Page 26 of Always You (A Lilac Bay Novel)

We sat in silence for a few moments, sipping our wine. I had a feeling my sister was relishing the quiet. Maybe I would get out of having to talk about the contest after all.

“So. Heather Dale, huh?”

Or maybe not.

“Yup. Heather Dale.”

“Is there anything you want to tell me?”

“About what?”

“Don’t be immature, Riley. You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

I pulled my foot up under me and turned so that I was better facing my sister. “I’m doing this for Lilac Bay, Beccs. I think it would be really good for our town.”

“And you’re not in any way trying to branch out?” she asked, sounding completely unconvinced. “You’re not hoping to beef up your resume so you can finally get out of here?”

“Rebecca—”

She set down her wine and leaned forward, elbows on knees, her gaze glued to my face. “You’ve wanted to work in television our entire lives, Riley.”

“That’s kind of an exaggeration.”

“It is not. All of the games we played when we were little, you were always the flashy news anchor from the big city. You were never a doctor. You were never a mommy or a teacher or a movie star. You were a journalist.”

“Yeah, and you always pretended to get kidnapped by bad guys in ski masks and I would have to find you. So maybe we shouldn’t judge each other on our crappy ten-year-old imaginations.”

“Who said anything about judging?” She flashed me a grin. “If I was going to judge you, I would have reminded you that you always insisted your pretend name wasJade Windsor Emeraldton.”

I grimaced while Rebecca sniggered. I had no ammunition there. If I recalled correctly, her pretend name was always Mary. As sweet and traditional as you could get.

“Seriously, though, Riley. I know you tried to pretend like you were okay giving all of that up when you moved back here—”

“Iwasokay with it. Because it was just a silly fantasy.”

“And that’s why you went to school for journalism? Because it was all a fantasy?”

“I went to school for journalism for about three seconds.”

“Threeyears.”

“People change majors all the time.”Which you would know if you had gone to college yourself, I thought.The way that you were supposed to.

“And you changing your major was what you wanted to do?” she asked. “It didn’t have anything to do with Mom or me?”

“Of course it had to do with Mom and you,” I snapped. This, right here, was why I hadn’t wanted Andrew to tell her about the competition. It was just dredging up all this old crap when we probably didn’t even have a chance at making the show anyhow.

On second thought, this was why I hadn’t wanted to come for dinner in the first place.

“All I’m saying,” she said, her voice softer now, “is that things are going just fine these days. I’m taken care of, Riley. I have everything I need. If there was an opportunity for you to maybe try something different…”

I closed my eyes, not wanting to let myself think of what thatsomething differentmight be. Putting those thoughts out of my head was what had allowed me to get my business degree. It’s what had made it possible for me to come back to Lilac Bay after college, to get a good job, to build a life for myself here. Even if it wasn’t the life I had always dreamed of.

“I just think you should leave yourself open to any opportunity,” she said. “And now I’ll drop it, because this conversation is clearly making you want to crawl out of your skin.”

“Thank you.”

We sat in silence for a long moment, sipping our wine, watching the band of pink down on the water narrow and narrow, the sky above getting progressively darker. From the backyard I heard the squeals and laughter of my nephews, playing with their dad.