Jenna knew her mother hadn’t painted, but she hadn’t known that she’d stayed away from the Sail Loft.
“I wish you’d told me. I could have supported you.”
“You’re supporting me now.”
“Yes.” And it would mean she’d have to go back to the Sail Loft. She’d have to walk up that path and look through that window.
“And I couldn’t have told you without telling you everything else.” Nancy sent a glance in Mack’s direction.
“Anything you have to say, you can say in front of Mack,” Lauren said.
Nancy looked unconvinced. “I’m not sure if I think it’s appropriate to—”
“Mom—” Lauren’s tone was sharp “—we’ve all tried the approach where we keep things to ourselves to protect each other, and where has that gotten us? From now on everything is out in the open and we’ll deal with it together.”
Jenna knew Lauren was still getting calls from London about Ed’s estate. Each time she’d come away several shades paler.
She knew her sister had been hoping Ed had some money put aside that she didn’t know about, but so far there had been no good news.
Nancy glanced between them. “You have no idea how much I wish you’d told me you knew about your father.”
“We only saw him that one time,” Lauren said. “We had no idea he did it more than once.”
Once had been enough, Jenna thought. “Could we get rid of the honeysuckle? I can’t stand honeysuckle.”
Her mother gave her a steady look. “I’ve been thinking of doing it for a while. It’s invasive and competes with native plants. It will be the first thing to go.”
“Wait a minute—” Mack stared. “Gramps had an affair and you saw him?” Her expression was so comical it even made Jenna smile.
“At the time I thought adults only did it to have babies. For a while I was worried I was going to get a baby sister.” It was the first time she’d ever joked about it and it might have felt like a step forward if Greg hadn’t chosen that moment to walk back into the room with the main course.
He was the only one who didn’t join in the awkward laughter.
The look on his face made Jenna uneasy. Greg was the master of his emotions but right now he didn’t seem to be doing so well.
Mack shuddered and Nancy shook her head.
“It’s a wonder the two of you weren’t put off sex for life. I hate to think of you girls in that position. Of course if Jenna had been a little less adventurous, instead of always leading you into trouble—” Nancy’s gaze shifted to Jenna and Lauren stood up to help serve the casserole.
“It wasn’t Jenna, it was me.”
Nancy looked confused. “You were by her side whatever she did, Lauren. I knew I could trust you never to leave her, however adventurous she was.”
“She wasn’t,” Lauren said. “I was the adventurous one.”
It seems so long ago, Jenna thought. She hadn’t seen that side of her sister for a long time. Not since she’d left home.
From the moment she’d moved to London, Lauren had been transformed.
It was as if she’d been determined to stamp out her former wild self.
“You reinvented yourself,” she said and Lauren handed her a plate.
“I guess my last adventure was getting pregnant, and that scared me. It’s pretty sobering to realize you’re in charge of another life.”
“Wait—” Nancy’s voice was faint. “I always thought it was Jenna. I thought you were protecting her.”
Lauren shook her head. “The times we went skinny dipping at night, when we jumped off the Jaws Bridge, when we crept to your studio the night we saw Dad—all me. I was the ringleader. And I didn’t protect her, she protected me.”