Three
“Kristine Andrix. Saver of the day!” her youngest sister announced as she strode into Miriam’s apartment the next evening. Kristine placed a handled paper sack on the counter and Miriam peeked inside, gawking at the gorgeous produce within.
“Oh, they’re beautiful!”
“And organic. I bought them last week since I started eating sweet potatoes for breakfast.”
“Breakfast?” Ever the health nut, Kris was always up to some culinary experiment or another. Last year she was vegan and brought her own Tofurkey to Thanksgiving dinner; this year she was vegetarian but only ate “whole foods.”
“Yeah. You bake the potato ahead of time, then in the morning pull it out of the fridge, warm it and top it with peanut butter and cinnamon.”
“That...actually sounds delicious.” Miriam moved to the sink to scrub the spuds. “What time are you driving to mom’s tomorrow?”
“I’m going tonight.”
“Tonight?” So much for the wine she’d picked up. She was hoping they could share a glass while she regaled her sister with the tale of the Billionaire Mayor in Bigfork.
“Brendan and I were invited to stay the night.” She waggled her eyebrows.
“In the same room?”
“Crazy, right? Dad never would’ve allowed it.” Kris’s mouth pulled into a sad smile. They all missed him so much. The holidays were the hardest. “I think Wendy helped lighten up the entire household.”
“Yes, all it took was her bringing Rosalie home for Christmas.”
“Mom prides herself in being progressive.”
“I’m bummed, though. I was hoping we could polish off a bottle of wine like we used to...” Miriam decided not to add the words “before Brendan” to that statement. She wouldn’t rob her sister of her happiness. She placed the washed potatoes on a pan and Kristine started stabbing them with a fork.
“Why not go tonight?” Kris lived in Bigfork, not too far from Miriam.
“I have work to do. A report that should’ve been done earlier this week.”
“Seems unfair for you to work on the biggest drinking day of the year.” Her sister quirked her lips.
“Well, I’m staying Thanksgiving night so that we can raid the stores at the crack of dawn on the biggest shopping day of the year.”
“Too bad you’re not still dating Gerard. Brendan would’ve had someone to talk to.”
“Gerard wasn’t a great talker.” It’d been the reason they split. He hardly shared anything about his life, little or big. How his workday went, his plans for the weekend or the fact that he’d been seeing another woman at the same time he’d dated Miriam. His silence had been absolute on that front. “We have a horrible track record of having boyfriends at the same time, don’t we?”
“The worst.”
Kristine and Miriam were ten months apart. Their older siblings Ross and Wendy had a six-and four-year gap on Miriam, respectively. Given that the two youngest Andrix daughters had never not remembered the other being around, Kristine and Miriam felt more like twins. They shared the same wavy dark hair that curled on the ends, and had similar full-lipped pouts. Kristine was built more like Wendy, though, on the curvier side, whereas Miriam couldn’t do enough leg exercises to thicken her spindles into anything resembling curves.
“Speaking of boyfriends...” Potatoes wrapped in foil, Miriam slid the tray into the oven. She set the timer and then leaned on the counter while Kristine poured herself a glass of water from the pitcher. “I ran into Chase Ferguson at Whole Foods.”
Mouth agape, Kris blinked. “Come again?”
“I was walking in and he was walking out. He’s on vacation. I guess he bought the estate on Pinecone Drive.”
“The one with the indoor pool and the wine cellar and a million bedrooms?”
“Uh-huh. And fifteen thousand square feet overlooking Flathead Lake.”
“Wow.” Kris’s eyes sought the ceiling in awe, then jerked back to Miriam. “You seem awfully calm about this.”
“I’ve had a few hours to cope.”