Secrets of the Tulip Sisters

Marilee’s expression was calm and friendly. “I missed you and your father.”

“It’s been thirteen years. Why do you miss us now? What’s different? You never bothered before. You never stayed in touch with me. So why now?”

Sympathy filled Marilee’s eyes. “Is that what your outburst is about? Are you feeling ignored? Aren’t you a little old for that, Kelly?”

“What? I’m not talking about now, I’m talking about before. Dear God, you left your family. Aren’t you going to take any responsibility for that?”

“Kelly.” Jeff’s voice was sharp.

“No, Dad. We have to talk about this.” She turned back to her mother. “What you did wasn’t okay. It was selfish and heartless. We all paid the price for your behavior. You humiliated all of us. You were a terrible wife and mother and you don’t get to come back here and act as if nothing ever happened.”

Marilee shook her head. “I see you spoiled her. I’m surprised, Jeff. You were always able to control her when she was little. What happened?”

Jeff stood. “Stop it, both of you.”

Kelly rose. “No, Dad, I won’t.” She pointed at her mother. “You’re divorced. You shouldn’t be in this house. Whatever game you’re playing, it’s not going to work.”

Marilee raised her eyebrows. “That’s not for you to say, is it? But while we’re asking questions, what are you doing still living at home? Shouldn’t you have your own life? Are you hiding, Kelly, and if so, from what?”

Kelly wanted to scream. “This isn’t about me.”

“Yet here we all are, talking about you.” Marilee smiled at Olivia. “Interesting how the two of you aren’t the least bit alike. I wonder why that is. Of course I’ve had a bigger influence on Olivia. Jeff, I hate to say it, but you’ve spoiled our oldest.”

Olivia’s head snapped up. “Mom, no.”

Marilee shook her head. “I know what you’re thinking but I can’t help taking a little credit here. Jeff was always so convinced he was the better parent and yet it turns out it’s really me.” She glanced between him and Kelly. “Isn’t Olivia impressive? So accomplished. She handles all the marketing at my real estate company and now she’s doing staging. The clients just love her.”

Kelly felt as if the floor had suddenly vanished and she was falling, falling, falling, not sure when she was going to hit bottom, or where it would happen. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. Couldn’t—

The careless words formed into sentences, then found meaning. Marilee’s statements combined with what Olivia had said since she’d been back.

“You live in Phoenix?” she asked her mother.

“Where else? The real estate market has been a roller coaster, but I enjoy the challenge.” She picked up her wine. “Yes, Kelly, your sister has been with me since she transferred to ASU. She lived with me those first couple of summers, then got her own place. She works with me. We’re a team.”

Kelly swung to face her sister. “You lied?”

Olivia sprang to her feet. “So what? You tossed me into boarding school. You abandoned me. Neither of you cared about me. I didn’t have anyone. A friend’s older sister helped me find Mom and I got in touch with her.” Tears filled her eyes. “She cared about me and you never did.”

“Girls.”

They both ignored Jeff.

“I trusted you,” Kelly breathed.

“I trusted you and look what it got me.”

Kelly opened her mouth, then closed it. She walked toward the front door.

“Kelly,” her father called, but she didn’t answer. She grabbed her bag and walked out into the quiet of the night. She had no idea where she was going but it was going to be as far from here as possible.





20

Griffith knew that there was no way to read emotion in a text—especially one that was only four words long. Yet there was an ocean of feelings in Kelly’s terse Can I come by? Tulpen Crossing was small enough that he’d already heard about Marilee’s unexpected return.

Five minutes after texting back nothing more than Yes, he heard her truck pulling up next to his. He walked to the front door and waited. After several seconds she got out of the cab and walked to the house. From what he could tell, she hadn’t been crying, but there was something going on.

He held open his arms. Kelly walked inside, dropped her purse on the floor and flung herself against him.

“I hate my mother,” she whispered. “I’m sure it’s wrong and I’ll be burning in the fires of hell for saying it, but I hate her. She’s a horrible person. She’s a destructive creature, creating chaos wherever she goes. She honest to God doesn’t think she did anything wrong. That her leaving was just fine and it’s no big deal she abandoned her two children. She and I were never close, so fine. But what about Olivia? They were always a team and Marilee totally walked out on her, which should have been the worst of it, but it’s not. Now I find out that Olivia’s been with her this entire time. In Phoenix. They work together.”

She raised her head and stared at him. “I trusted her. I believed her. I thought we were in this together, but we’re not. I can’t trust either of them and my dad is useless. He won’t say one bad thing about her.”

Griffith was having a little trouble keeping up, but he was pretty sure the chaos here was Marilee and the one Kelly couldn’t trust was her sister.

“What happened?” he asked.

Kelly drew back and sucked in a breath. “It all came out at dinner. Olivia had said she and Mom were in touch, but it’s more than that. They’re all tight and cozy in their shared business. She lied to me. When she got here and later. She never said anything about reuniting with Mom. Never told me the truth. Or Dad. She lied to him, too. Why not just say? But did she? Then Mom showed up and she pretended to be all shocked, like the rest of us.”

She shook her head. “I believed Olivia. I was happy to have her back. I felt bad for what had happened before. I thought we were getting to know each other and all this time, she was lying. She’s just like Marilee.”

They had officially passed out of territory he could handle and into that scary netherworld of female emotion.

“Is it possible she didn’t tell you the truth because she was afraid of what you’d think?”

“Maybe. I don’t know.” Kelly turned in a circle. “I don’t know what’s happening or what to think or who my family is. My dad is being soooo nice. It’s incredibly frustrating. It’s like when we were kids and he would never say anything bad about her even though we all knew about the affairs. Only now she’s in the house. I have to do something.”

“What did you have in mind?”

“Maybe I’ll move out.”

“Tonight?”

She managed a slight smile. “You’re saying I might have trouble finding a rental?”

“You might have to wait until morning.” He thought about offering her a room in his house, but that could be misunderstood and Kelly didn’t need any more stress in her life.

“I’m sorry to dump this on you.”

He pulled her close and kissed her. “You’re always welcome here. It’s okay.”

“You might have had hot plans for the night.”