Ani looked startled for a moment before shrugging her shoulders. “I want you to be happy,” she said simply. “It’s your turn.”
“It may not be the happy ending you’re hoping for,” I replied, throwing my arm around her shoulders.
“Happy ending,” she snickered, elbowing me in the side. Then she sobered. “If you come back all heartbroken, I’ll have Liz babysit Arie, and Bram and I will come over and get shitfaced drunk with you. How’s that?”
“Sounds good,” I replied. When we reached the front of the house I found a packed suitcase sitting on the couch.
“I put every piece of summer shit I could find in there,” Ani said easily. “Not sure if any of it matches, but you won’t die of heatstroke.”
“Thanks.”
I looked around the house, contemplating all the things I needed to do before I left. The kitchen was a mess, most of the windows were open, and my living room looked like a tornado of chips and soda had hit.
“I’ll clean up,” Ani said, shoving my suitcase at me.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“It’s a one-time-only offer, so enjoy it,” she shot back. “Go, before you lose your nerve.”
Within minutes I’d said good-bye to Koda and I was driving away from the house. It was weird, but with every mile farther from my house and closer to Morgan, instead of growing nervous, I became more and more sure that I was making the right move.
Chapter 16
Morgan
Are you franking kidding me, Ranna?” I hissed, looking around the living room where she’d been storing her stuff. Everything was gone, her clothes, her school stuff, all of it. “I’m going to kill you,” I muttered under my breath.
I stomped into the kitchen and snatched my phone off the table, calling her for the fifth time since I’d woken up twenty minutes ago and realized she was gone. I’d known that she was feeling hemmed in since she’d gotten to Dad’s house, but I hadn’t imagined that she’d just take off without a word. She was an adult, I knew that, but she had to know Dad and I would be worried about her.
“Miranda,” I gritted through my teeth when I got her voicemail again. “Where the hell are you? If you don’t call me back I’m going to call the boys and tell them to start looking for you.” I hung up with a vicious push of the END button and slammed my phone back onto the table. If it was anyone else, I would have said I’d call the police, but I couldn’t do that to my sister. Telling her that I was going to send my dad’s group of friends after her would have to be enough.
Life at Dad’s had taken on a completely different tone since I’d arrived with Miranda in tow. Etta and I had been happy before, almost carefree as we’d settled in and I’d been able to find a good job so quickly. Once Miranda was added to the equation, though, things had become a lot more difficult. I’d been so worried about her lately that she’d accused me of suffocating her. She was moody and sullen, and while I understood it completely, her moods had still set all of us on edge.
Dad had been livid when she’d explained what happened to her, and he’d practically closed himself up with us when he wasn’t working instead of hanging with his friends like he normally would. Since I’d lost my position at the shop because I’d bailed with no warning, that meant we were all in the same place. Constantly.
We’d started to bicker and fight about stupid shit. Etta felt the tension and was more difficult than normal, her thumb rarely leaving her mouth. Frankly, I hadn’t been sure how long all of us living together could last.
I hadn’t imagined for a second that Miranda would just take off, though. I had no clue how she’d even left, considering she didn’t have a car. Turning in a circle, I tried to see if she’d stashed her things somewhere in the house, but I hadn’t found anything by the time I heard Etta talking in her crib ten minutes later.
“You’re awake,” I said cheerfully to Etta even though I was silently fuming. “Did you sleep good?”
“Yeah,” Etta replied, laying her head on my shoulder as I lifted her out of her crib.
“Good grief,” I teased. “You’re getting too big to lift.”
“No me not,” she argued, wrapping her legs around my hips.
That was another thing I’d begun to notice. Instead of Etta insisting that she was a big girl all the time, she’d begun to hint at the opposite. Sometimes I had to have my dad distract her just so I could have a few minutes to myself on the back patio.
“You’re right,” I said softly, kissing her head. “You’re still my baby.”