the kitchen and living room. Her sister was standing by the door, pulling her tennis shoes off and muttering something about too much sand.
Grace rolled her eyes. Alyssa was always complaining about something every time she came over. Last week it had been the dog barking next door. The week before that it was the bright pink house two doors down, while apparently this week it was the sand in her landscaping. Not that Grace could do anything about it or wanted to. It was natural. What was she going to do? Lay sod over the sandy earth?
“Where’s Lex?” Alyssa demanded. Her dark roots were showing through her dyed blond hair, and there were circles under her eyes as if she hadn’t been sleeping well.
Grace shrugged. “I don’t know. Work maybe? Or out with Bronwyn. We don’t really check in with each other unless one of us is going to be gone all night. Are you feeling okay? You look a little tired.”
Her sister blinked. “You stay out all night?”
“No. I mean, not usually.” There had been that one night she’d had too much wine and passed out on Hope’s couch.
“That’s what I thought. My straightlaced sister never does anything wrong,” Alyssa said with a little bit of a sneer. “I’m fine by the way. No need to worry about me. And I don’t appreciate being told I look like hell.”
“Whoa,” Grace said, holding her hands up in a surrender motion. “That’s not what I meant, and you know it. What’s going on? Did I do something to piss you off?”
Alyssa dropped her purse in a chair and placed her hands on her hips. “Yeah. Who said you could offer Lex a place to stay?”
“Um, what?” Hadn’t she called and informed her sister the night Lex had moved in? Had she been stewing about the move ever since? Not likely. Alyssa wasn’t the type to brood. If she was upset, she made her displeasure known in no uncertain terms. This was probably prompted by Charlie. Pretty much all of the sisters’ arguments occurred after Charlie riled up Alyssa.
“You heard me. Are you trying to undermine my relationship with her or something? Just because you never had kids—”
“I’m going to stop you right there,” Grace said, suddenly seething. “I think we should both take a breath before one of us says something she’ll regret.”
“Regret?” Alyssa let out a humorless laugh. “You know what I regret? All that time I let you spend with my daughter. If I’d known you were going to be talking trash about me, you can be damned sure I’d have never left her alone with you.”
Grace gaped at her sister. What the actual flaming bag of crap was going on at that moment? She cleared her throat. “Listen, Alyssa, I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about. Care to explain what you heard and from whom?”
“Whom.” Alyssa rolled her eyes. “Listen to you and your college education. Charlie was right. You do think you’re better than everyone else.”
Ah. Of course. Grace had been right on target with her suspicions. “Is that what this is about? Charlie?”
“No. It’s about you and my daughter. Why is she living here and not at home?” Alyssa demanded. “You’re not better than me. I’m the one who provided for her, loved her, kept her safe. And now she runs to you? It’s bullshit, Grace. She needs her mother!”
“You’re right, Mom, she does need her mother,” Lex said from the hallway.
Both Grace and Alyssa startled at Lex’s voice. Alyssa turned accusing eyes on Grace. “I thought you said she wasn’t here.”
Refraining from throttling her sister, Grace said, “Actually, I told you I didn’t know where she was, which was the truth. I didn’t know she was home.”
Alyssa turned her back on her sister and muttered something unflattering about Grace under her breath. Then she turned toward her daughter. “Lexie, baby. I didn’t realize you were here.”
“Obviously. I was taking a nap. Your arguing woke me up.” Lex let her mother give her a hug, but she didn’t hug her back.
“Come on, Lexie. You can at least hug your mother hello.” Alyssa said, making no effort to acknowledge Lex’s statement about waking her up.
“What are you doing here, Mom?” Lex asked, taking a step back from her mother to put some distance between them.
“I came to bring you home. You shouldn’t have to be paying rent to your aunt when your room is waiting for you. Charlie and I—”
“No.” Lex crossed her arms