Would I be able to let her go? I didn’t know.
But for my sister, I was more than willing to give her the moon if she only asked.
“Okay,” I said carefully. “I’ll try really hard to keep her away from you.”
Cannel nodded her head, looking sick. “I’m sorry. I know you like her.”
I wrapped Cannel in my arms and said, “I like her. But I love you.”
Cannel squeezed me so hard that I burped.
She shoved me away with a puny push. “You’re so gross.”
I winked at her. “You know you love me.”
There felt like there was a rock lodged inside my gut. And not just because of my sister hurting. But because of what I was going to have to do to Sabrina at the end of the week.
Cannel scrubbed at her eyes. “I do. I really do.”
• • •
The ride into town was quiet.
The two of us spent the majority of our time pointing out the bad shit that had gone wrong after the hurricane, like the downed power line that was laid across two houses, that was likely the reason for our loss of power.
When we finally arrived on the main drag of the beach town we were staying in, there weren’t very many people out. Not because the roads were impassable or anything, but because there just weren’t that many people out in general.
I hooked a left and started toward where my GPS was telling me to go.
“I’ve never been here,” Sabrina said at my side. “It’s really pretty.”
It was.
All up and down the length of the boulevard we were on were these massive palm trees that looked like they’d take a Category 5 hurricane and still stay standing.
“It is,” I confirmed. “They did a lot of work between the last time I was here and now. There was an even worse hurricane that hit it and flooded all these stores in here,” I pointed out the stores. “You could see souvenirs floating down the street in the photos. All of these buildings are new.”
She leaned her elbow on the console and stared out at the road, her gaze enraptured on what she was seeing.
“I love this place,” she whispered. “I wish I could’ve given Faye a little tour besides a race to the house while she was…”
She didn’t finish.
But she didn’t have to.
While she was dying.
Something inside of me clenched, and a familiar sign had my imagination spinning.
A way to cheer her up.
I took the next right, my anticipation growing.
“Umm.” Sabrina hesitated. “This isn’t Landry’s. You still have about a half a mile until you need to turn into the parking lot.”
I knew that.
But we’d discussed coffee so…
“No,” I agreed as I pulled up in front of Krispy Kreme. “But I’m hungry, this is my vacation, and why the fuck not? Donuts don’t fill me up at all, anyway. Plus, we never got coffee.”
Sabrina looked at me, and I couldn’t stop myself from looking back.
What I saw nearly took my breath away.
She hadn’t put on makeup.
In fact, the only thing she’d done was change her pajama shorts for a pair of tight black biker shorts that didn’t cover very much of her thighs.
I hadn’t had the courage to see if she’d put a bra on or not.
Luckily, she’d slipped an oversized sweatshirt on over the shirt, so I had to really strain if I wanted to see.
“I love donuts,” she informed me quietly.
I flashed her a grin, then got out of the car before I did anything stupid like kiss her.
Because Lord knew it’d be hard to leave her already when this trip was over with. If I had the taste of her mouth on mine? I didn’t know if I could give that to my sister.
CHAPTER 7
Based on the look on your face, I’m going to assume that your answer is no.
-Coffee Cup
PRICE
The donut store had all sorts of donuts.
But the only ones I was interested in were the ones that they gave out right off the conveyor belt.
“I want one of those.” I pointed at the line that was coming through the icing waterfall.
The chick at the counter walked away, snatched up two wooden sticks, and then snagged two before handing them over to me.
I handed one over to Sabrina, reluctantly might I add, and then took a huge bite of the donut.
I moaned.
“Goddamn.” I closed my eyes in pleasure. “This is the best fuckin’ thing I’ve had in years.”
I was pretty strict.
Had to be, to be honest.
I had high blood pressure. Had since I was a kid.
I didn’t want to add to that high blood pressure by eating like shit…
But when I was on vacation, all bets were off.
When next I opened my eyes, which happened to be at the same time I was licking my fingers clean of icing flakes, it was to find both women’s eyes on me.