hadn’t gotten her anywhere. “She showed me how reckless I’ve been.”
“Who?”
“Gia. I’ve never seen her like this.” Shelley rocked back and planted her butt on the porch, brought her knees to her chest, and wrapped her arms around her legs as if she were six years old. She was still in her pajamas. They both were.
“She acted out of grief and rebellion. So did you.”
“No excuse.”
“It’s understandable. Don’t beat yourself up for being impulsive. Spontaneity is one of your strengths. When you were a kid and we turned gloomy after Mom and Dad died, you were the one to burst into song or do a magic trick or crack a joke or race around the house turning cartwheels to cheer us up.”
“I rely on it too much.”
“Maybe,” Madison reassured her. “But we all depend on our defense mechanisms too much. Trying to control life is my defense mechanism but it makes me bossy and hard to live with.”
“But I’m not a kid anymore, and I’ve had plenty of time to reflect on where I went wrong. My downfall was my own fault. It wasn’t my place to decide who you should marry.” Shelley crossed her legs, yogi-style. “I shouldn’t have kissed Raoul and I can never make up for how I hurt you.”
Madison went in the house, got a broom and dustpan, and came back out to the porch.
Shelley sat with her palms pressed against her eyes.
Pyewacket swatted a ball of cotton batting across the porch.
“Here, kitty.” Madison bent and wriggled her fingers. She’d missed the ornery cat.
Pyewacket moseyed over to sniff Madison’s fingers, and she stroked the cat’s furry little head. Sighing, she straightened and went to sweep the floor.
Shelley raised her head, looking slightly unhinged with her windblown hair and tear-streaked face. She was barefoot and braless. “Do you want me to do that?”
“There’s another broom in the kitchen closet,” Madison said. “We can do this together.”
Silently, they did what they couldn’t do before—work well together—cleaning up the mess their little sister had made.
“Gia shocked me.” Shelley shook her head. “Making like Edward Scissorhands on the quilt. She was so amped up about us finishing it.”
“I did not expect that at all.” Maddie swept up a big pile of fabric slivers and cotton batting. “It’s something more like you would have done.”
“Yes, I’m the queen at destroying things.”
“No more so than I.”
“Can you believe she lied about being engaged to Mike?”
“Not our good girl Gia.” Madison shook her head. “And you know, deep down, I’ve always thought the two of them would get together. They’re just so perfect for each other. And I suspected Mike’s had a crush on her for years. I kept waiting for them to realize how deep their feelings for each other ran. I’m kind of sad that their engagement was a lie.”
“I’m sad because she thought the only way to get me and you to work together was to lie about being engaged.”
“It worked, though, didn’t it?”
“I guess it did.”
“Listen,” Maddie said. “I’ve been a complete witch since I’ve been back home.”
“You had your reasons and I didn’t make things easy on you.”
“Shelley?”
“Uh-huh?”
Madison looked at her sister and her heart skipped a beat. “You’ve got some cotton . . .” She leaned over to pluck a wad of cotton from Shelley’s hair.
“My best intentions always seem to go off the rails.” Shelley sighed. “Everything backfires.”
“Yeah, well, I’m so uptight no one wants to be around me.”
“That’s not true.”
“You don’t have to lie.”
“I want to be around you.” Shelley stopped sweeping.
Madison stopped too. “Since when?”
“Since now.”
“Because I lost a baby?”
“Because I’ve always admired that no matter how bad things get, you dust yourself off, pick yourself up, and move forward.”
“Always?” Madison was having trouble believing that one.
“Yes. You were so accomplished. You had everything together. Why do you think I acted like such a goofball? It was the only way I could get the spotlight off you for half a second.”
“Shelley, it’s not easy being me and I’m not saying that for you to feel sorry for me. It’s the truth. I’m hamstrung. You? You’re free. You’re you. Me? I’m all the time trying to live up to this perfect standard that people have of me. It’s a nonstop job.”
“Hmm, could you relax about that a little?”
“Honestly, I don’t know how. If Mom and Dad hadn’t died . . .”
“You put too much on yourself. You thought you had to make up for us not having a mother and father. It wasn’t your responsibility