More than ready, Neva replied with a smile. With her twin by her side, all things were possible.
The bell above the door chimed as the door opened. Savannah walked in, dragging their mother in behind her. If the look on Nancy's face was anything to go by, she definitely wasn't here by choice. Neva glanced at the clock. No wonder. She was missing her weekly facial.
Nancy's scathing glance took them in, then swung back to Savannah. "What the hell are you doing?"
"What I should have done a month ago." The scar above her sister's left eye looked as angry as her expression. She thrust their mother into the booth next to Ari. "You move, Mom, and I swear to the moon, I'll shoot you."
With that she spun and marched toward the kitchen. Ari chuckled softly, a sound she quickly smothered as Nancy glared at her.
"This is your doing, isn't it?"
Ari's eyes were dancing with mirth as she held up her hands. "Nothing to do with me, honest. But you know, I'm damn glad someone is doing something. You and the boss seemed content to sit back and watch your daughter die of a broken heart."
"Ari — " Neva warned.
"You're fired," her mother said over the top of her voice.
"Yeah, right." Ari sniffed and crossed her arms.
Nancy slid out of the booth and pointed an imperious finger at the door. "Leave now."
Ari glanced at Neva, a smile playing around her lips. "Call me. And good luck."
"I'll probably need it."
Neva crossed her arms and watched her mother slide back into the booth, but she didn't bother saying anything. Even though she'd been back working at the diner for the last month, she'd barely exchanged a civil word with either of her parents since the night she'd let Duncan walk away. She saw no reason to change that until Savannah came back with their father.
Her mother obviously had no such inhibitions. "If you've ended up hurt, you have no one to blame but yourself."
"You're right," she bit back. "Because I let him walk away from me rather than having the courage to confront Father's edict with him by my side."
Her mother blinked. "Have you lost all the sense we bred into you? Why on earth would you think someone like Duncan Sinclair would ever make a suitable mate?"
"I don't know. Maybe the fact that we're soul mates?"
"Men like him don't have soul mates. They have lovers, and plenty of them. It's the sex that has you hooked, Neva, nothing more."
"If this is just sex, then I sure as hell can understand why the dance is so popular." Though her voice was flat, she had to thrust her hands under the table to hide the angry trembling. How dare they not trust her enough to know her own heart?
"Don't be crude," her mother replied stiffly. "A man with a past like his is not the sort of man we want — "
"And what of your past, Mother? Or has that been conveniently forgotten?"
Her mother's face went white. "What are you talking about?"
But the fear in her widening eyes suggested she knew exactly what Neva was talking about. "Dad doesn't know, does he?" she said, suddenly understanding.
"I don't know what?"
Her father's voice was sharp as he stopped in front of the booth and glared at the two of them. Savannah stood behind him, arms crossed and expression severe. Neva had a feeling she fully intended to stand there like that until this whole mess was sorted out.
"About mother's double standards," Neva replied. "About how it's all right for her to be given a second chance, and not Duncan."
"It all happened a long time ago," Nancy said, her face white, lips trembling. "I was only a teenager."
"So? Duncan wasn't much older. And nothing he has ever done has led to someone's death."
"What are you talking about?"