Read Online Accompanying Alice by Terese Ramin - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Terese Ramin
Ads: Link
from the tree.”
For a heartbeat after Helen’s pronouncement the silence was so absolute that even the refrigerator seemed to have stopped running on cue. Then it was as if everyone drew a collective breath and rushed to find the place they’d been before the disturbance began.
“Well, I’ve got to get to work.” Grace said to no one in particular. “I just stopped to tell you I’m sorry if you’re hurt, but I’m not sorry for being there for Becky.”
“Yeah.” Helen picked up her jacket, kissed each of her sisters. “Come on, Skip, we’d better go, too. Oh, Gabriel, as long as you’re going to be at the wedding, anyway, you might as well meet Phil and get a tux. Way things are going, we’ll need at least one more usher just to help with crowd control. Grace, see you tomorrow at eleven for our final fittings, and then sisters-sisters night here? Alice, you’ll be there?”
“I’ll be there. Grace?” Alice caught her youngest sister’s hand before she could slip out the door in Helen’s wake.
“Allie, look—”
“No,” Alice shushed her. “It’s all right I just... I’m glad you were there for her—glad she trusted someone. I’m a little jealous, too, but I’ll get over that. It’s just... hard right now. And I wish—” She squeezed Grace’s hand wistfully. “I wish you’d been old enough to stand up for me.”
She hugged her sister quickly before Grace’s natural inclination to run at the sight of emotional display got the better of her. And for a moment it was almost like having the chance to hold Becky and say all the things she’d never given her own mother the chance to say to her on her wedding day.
Almost.
She watched Grace descend the walk, and the tears ran before she knew they would come. She shut the front door in the face of the rain and pressed her forehead to the painted wood, trying to hold the tears back, trying not to sniffle. Trying to be a grownup with company in the house instead of an exhausted adult whose world seemed to be falling apart around her. Trying to remember that the way things looked today would not be how they’d look tomorrow. Trying not to feel too sorry for herself.
The tears flowed, anyway. There were so many things she’d stored up to say to Allyn and Rebecca when the time came, things she’d say to them eventually, next week, next month, in a few years, but she’d wanted to say them now. But the only things it really mattered that she hadn’t said hadn’t been given — hadn’t taken the time to say were: I love you. See you later. Take care. Call if, and I’ll come. Take care, take care, take care....
She slapped the door with the side of her fist and didn’t care that the tears flowed.
Gabriel watched her cry out a grief he wasn’t sure he understood. Letting go was something other people did. He’d hung on to nothing and no one over the years; he remembered nothing about letting go. People came and went, that was how it was, nothing tearful about it. But maybe watching a child you’d raised, or a friend you’d blindly trusted walk away—grow away—run away from you was different, harder. At least for the time being. And if the gun at the back of the top shelf of Alice’s closet turned out to be Markum’s or Scully’s... He’d have to deal with
that soon. But not now. He didn’t want to handle it now.
He started when Alice pushed herself away from the door and dried her eyes on the sleeve of her robe. “I’m sorry,” she sniffed. He handed her a napkin from the holder on the table and she blew her nose. “I don’t know what happened. Something between my lies and their truth just snapped and I guess I just... Couldn’t do it anymore. Can’t handle it.”
“Yes, you can.” It was suddenly fiercely important to him to say something to her, to give her back a piece of what she might have lost today because of him. “You’ve handled tougher things today. Beside them, this is nothing.”
“But
For a heartbeat after Helen’s pronouncement the silence was so absolute that even the refrigerator seemed to have stopped running on cue. Then it was as if everyone drew a collective breath and rushed to find the place they’d been before the disturbance began.
“Well, I’ve got to get to work.” Grace said to no one in particular. “I just stopped to tell you I’m sorry if you’re hurt, but I’m not sorry for being there for Becky.”
“Yeah.” Helen picked up her jacket, kissed each of her sisters. “Come on, Skip, we’d better go, too. Oh, Gabriel, as long as you’re going to be at the wedding, anyway, you might as well meet Phil and get a tux. Way things are going, we’ll need at least one more usher just to help with crowd control. Grace, see you tomorrow at eleven for our final fittings, and then sisters-sisters night here? Alice, you’ll be there?”
“I’ll be there. Grace?” Alice caught her youngest sister’s hand before she could slip out the door in Helen’s wake.
“Allie, look—”
“No,” Alice shushed her. “It’s all right I just... I’m glad you were there for her—glad she trusted someone. I’m a little jealous, too, but I’ll get over that. It’s just... hard right now. And I wish—” She squeezed Grace’s hand wistfully. “I wish you’d been old enough to stand up for me.”
She hugged her sister quickly before Grace’s natural inclination to run at the sight of emotional display got the better of her. And for a moment it was almost like having the chance to hold Becky and say all the things she’d never given her own mother the chance to say to her on her wedding day.
Almost.
She watched Grace descend the walk, and the tears ran before she knew they would come. She shut the front door in the face of the rain and pressed her forehead to the painted wood, trying to hold the tears back, trying not to sniffle. Trying to be a grownup with company in the house instead of an exhausted adult whose world seemed to be falling apart around her. Trying to remember that the way things looked today would not be how they’d look tomorrow. Trying not to feel too sorry for herself.
The tears flowed, anyway. There were so many things she’d stored up to say to Allyn and Rebecca when the time came, things she’d say to them eventually, next week, next month, in a few years, but she’d wanted to say them now. But the only things it really mattered that she hadn’t said hadn’t been given — hadn’t taken the time to say were: I love you. See you later. Take care. Call if, and I’ll come. Take care, take care, take care....
She slapped the door with the side of her fist and didn’t care that the tears flowed.
Gabriel watched her cry out a grief he wasn’t sure he understood. Letting go was something other people did. He’d hung on to nothing and no one over the years; he remembered nothing about letting go. People came and went, that was how it was, nothing tearful about it. But maybe watching a child you’d raised, or a friend you’d blindly trusted walk away—grow away—run away from you was different, harder. At least for the time being. And if the gun at the back of the top shelf of Alice’s closet turned out to be Markum’s or Scully’s... He’d have to deal with
that soon. But not now. He didn’t want to handle it now.
He started when Alice pushed herself away from the door and dried her eyes on the sleeve of her robe. “I’m sorry,” she sniffed. He handed her a napkin from the holder on the table and she blew her nose. “I don’t know what happened. Something between my lies and their truth just snapped and I guess I just... Couldn’t do it anymore. Can’t handle it.”
“Yes, you can.” It was suddenly fiercely important to him to say something to her, to give her back a piece of what she might have lost today because of him. “You’ve handled tougher things today. Beside them, this is nothing.”
“But
Similar Books
