Her stomach twisted and her hands balled. How did Nina even find her house on campus? They usually didn’t let anyone past the gates this early except employees.
The brisk knock came again, louder this time. “Seriously? I’m not going away.”
Elle cringed. Lane was still sleeping upstairs and the last thing she wanted to do was rouse him, especially with this guest at the door. Elle cursed under her breath and unlocked the latch. She cracked the door open a sliver. “What are you doing here?”
Despite the early hour, Nina looked perfectly stylish and put together. Her honey-brown hair in a loose twist, makeup that accentuated her blue eyes and hid her freckles, and a navy-blue sundress that was probably off this spring’s runway. “Let me in. We need to talk.”
“We don’t talk.”
Nina winced ever so slightly but then pursed her lips. “Yes. I get that. But we need to today, and I didn’t drive to the boondocks from the city to stand out here and talk through the door.”
“That’s your own fault for showing up uninvited.”
“I tried to call from Mom’s number because I knew you wouldn’t answer mine, but apparently, you don’t give a shit about her anymore either.”
That did it. Elle moved to shut the door, but Nina put her hand out and stopped it. “Don’t. Sorry. Please. Do you think I’d be here if it wasn’t important? I don’t exactly love the idea of talking to you either. And if you shut the door, I’m just going to sit here and wait.”
Elle sighed. Her little sister always had been a stubborn thing. If she said she’d wait it out, she would. Elle pulled open the door. “You’ve got ten minutes.”
Nina slipped inside, her heels clicking along the floor. Her sister glanced around at Elle’s place with appraising eyes. It wasn’t anything like the lavish home in the Garden District of New Orleans where they’d spent their teen years, but Elle loved the little renovated cottage.
“This place has nice bones. It’d sell for a ton in the city.”
Elle poured herself a cup of coffee and begrudgingly poured another for Nina. She pushed the mug across the bar. “I doubt you’re here to give me a house appraisal.”
Nina took the coffee and added milk and sugar, a pensive look on her pretty face. She still took way too much milk in her coffee. She’d been doing that since she was a kid. Elle would make her a cup of warm milk and mix in a few tablespoons of chicory coffee because Nina wanted to feel like a grown-up. They’d pretend they were having high tea and scones. Back in the days when they didn’t hate each other, when all Elle wanted to do was see her little sister smile, when they were just two lonely kids whose parents worked too much.
Elle cleared her throat. “I’m waiting.”
Nina looked up, the expression revealing faint dark circles under her eyes, the makeup not quite enough to hide it. “I’m getting married.”
Elle’s grip on her mug tightened but she took a sip, trying to look wholly uninterested. “I heard. I got the announcement in the mail.”
And tore it into shreds. Then spit on it. Not one of her finer moments.
“Congratulations,” she said with no sincerity at all.
Nina set down her mug and rubbed the spot between her eyes. “Look, I don’t expect you to be happy for me. Believe me. I get it, all right. All I can say is what I told you from the beginning—I didn’t mean to fall in love. I didn’t do it to hurt you.”
Elle lifted her brows. “You didn’t mean to sleep with my husband. Is that what you didn’t mean to do? Somehow you just tripped and fell on his penis in my bed after I generously let you move in with us?”
Her jaw flexed but she didn’t back down. “I was lonely and did a dumb thing. We both did. He didn’t mean for it to happen, either.”
Elle scoffed at that, almost choking on her coffee. “Wow, you said that with a straight face.” She gave her a mean smile. “You really believe that, don’t you? That he was so overcome that he just couldn’t help himself? That the beautiful hand of fate pushed you two together? That he accidentally married the wrong sister and the world needed to right it?”
She crossed her arms, looking more like the stubborn child she used to be than the thirty-three-year-old woman she was now. “You didn’t love him. You never really did. He was just the easy choice for you because on paper it made sense.”
So that was the story Nina was telling herself to justify things. Nice. If only that were the case. In the end, Nina had done her a favor because her ex was a scumbag. But Nina was wrong. Elle had loved him. He had put on a good show of loving her, especially in public and in front of her family. Elle had been committed to making their marriage work even after she’d noticed Henry getting resentful about how many hours she had to work. She’d tried to adjust her schedule, tried to go out of her way to be attentive. She’d thought they were making progress. Then, she’d come home from a business trip early and walked in on Henry and her sister naked in her bed.
Henry had declared that he’d fallen in love with Nina and was leaving Elle.
Then, when Elle had expected her family to be outraged on her behalf, to support her when she was falling apart with anger and grief, they’d informed her that it would be best if she would let it go and move on. Henry worked with her father, so he wasn’t going anywhere. These things happened. It’s better to find out now that the marriage wasn’t meant to be before you had kids. You two were never really well-suited. Don’t make a scandal out of it. As if the neighbors talking about it was a fate worse than death.
But Elle had been trained for that tactic all her life. Always put on a happy face. When Dad drank too much night at night—he just needs that to relax after work. When her mother would miss yet another important event in their lives—you should be proud your mother’s so successful. When she caught her dad kissing his assistant and told her mom—that’s not what you saw. She’s like family. They were just being friendly.
Don’t trust your gut. That had been the message. Appearances are more important than the truth. Which was why Elle avoided family get-togethers and only had minimal contact with her mom. Her dad had died a few years ago without ever telling her he was sorry for standing behind Henry. She didn’t have the energy to play the game anymore, especially not with her sister because that one hurt the most. They’d been soldiers together in the same bizarre war, always on the same side. Until Henry.
Henry, whom she was marrying. “You still haven’t told me why you’re here.”