Every Little Thing (Hart's Boardwalk 2)

“Well, I’ll just have to stay with you then.”

I guffawed.

And then realized she was being serious.

“Oh, hell no.” It slipped out before I could stop it.

Her eyes grew round and wet and her lower lip trembled. “What a dreadful welcome this has been. I know it’s been a while since we were close”—a tear rolled down her cheek—“but I was at least expecting a hug.”

There was nothing about her performance that I bought. From the moment she came out of the womb my little sister had perfected the art of the fake cry. She’d gotten my brother, Charlie, and me into so much trouble with that fake crying. My parents were the only idiots in the house who believed it.

To be fair, she was pretty talented.

“Don’t cry,” I grumbled, shuffling toward her. I wrapped my arms around her skinny body, wincing in concern at how frail she felt. “There, there.”

“Don’t”—she shoved me gently away—“you’ll mess up my hair.”

I rolled my eyes. “Fine. I’ll call a cab to take you to my place. You can sleep on the couch.”

“The couch?” She looked horrified.

“It’s a one-bedroom house.”

“Then I’ll take the bed.”

I stared at her, incredulous. “Baby sister, Mom and Dad aren’t here. This is my playground now, and if I come home to find you in my bed, I will haul you out of it by that pretty flat-ironed hair of yours.”

“You’ve gotten mean,” she huffed.

“And you haven’t changed a bit.”

Five minutes later Aydan and I helped the cab driver out with the luggage while my sister shouted things like, “Watch the wheels on that suitcase. It cost more than you make in a year!” and “Don’t snatch at the fabric like that. Do you know how much that bag will be worth in fifty years’ time!”

By the time Aydan and I stumbled, exhausted, up the steps to the inn it was like we’d been through a war.

“So that’s your sister,” Aydan said blandly.

Something about the whole situation seemed stupidly hilarious in that moment and I broke out into hysterical laughter, having to stop mid-step. I slumped down onto the porch stairs and Aydan’s laughter joined mine.

We cackled until our stomachs hurt and tears rolled down my cheeks.

I wiped them away, trying to catch my breath. “Oh, it’s not funny but it is.”

“I don’t remember her. You would think I would remember her. Was she always like that?”

“Kind of. But she’s worse now. She’s spent the last eight years traveling all over the world, hopping from one rich man to the next. She’s very good at the sugar-daddy thing. Not so much at the nice-human-being thing.”

“Do you think she’s serious about the inn?” Aydan sounded concerned.

The truth was I didn’t know. I just knew that wherever Vanessa went destruction followed. “I don’t know. I do know that until she realizes how bored she used to be living here, we’re stuck with her. I don’t know for how long.”

“Is she going to be a problem?”

“Not if I can help it. If she comes here and starts ordering you around or trying to make changes, I want to know immediately.”

“She’s going to be a problem,” Aydan surmised.

“I won’t let her hassle you.”