Page 43 of Exile & Lula

Nova grew up in a tiny town where fucking was something bored married people did to make babies, and if the husband was drunk. It wasn’t for fun, and she didn’t enjoy hearing Zodiac’s bragging.

“You have three days before we come up there to get you,” Zodiac said and hung up.

I stared at the phone for less than a minute before Nova called me.

“What’s really happening with this woman?” she asked, sounding tired.

“I’ve fallen for her.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” I said and exhaled roughly. “Magic or something more basic. She’s just gotten under my skin, and I need to let this feeling between us play out.”

“Wait, so when are you coming home?”

“In a day or two.”

Nova didn’t speak, and I felt her panicking a little. Since the shooting, my sister had pretended to be unbothered. She often regaled the girls with tales of how she beat up the shooter.

“I’m a badass,” she reassured them when they were scared.

Nova might have been a badass, but she was also a woman who didn’t know how to live on her own. She moved from our mom’s house into a place with Chris. I took her to Baton Rouge and built a life in the fixer-upper. Now, she was playing hostessto Zodiac and the boys. Without a doubt, she was flipping out inside, even if she faked like she was calm.

“I’m flipping out,” Nova admitted, startling me with her honesty. “I don’t want all these men in the house, but I can’t be here alone with the girls. What if someone breaks in and I’m sleeping? What if the house burns down?”

“It’ll only be for a few days.”

“Promise me.”

“Why don’t you believe me?” I asked, unaccustomed to Nova pushing back at me in this way.

“Your choice to run off to see this woman is bizarre behavior for you. I’m not sure I’m talking to the same brother who took me out of South Dakota. What if this new brother is the kind of guy to decide he doesn’t want to live with his boring sister and nieces anymore?”

“This isn’t about you. I have a crush on this woman. I barely saw her yesterday. I want a little more time together before I come home and things go back to normal.”

“What does she have that I don’t?” Nova mumbled, and I could picture tears filling her big blue eyes. “And skip any qualities I can’t match because of the whole incest thing.”

“It’s just a few days,” I promised.

Nova’s voice broke as she asked, “What if you fall in love with her? It won’t be just a few days, will it?”

“I need you to trust me.”

“I do trust you.”

“Really?” I asked when she began crying.

“No. I think you’ve changed, and I’m dealing with a stranger.”

“I miss you, too.”

I could see the smile lighting up Nova’s face. “We watched ‘Name That Tune’ last night, and I got most of the songs right.”

“Next week, I’ll be there when you do it again.”

“No, you’ll be at the clubhouse with the stinky men currently farting up our house.”

“If you don’t feed them high fiber meals, they’ll probably fart less.”