After twenty-five perfect years, Vivi Ann had fallen.
Dallas came up beside Vivi Ann on the porch.
She turned to him. Her eyes were wet with tears and she was shaking, but even with all of that, she felt relieved, too. “No more sneaking around now. I’ll tell Luke and it will be done.”
“Are you crazy? Winona is probably driving to his house now.”
“No, she won’t. We’re sisters.”
He touched her face. “You’re wrong.”
She kissed him softly. “Don’t look so worried. This will be okay. I’ll go talk to Luke and be back in no time. You’ll be here, right?”
“I’ll be here,” he said, but he didn’t look happy about it.
Winona went home and poured herself a straight shot of tequila. Downing it, she poured a second, and then a third.
It was over.
Finally.
Vivi Ann would lose Luke now for sure.
Unless she lied. The thought of that sank through Winona, made her feel slightly sick—it was true. Her gorgeous, beloved sister could do what she’d always done: smile and shrug and get her way. If Dallas were gone tomorrow, Vivi Ann could marry Luke and everything would seem okay. Dad would walk his perfect youngest daughter down the aisle, hand her off to Luke, who’d take her hand and put his ring on her finger and swear to love her forever. No one would ever know the truth.
She got to her feet and paced the room, trying to think it through, but the tequila she’d drunk made it hard to think straight. What should she do now? She was so caught up in all of it that she barely heard the doorbell, and then Luke walked into the living room.
Winona froze. The sight of him right this minute, standing in front of her, with his bright, honest smile, was more than she could bear. She felt tears burn her eyes. She wanted him like she wanted air, and yet even now, with what Vivi Ann had done, she couldn’t reach out. They were sisters, after all.
He pulled her into his arms, held her as if it meant something. “You’re drunk,” he whispered, smiling. “I thought you’d wait for me.”
She stared up at him. “A little.” Feeling reckless, she reached up and touched his face. She’d wanted to touch him like this for so long. “You came back for me.”
He smiled. “I was looking for Vivi. Have you seen her?”
Always Vivi.
She drew back, trying not to cry. It hurt so badly, and she was so tired of being hurt.
“Have you seen her? She was supposed to meet me. I’m going crazy, looking—”
“You want to find Vivi Ann? Try Dallas’s cabin.”
“What?” He pulled away. In his eyes she saw confusion turn to shock, and then to anger.
/> She reached for him, desperate to hold on, to make him understand. She was the one who loved him; she was the one he could trust. “I told you she’d break your heart.”
He stormed out of her house, slamming the door shut behind him. Winona heard the sound of a car door slamming shut on the street, then the starting of an engine, a squealing of tires on the pavement.
Only then did she realize what she’d done.
Chapter Ten
As Vivi Ann drove to Luke’s house, she tried to figure out what she’d say.
I’m sorry. I never meant to hurt you.
I never expected to do anything like this. It just happened . . .