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“No, I’m pointing down the hallway.” She angles her finger more so she’s clearly pointing at the middle of a bedroom door. “My sisteris why I left that night.”
“What?”
“Remember the singer on stage when I left?”
“The little girl with pipes like Céline Dion?”
Spencer juts her outstretched finger toward the door again. “That’s Charlie.”
“Sister?” I hold out my hand at hip level. “The littleblondesinger, yay high.”
“I don’t like using the term half sisters,” Spencer explains. “When Charlie was little and people would say that, she thought it meant I only loved her half as much as a normal sister. So, we don’t say that. But to clarify, we have different dads, and we’re twelve years apart.”
“You’re raising her by yourself?” I’m shocked I didn’t know all this, but then again, she never offered and I never asked.
Spencer nods sullenly. “I’m trying.”
“What does that mean?” I grab the knit blanket thrown over the sofa chair and drape it over Spencer before sitting back down next to her.
“I’ve had Charlie on my own since I was eighteen. Most days it feels like a blind-leading-the-blind type situation.” She cuddles deeper under the blanket, exhaustion sweeping over her.
“Just the two of you guys, huh?”
“Well, there was Jesse for a couple years. Charlie’s still angry at me for that one.” She covers her mouth, shielding yet another huge yawn.
I scoot over to the far side of the couch and hold my knees together to create space for Spencer to use me as a pillow. Pulling on her shoulder, I guide her to rest her head in my lap.She lets out a low hum of satisfaction when I stroke her hair. “Who is Jesse?”
“My ex-fiancé.”
“Engaged so young?” I pull up the blanket to cover her bare shoulder, then go back to playing with her thick hair that sends a burst of sweet strawberries into the air every time she shifts positions.
“I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I was going to marry that man and I’m still not sure if I reallylovedhim. I mean, I cared about him a lot and we had plenty of good times together. In hindsight, I think I wanted to marry Jesse more for Charlie than myself.”
“They got along well?”
“I think he just accepted us for what we were. Most guys my age were put off by the idea of staying in on Friday nights and playing board games. Or the fact I don’t drink much because I have to keep a clear head for emergencies. They didn’t like that I always had this little shadow with me wherever I went. But Jesse was older. He understood the life I was living.”
“How much older?” I rarely consider the age difference between Spencer and me because she’s so grounded and well-spoken. But the truth is, I own bottles of scotch that are older than she is.
“Quite a bit older. I met him when I was twenty. He was twenty-six.”
Six years? Our age difference is almost twice that. “Why did it end?”
“My goodness. What’s with the third degree?”
“You said at the restaurant last week that I didn’t know anything about you or your life. I’m trying to remedy that.” It bothered me to my core when Spencer told me off. Because it was damn true. I’d made so many assumptions about her and they’ve all turned out to be wrong.
“Oh my God, Nathan,” Spencer says so loudly, she’s practically shouting. She sits up, the blanket falling into her lap. “I can’t believe you’re taking me and Charlie to Disney World tomorrow on the private jet!”
I look at her like she’s lost her marbles. I mean, I guess I could do that, but that was a very un-Spencer-like way to ask. “Um, I?—”
She puts her finger to her lips, effectively shushing me as she turns her ear toward the hallway. “I’m just making sure she’s not eavesdropping. She would’ve burst through her door like the Kool-Aid Man if she thought we were going to Disney World.”
My chest bounces with light laughter. “She’s never been?”
“Have you?” Spencer asks.
“Every single Christmas from age five to about fifteen. I used to think my parents were the most over-the-top amazing parents in the world for planning a Disney World vacation every holiday. But I think it was just my mom’s way to get out of elaborate Christmas dinners with her in-laws.”