Page 134 of Playing for Keeps

Chapter34

Luke

The next day I was at the treatment facility to see Char by 9:00 a.m. The time difference between here and South Africa wasn’t friendly when it came to jet lag, but that wasn’t the only reason I hadn’t slept well.

Ethan wanted me to go.

Was removing myself from the situation the best thing for everyone? Ethan and I wouldn’t survive being on the same team, I knew that. Seeing him most days and resisting touching him…yeah, it wasn’t going to happen.

I’d survived leaving Ethan once before. I didn’t know if I had it in me to do it again.

I took a deep breath as I waited in the reception area. I didn’t want to feel resentful of my sick sister. But for the second time in my life, it felt as if she’d stolen Ethan away from me.

Fuck, I really needed to tamp down that feeling before I saw her. I squeezed my hands into fists, my nails biting into my skin.

“Hey.” Char was suddenly there. She looked even skinnier than when I’d last seen her, her pale skin almost translucent now.

“Hey.” I reached out to hug her, and she leaned into me. It struck me in that moment that we had once shared a womb. From the moment of my very first thought, Char had been there beside me. How had I let things get to the point where she was hurting and I had no idea?

“You want to go outside? The gardens are really beautiful here.”

“Sure.”

The grass was still heavy with dew so we stuck to the pebbled path. It wound through a whole lot of camellias and rhododendrons and ended at a large rocking swing.

“You want to sit on the swing?” Char asked.

“Okay.”

The seat cushion was a bit damp, but I sat next to her.

“This seems like a really nice place,” I said.

Char nodded. “Yeah, it’s great. I don’t want to think about what it’s costing Mum and Dad.”

“You shouldn’t worry about that.”

We swung for a minute, the noise of creaking hinges the only sound as we moved gently backward and forward.

“Have you seen Theo?” she asked finally.

I swallowed. “Yeah. I saw him yesterday at Ethan’s place. He seemed okay to me.”

Char’s eyes filled with tears. She drew a hand across her face, smudging them.

I looked at her. “What happened, Char?”

She swallowed hard, staring out at the rose garden for a few moments before she answered. “I wasn’t trying to end things, if that’s what you’re asking. I was just trying to get out of my own head, stop…thinking.” She inhaled a large breath. “It’s hard to describe, but I get to the point where my thoughts keep swirling and no matter what I do I can’t stop them. It’s awful.”

I hated the depth of pain in her voice. “I’m so sorry you have to go through that.”

Char bit her lip, her eyebrows pinching together.

“Is Ethan coping okay?” she asked quietly.

“Yeah, he’s doing fine.”

Well, as fine as he could be in the circumstances. But I didn’t think mentioning the heartbreak Ethan was currently suffering, which overlapped so closely with my own, would be a good thing right now.