“Mom,” Aubrey said slowly, not wanting her to be disappointed, as she always was. “Carla’s not coming.”
“Yes, I am.” Carla came in behind Aubrey, still in scrubs. “But I’ve only got half an hour before I have to be back.”
“Of course!” Tammy said, beaming at her two girls. “Your job’s very important; I know that. Come in!”
Aubrey stepped into the living room. There was a lot of furniture there for the small space, but Tammy didn’t like to throw anything away. And on every end table and coffee table there was…stuff. Candy dishes, frames, knickknacks. It was clustered and crowded, but to Aubrey, it was also home.
Carla had never spent much time here. She looked around now, and though she didn’t say anything, Aubrey knew she was thinking that the place was a hoarder’s dream.
And Aubrey could admit that they pretty much were a reality show waiting to happen.
Carla settled for sitting on a corner of a couch. Aubrey took the other far corner. “So…” She searched for a safe topic. “How are you?”
“Exhausted,” her sister said, leaning back, closing her eyes. “Two straight shifts, and I’m a zombie. Haven’t had time to go food shopping, get my mail, or water my poor plants, much less brush my hair. My neighbors probably think I’m dead.”
Tammy tsked. “Honey, you’ve got to at least brush your hair. What will people think?”
Carla let out a low laugh. “They’ll think I’m not dead after all, but that I do need a hairdresser.”
“I could do those things for you,” Aubrey said to her.
“What?” Carla asked. “Brush my hair? Or tell my neighbors I’m not dead?”
“Get you some groceries. Get your mail.” Aubrey shrugged. “Water your poor plants.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m your sister.”
Carla opened her eyes and looked at her. “Is this about last week?”
“No,” Aubrey said. But it was. A little. She had something to offer, damn it.
“That’s so sweet of you to want to help, Aubrey,” Tammy said. “Look at us, getting along like a real family.”
“We are a real family, Mom,” Aubrey said. She looked at Carla. Tell her, she said with her eyes. Tell her we’re a damn family.
Carla met her gaze, paused, possibly rolled her eyes briefly, and then nodded at her mom. “We are family, Mom. We’re just not always that good at it.”
“Hey, we’re better than some!” Tammy put her hand to her chest and her eyes filled. “No one move, do you hear me? I need a picture of this.” She scrambled through the crap on the coffee table and came up with her phone. “Move closer to each other.”
Aubrey and Carla shared an awkward grimace and then shifted closer.
“Yeah, like that. Perfect! Now hug.” She gestured with one hand, the other holding the phone. “Oh, and smile! Goodness. This isn’t a funeral.”
Aubrey and Carla put their arms around each other, held the uncomfortable pose, and smiled.
And…smiled.
“Mom,” Carla said, a little strained. “Take the picture already.”
“I’m trying!” Tammy said, fumbling with her phone. “Crap! I can never find the damn camera on this thing.”
Aubrey’s smile was feeling more than a little brittle. “It’s on your home page, Mom. Top left app. It says CAMERA.”
“Oh.” Tammy laughed. “Yes. Got it.”
When Tammy finally took the shot and lowered the phone, Aubrey and Carla immediately broke apart.
They ate at the tiny table in the kitchen, practically elbow to elbow.
“Just like old times,” Tammy said. “Remember when you’d come visit, Carla? We’d sit here just like this and talk about school. Hey, we could talk about work!”
“I live my work,” Carla said. “I don’t want to talk about it. How about yours?”
Aubrey watched as Tammy happily told Carla all about the salon and her clients. She remembered every single one, and every single thing they ever told her. It was part of what made her so popular.
“And you?” Carla asked Aubrey. “How are things at your work?”
“You know she’s running her own business now,” Tammy said, voice bursting with pride. “She took over Aunt Gwen’s bookstore.”
“You stopped working for the town hall?” Carla asked, surprised.
“Honey,” Tammy said on a laugh. “Don’t you ever read Facebook? Her boyfriend dumped her and she got fired.”
“Well, not exactly,” Aubrey said to a gaping Carla. “I dumped him and then I quit.” Important difference, at least to her.
There was an awkward silence while everyone processed this.
“A bookstore,” Carla finally said. “I thought those were all going out of business these days.”
“This one’s different,” Aubrey said. “I’m selling digital books, too, and opening the place to all sorts of clubs, like knitting clubs and tea clubs…” She broke off because Carla wasn’t looking impressed.
“How will that sell books?” she asked.
“Because it’s going to be a place where people want to come and hang out. And buy their reading material,” Aubrey said, trying to sound more positive than hopeful. “Don’t you and your fellow surgical residents have a bunch of reading and studying to do? I could give you guys a place to meet and get together, and give you a discount on your materials.”
“A discount,” Tammy said. She loved a good bargain. “Well, isn’t that nice?”
A few minutes later, Carla’s cell phone buzzed. She read a text and stood. “Sorry, I have to get back.” She looked at Aubrey. “I’ll let people know about your store and the discount. We get together on Sunday nights and Wednesday mornings at the ass crack of dawn.”
“My store is closed during those times, so you’d have the store exclusively.”
Carla hesitated. “We meet in the cafeteria now, and it’s not ideal. Their tea sucks.”
“My tea never sucks, and I’ll bring in goodies for you guys from the bakery next door,” Aubrey said.
Carla nodded, and then was gone a few minutes later.
“That was really sweet of you, looking out for your sister like that,” Tammy said. “You have such a big heart, honey.”
Aubrey looked at her as if to say Yeah, right.
“No, it’s true,” Tammy insisted. “Carla may have gotten the brains, but you got all the heart.”
Aubrey laughed. Okay, that she’d heard before, but there was no use in being insulted. Not when her mom meant it as the highest of compliments. Her gaze snagged on a stack of bills in the mess on the table. “How are you doing, Mom? Really?”
“I’m great, honey.”
Aubrey tapped the stack of bills.
Tammy shrugged. “Oh, those,” she said. “Don’t you worry about those. They’ll get paid in good time.”
“I’ve got a little savings left,” Aubrey said. Emphasis on little. “Let me—”
“No, no. I’ve got it, though you’ve proven my point about heart.” Tammy stroked Aubrey’s hair. “You’re still using that stuff I gave you from the salon, right? It’s a miracle worker, isn’t it?”
“Yes. Mom—”