Between Sisters

She laughed at that. “Just prove Meg wrong. Nothing will make her crazier. ”

“She’s trying, you know. ”

Claire sat up in bed. “Yeah. I noticed. She made that crack about me not loving people, then left the party early. ”

“She also bought you a dress that cost more than my car. ”

“Money’s easy for Meg. She’s got tons. Just ask her. ”

Bobby leaned back against the headboard. The blankets slid down his naked chest and pooled across his lap.

“She grew up with your mother, too, and she didn’t have a dad to pick up the slack. It had to be hard on her, raising you all those years and then watching Sam step in to replace her. ”

“I can’t believe you’re defending her. She told me I was stupid to marry you. ”

He gave her that slow-growing smile that always made her go weak in the knees. “Darlin’, you can’t hold that against her. She’s just trying to protect you. ”

“Control me is more like it. ”

“Come here,” he whispered.

She leaned toward him. Her bare breasts breezed against his chest as they kissed. He slipped a hand around her neck and held her there, kissing her until she forgot their whole conversation. When she finally drew back, she was dizzy and breathing too hard.

“I’m getting to know you, Claire Cavenaugh-soon-to-be-Austin,” he whispered against her lips. “You had a headache after the wedding dress screwup and again last night. When Meghann hurts your feelings, you say you don’t care and start chewing aspirin. I’ve been there, darlin’. I know what matters is that she’s your sister. The only one you’ve got. ”

Claire wanted to disagree but knew it was pointless. She did want to be close to Meg again. More and more often in the past few days, she’d found herself remembering the old Meg. The way they used to love each other. “I’m tired of the way we are together,” she admitted.

“Well?”

“No one can push my buttons like Meghann. She has a true gift for saying exactly the wrong thing. ”

“Yeah. My dad was like that. We never could quite make it work between us. Now he’s gone, and I wish we’d tried harder. ”

“Okay, Sigmund Freud. I’ll try talking to her. Again. ”

“No more aspirin. ”

She gave him another long, lingering kiss, then walked naked into the bathroom. By the time she’d finished showering and gotten dressed, he was gone.

She made her bed and walked across the hall to Ali’s room. Her daughter lay in bed, hidden beneath a blue-and-green pile of Little

Mermaid sheets and comforters.

“Hey, sweetie,” she said, sitting on the edge of the twin bed. “Time to wake up. ”

Alison stretched and rolled onto her back. “Did we get a kitten?”

“No. Why?”

“I thought I heard a kitty meowing this morning. ”

Claire bit her lower lip to keep from smiling. Note to self: Come quietly. “Nope, no kitty. You must have been dreaming. ”

“An’ I heard someone on the stairs. ”

“I . . . uh . . . went down to make coffee. ”

“Oh. Well, could we get a puppy? Amy Schmidt has one and her mom is ’lergic to dogs. ”