“I asked why David broke up with you.”
Skyler tilted her chin up and looked down her delicate little nose at Jayden. “I don’t want to talk about that.”
“You’re going to talk about it, or else I’m not listening to anything else you’ve got to say,” Jayden told her.
“I’ve got an interview at a Catholic school in Brownsville tomorrow morning. I’m on my way down there now, and I’m going to give you as a reference.” Skyler scowled. “I need you to back me up.”
Jayden cleared her throat, tucked her chin against her chest, and looked up from under her drawn dark brows at her sister. “If I remember right from your last visit, we aren’t friends or sisters. That was your choice, not mine, and you still haven’t answered my question about you and David.”
“I don’t appreciate your snide remarks.” Skyler jumped up and popped both her hands on her hips. “If you won’t agree to help me, then I’ll just leave.”
“You’ve always gotten your way about everything,” Jayden said. “It must be hard for you right now, but either tell me what happened or there’s the door.”
“He caused me to lose all my friends at Glory Bound, and he took back my ring.” Skyler sniffled.
Tears wouldn’t work this time on Jayden. “Keep going. You must want a reference pretty bad to come to me. Am I the last person on your list? You do know that whatever school you apply to will call Glory Bound and ask them why you weren’t given your old place back, don’t you?”
Skyler’s chin quivered and tears rolled down her cheeks. She put her head in her hands and wept worse than she had at any one of the three funerals Jayden had attended with her. “I messed up real bad. If I have to work at a minimum wage job, I’ll lose my car and have to move into a ratty apartment.”
“Keep talking.” Jayden felt so sorry for her that she almost went over and put an arm around her.
“Do you remember Ray Don Wilson?” Skyler raised her head, but the tears kept flowing.
“That bad boy that Mama and Daddy wouldn’t let you date back in high school?” Jayden asked. “He was always into something shady or downright illegal.”
“He’s settled down now and is part owner of a construction company that frames out houses,” Skyler defended him.
Suddenly, everything came into focus for Jayden. “You haven’t been . . . you didn’t . . .”
“We’ve been friends with benefits since our senior year in school. Every now and then we get together and spend a weekend with one another, or maybe just a couple of hours together. David and I decided not to have sex until we were married, and, well, I do have needs,” she stammered. “Ray Don came over to my apartment, and dammit! David was supposed to be at a meeting with his grandmother all morning.”
“Good Lord!” Jayden gasped. “He caught you cheating on him.”
“We weren’t married yet.” Skyler’s tone went back to the ice stage. “And I told him that it would be the last time.”
“So, you think that it’s not cheating since you weren’t married? For God’s sake, Skyler, own up to your mistakes. This is your fault, not David’s,” Jayden told her.
“Well, you should be happy,” Skyler all but hissed at her. “David took back my ring and called off the wedding. Ray Don offered to marry me, but I can’t be tied to a man like that.”
“Why not? He’s a hardworking guy, and he probably makes three times what a teacher or even a guidance counselor does, so he’s got more money than David had, if that’s what makes a good husband in your eyes,” Jayden said.
“I don’t love him,” Skyler moaned.
“But you loved David?” Jayden frowned.
“No, but he would be an ideal husband. His family has money, and we were going to start our own private school, and the ring . . . Lord, that ring was beautiful,” Skyler said. “Now no one at Glory Bound will even talk to me just because David couldn’t keep his mouth shut.”
“Grow up!” Jayden began to pace around the room. “You’ve been spoiled your whole life, and it’s time you figure out that things aren’t as important as other people’s feelings and for sure aren’t as important as love. I’ll give you a recommendation if a private school calls me, but only because I believe you can do any job that you set your head to do. My opinion