attention. She didn t need any more details
to know that Meredith was referring to the day she had fallen out
of the tree. She knew her grandparents had recounted the story to
her parents and they, in turn, had told Reid s parents, but she d
never talked about it with Meredith.
What about it? She kept her expression neutral though her
stomach churned with an echo of latent fear.
" 96 "
FULLY INVOLVED
Reid blamed herself for leaving you there to climb the
tree even though, as I understand it, Jimmy was the one who left
first.
The memories Isabel had so often suppressed surged into her
head. Her grandfather had called an ambulance and, after she spent
the night in the hospital, she had been fine, aside from her broken
arm and concussion. But the whole incident had scared her badly
and had sparked a string of nightmares that lasted for months.
She had blamed Reid for her fall, because when Jimmy was
with Reid, he acted different. He and Reid were always trying
to outdo each other, to prove who was tougher. For Jimmy that
meant he didn t want his little sister tagging along because she
slowed him down. She d tried to climb that tree to show Reid that
she was as strong as they were.
That night in the hospital, when the throbbing in her head
kept her awake, Isabel had replayed what she could remember
of the day and decided that Reid had taken her brother from her.
And since she couldn t compete, she d stopped trying. But it had
hurt even more when Jimmy and Reid didn t seem to notice the
change in her. They seemed to think that she had just become
more interested in girly things.
Isabel shoved aside feelings she didn t want Meredith to see.
We were just kids [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]