The Playboy (Chandler Brothers 2)

“She probably made old lady stuff,” Hannah said in the snotty tone that had been noticeably absent the entire morning.

Kendall narrowed her gaze. “Crystal had talent.” She glanced over at Hannah’s choices in beads. “And so do you.”

“Right. Like it’s so hard to pick black beads.” Hannah scooped up a handful and tossed them all together, mixing all the beads and undoing the meticulous work she’d already accomplished. “Here you go. All done.”

“Oh, Hannah, why?” Looking at the mess, Kendall’s heart squeezed tight. “You did such an amazing job and now you combined them all again.” Hours of her sister’s work, undone for no good reason.

Or was there an explanation Kendall just didn’t know about? If so, Hannah didn’t appear inclined to elaborate. She sat with her jaw clenched tight leaving Kendall with no choice but to replay their conversation in her head. Her sister’s attitude had changed the second Kendall mentioned Aunt Crystal but she didn’t understand why Hannah would be angry or envious of an older relative she’d never even met.

“Hannah,” Kendall began tentatively. “Are you jealous of Crystal? Of my time with her?”

“Why would I be jealous just because you had time for her and not me?”

“That’s not how it was.” Kendall reached for Hannah, but her sister twisted her body out of reach.

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

And the mutinous set of her jaw told Kendall she wasn’t kidding. She exhaled hard, knowing she needed a subject change and fast if she wanted a return to the bonding they’d begun to share. “Do you like making jewelry?” Kendall asked.

Hannah shrugged. “It’s OK.”

But recalling how the young girl had eyed the assortment of beads, Kendall figured it was more than just okay. “You know, I used to do pasta jewelry everywhere I went. From home to home. Wherever I lived, no one minded me keeping busy by creating necklaces. It kept me quiet and out of their hair till I moved on.” Kendall shrugged, good memories mixed along with the bad. “Stability’s the one thing you had that I didn’t.” Maybe she could get Hannah to see the positives in her life.

“Big deal. Staying in the same place, year after year. No family around. Friends come and go depending on their family situations. It’s not as hot as you think.” Hannah’s over glossed lips set in a pout.

Obviously Kendall wasn’t getting through to her sister. “Well . . .”

“Ladies, where are you?” Pearl’s voice carried from downstairs. The sound of her muffled footsteps quickly followed as she tread up the stairs and joined them in the attic.

They were no longer alone and Kendall lost the opportunity to talk to her sister and maybe, somehow fix things for Hannah, herself, and their too-fragile relationship.

* * *

Rick couldn’t help but notice the tension was thick when Kendall picked him up and drove them all to his mother’s house for dinner. He didn’t know what had happened between the sisters earlier but obviously both were upset and neither had much to say to each other.

They had plenty to say to him. At least Kendall did. “So when were you going to mention it was your birthday?” she asked him and not for the first time.

“Yeah, even Lisa Burton knew. You should have seen Kendall’s face when she heard that Lisa knew and she didn’t.” Hannah spoke gleefully from the seat behind them.

“Sit back and be quiet,” Rick and Kendall snapped at the same time. Hannah was deliberately baiting Kendall, trying to get on her nerves, and he had to admit, she was doing a damn good job of irritating him too. Or maybe it was just the date that was getting to him.

“Touchy subject?” Hannah asked, before surprisingly doing what she was told and curling up into the corner of the car.

Rick groaned. The kid had a point in more ways than she knew. His birthday was definitely a touchy subject. He acknowledged the date and put up with his mother’s family celebrations. But he didn’t choose to make a big deal about it. Because his birthday also happened to mark his wedding anniversary to Jillian, an occasion he’d rather forget than remember.

Kendall pulled up in front of Raina’s and Hannah bolted out of the car. As Rick started to do the same, Kendall put a hand on his arm, stopping him.

He turned toward her.

“You should have told me,” she said, no doubt about what she was referring to.

“It was no big deal.”

But the hurt in her soft eyes told him a different story. He hadn’t deliberately hidden the information, he’d just refused to acknowledge it to anyone, including himself. But he didn’t think she’d accept or appreciate the distinction any more than he felt like getting into the specifics of why he’d kept quiet. Kendall and her plans, her eventual departure, reminded him too much of a painful past he had no desire to repeat.