Chasing Carly (Holiday Cove 3)

10

Carly

* * *

“So, that’s it then? You’re just shipping me off to Grandma’s?” Alesha crossed her arms and stared me down.

I closed my eyes and sighed deeply, utterly exhausted by the conversation-slash-argument that we’d been locked in for the past hour. She’d shown up at the shop around closing time, whining and complaining about how there were no groceries at the house. No apology. Or acknowledgment of her actions the night before. Nothing.

Up until that point, I’d been riding the line between giving her another chance or calling our dad to book her a flight. And when she’d come in, bitching and fussing about being hungry, I’d tipped over the edge and made up my mind.

She had to go stay with our grandma. Otherwise, there was a very good chance that one of us would become an only child before summer was over.

“Alesha, this isn’t up for debate. When you got here, I gave you the ground rules and made the consequences very clear. You don’t get to act like the helpless victim here. You made a choice. Now you’re going to deal with the results of that choice.” I turned my back on her and went back to scrubbing the baskets from the espresso machine in a sink full of cleanser. My hands were stuffed inside a pair of yellow rubber gloves and I was in a hurry to get out of them.

Alesha stomped over and tried to jerk my hands out of the sink to regain my attention. “You can’t do this, Carly! I’ll go insane at Grandma’s!”

“That’s not my problem,” I grunted, tugging my arm free of her pinching fingers. “I’m calling Dad in the morning and he’ll hold up his end of the bargain and put you on a plane out of here.”

Alesha started to cry. I cast a sidelong glance at her to see if they were genuine or not.

Damn it. They were.

I tossed the basket in my hand back into the suds, peeled off the gloves, and slapped them on the edge of the sink. I turned to face her, my eyes storming, and planted my hands on my hips. “Stop it.”

She brushed at the rims of her eyes, trying—and failing—to catch the tears before they tracked through the thick eyeliner she’d smeared on at some point during the day. “I—I can’t.” She sniffled and wiped at her eyes again. “I just don’t—don’t want to go!”

“Why not? You act like Grandma is going to lock you in a basement or something. What’s the worst thing that could happen?”

“I’ll be so bored!”

I rolled my eyes. “Oh for fuck’s sake, Alesha.”

“Please, Carly, just let me stay. I promise I won’t get into any more trouble. I’ll work here with you as much as you want.”

I considered her puppy dog eyes for a moment, wondering if she was serious or if her promise was another empty effort just to save her skin.

“Dad already hates me,” she muttered, dropping her eyes to the ground. “If you call him and tell him I got drunk, he’ll ignore me for the rest of my life!”

My mouth dropped open, ready to argue with her, but her statement smacked me in the face. “You think Dad hates you?”

Alesha raised her stare and her eyes shifted back and forth sheepishly. She shrugged. “Feels like it sometimes…”

Her words disarmed my anger and a sick knot formed in my stomach. “Dad doesn’t hate you, Leash. You’re his princess. You always have been.”

She shook her head. “No, his whole world revolves around Kelli and work. I’m just some… thing he has to deal with. Do you know that he hasn’t even called me since I’ve been here?”

“No, I didn’t. But I’m sure he wants to,” the words came out automatically, like when a friend asks if her hair looks good. “Alesha, listen, I know it hasn’t been easy for you. Hell, it hasn’t exactly been a picnic for me either. But that’s why I’m so hard on you. Okay? I haven’t always handled things between Mom and Dad with a level head. And I don’t want you making the same mistakes I made.”

Alesha scoffed. “Of course. Let’s make it all about you again.”

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” I crossed my arms and glared at her.

“You always want to turn everything into some kind of life lesson. Like I’m going to end up in some trailer park with some loser guy just because Mom did it, and then you did it. I’m not you. Okay? I’m not going to fuck up my whole life for some guy!”

“Oh really? Then explain to me why ever since you’ve been here, all the drama has revolved around some guy? First the guy at the airport. Then some surprise ex-boyfriend back home. Then shamelessly flirting with Nick, even though it’s completely inappropriate!”