Just The Way You Are Part 14

She rolled her head on her neck. "You're not going to stop asking questions, are you?"

"Not until I get some answers. What happened? Did you suddenly get too famous for the old hometown?"

"No."

"Then, what?"

"I didn't want to see my family or this town because it's where everything fell apart." She let out a long breath. "When I was twenty years old, my sister slept with my boyfriend and got pregnant."

"Ouch."

"Sam did the n.o.ble thing and married her."

"After he'd done the n.o.ble thing of sleeping with her."

She sent him a sharp look. "I don't hold Sam blameless, but Alli chased after him for years. She finally caught him in a weak moment and made the most of it."

"Where were you at the time?"

"Aspen."

"I didn't mean geographically."

"Sam and I were supposed to come back here together that Christmas, but I got a chance to model in Aspen, and I took it."

"Bad decision?"

"Well, I lost Sam, but that modeling job got me a contract."

"And you never looked back."

"Not until now." She paused. "But I had to come home for Grams. She's the reason I'm here, not Sam or Alli. I don't care about either one of them."

"Then why were you in Sam's arms a few hours ago?"

"Sam was just being nice. He knows how worried I am about my grandmother."

"I can see that." Jimmy stretched out his legs in front of him. "So, any old feelings come back during that hug?"

"We should go." Tessa got to her feet.

"Just tell me to shut up, Tessa, I can take it."

"Shut up, Jimmy."

"You still have feelings for him, don't you?"

"You just told me you'd shut up if I asked," she said in exasperation. "Fine. I don't know what feelings I have. When I came back here, I thought Sam and Alli were happily married. But it turns out that they're not."

Jimmy felt his stomach turn inside out. When Tessa had told him that her old flame was married to her sister, he'd felt bad for her, but at least the guy was out of the running.

"Sam and Alli are getting a divorce," Tessa added.

He looked into her troubled blue eyes and had to ask. "Do you want him back?"

Chapter 11.

*Phoebe could hear them talking over her like she was already dead and buried, and she didn't like it one little bit. She suspected it was evening, but which evening she couldn't be sure. She definitely smelled food, spaghetti she thought, and she'd heard Alli ask William if he wanted to get a sandwich in the cafeteria.

Tessa was in the room, too, and Sam-she heard his deep baritone in between the two female voices. They seemed to be arguing about something.

Her mind drifted away with the weariness of it all. She'd wanted so badly to fix what was wrong between the girls. They were sisters, after all. They were family, and once she was gone they'd only have each other. It hurt her to think of them apart, separated by a wall of betrayal and distrust. But she didn't know how to make it better. Maybe if John had lived...

After his death, everything had gone to h.e.l.l in a handbasket, as her own grandmother used to say. It was that Christmas after his death that Tessa hadn't come home. It was that Christmas that Alli and Sam had fallen into bed together, made a baby, and destroyed one family at the same time they were compelled to build another.

Phoebe prayed for John to speak to her again, to tell her what to do, for it was only in the strange dreamworld that she felt like a whole person, able to move freely, to speak clearly. But John was gone for now. He wanted her to finish the pearl necklace, to ask the girls to help, to remind them of what family and love were all about. But she could barely speak. Every time she woke up, she had to struggle to get small words out. How could she make them understand what they needed to understand?

But even as she worried, she felt the heaviness in her heart begin to lessen as the outside world grew louder and her dreamworld faded away.

"Look, her eyelids are fluttering." Alli reached out her hand to Sam.

He squeezed her fingers as he moved closer to her side. "She could be dreaming."

"I want her to wake up. It feels like forever since I've talked to her."

Alli leaned against him, and he felt more needed in that moment than he had in a very long time. She was such an independent woman, his wife, so strong, so bullheaded, that it was easy to think of her as totally self-sufficient. Only he knew better. He knew her insecurities, her fears lay just beneath the surface, and it didn't take much to turn her confidence into insecurity. Tessa could do that better than anyone. And he supposed he was a close second.

They'd had a love-hate relationship for eighteen years now. They'd been so many things to each other-neighbors, friends, enemies, lovers-and now they were supposed to be separated, on their way to a divorce. What would they be to each other then? Strangers? It didn't seem possible that they could have ended up in this place.

He looked up as the hospital room door opened and Tessa walked in with William.

Alli stepped away from him immediately, as if she'd been caught doing something wrong, like holding his hand, like caring about him.

But why was that wrong? His definitions had changed, grown blurry. Marrying Alli had always seemed to be wrong. But divorcing her seemed wrong, too. And Tessa; he didn't know what the h.e.l.l to do about her.

"Hi," Tessa said softly, her blue eyes seeking his for rea.s.surance. "Everything okay?"

"Fine. But how are you?"

"I'm okay. Jimmy is in the hall. I didn't think it would be right to bring him in here since he's never met Grams. I wouldn't want to confuse her if she wakes up."

"That was thoughtful of you."

"Grams?" Alli questioned. "Are you awake?"

Sam looked to the bed as Phoebe's eyes slowly opened. Thank G.o.d, he breathed in silent prayer. Because if anyone could make the world right again, it would be Phoebe. She'd been as much a grandmother to him as she was to Alli and Tessa. And in the past three months she'd been a lifeline in a sea of confusion.

Phoebe's lips trembled and then moved into what looked like a smile. As her facial muscles seemed to respond to her command, her expression relaxed.

"It's all right, don't try to talk," Alli said.

"Maybe she wants to try," Tessa suggested, coming around the other side of the bed.

Phoebe's lips parted, and after several ragged breaths, she said, "Pearl."

Sam leaned closer to the bed, surprised by her word choice. Had he heard her correctly? Had she meant Pearl or were her brain signals all mixed up?

"Pearl?" Alli echoed. "What do you mean, Grams?"

"Don't push her," Tessa said. "Give her a chance to collect her thoughts."

"Tessa." Phoebe's gaze came to rest on Tessa's face. "You came home," she said slowly, looking more triumphant with each word.

"Yes, I came home," Tessa said with a laugh that was a half cry. "For you. You scared me. But you're better. I can see that you're better now."

"Alli," Phoebe muttered, moving on to her other granddaughter. "And Sam."

"And William," Alli added, moving back so William could stand next to the bed.

Phoebe smiled at her old friend. "William. I remember walking on the pier."

"That's when you fainted. I called the paramedics. They came pretty quick," William said.

"When? Today?"

"No, it was Sunday. Today is Tuesday."

A frown knitted her brows together. "So long?"

"You've been resting," William said. "For once in your life you've actually been sleeping in."

"Sleeping too much," she said, her words still a bit garbled.

Sam let out the breath he'd been subconsciously holding. Phoebe was going to get well. He could feel it.

"Favor." Phoebe struggled with the word. "Finish my necklace."

"I don't understand," Alli replied. "You didn't want to finish the necklace without Grandpa. Remember?"

"Wrong to stop. Need to finish ... make everything all right."

"Why don't we talk about this when you're home?"

"When is the Fourth of July?"

"Monday," Alli replied.

"By then," Phoebe said. "Has to be done by then."

"But Grams-" Tessa protested. "We can find the pearl together when you're better."

"I'm sure the girls will do as you ask," William interrupted, sending both Alli and Tessa a stem look. "We want your grandmother to concentrate on getting well, nothing else, right?"

"Yes," Alli agreed. "If you want us to finish the necklace, we will."

"Together, you and Tessa," Phoebe said. "Can't go to the store. Have to find a wild pearl like we did before."

Alli leaned over and kissed Phoebe on the cheek. "We'll do it exactly like we used to."

"Exactly," Tessa added. "We want you to get better, Grams. Don't worry about anything."

"I'm tired," Phoebe said wearily.

"Then we'll say good night," Alli said. "Just rest."

Sam stepped up to the bed after Tessa said her good night. He kissed Phoebe on the forehead. "You take care of yourself, Phoebe."

"You take care of them," she said slowly. "Keep them together. I'm counting on you, Sam."

Keep them together-wasn't he the reason they were apart?

"I'll do my best," he replied, following Alli and Tessa into the hallway.

Tessa stood next to Jimmy. Alli leaned against the wall, her arms crossed in front of her like a shield. For a moment in Phoebe's room they'd been together, now they stood apart. Sam had a feeling it would take more than a pearl necklace to bring them back.

"Are you angry with me?" Phoebe asked the man sitting next to her bedside. William had been holding her hand since the others left, but he hadn't said much. He'd always been a mystery to her, keeping his distance during her marriage, then courting her like an old flame since she'd become a widow. He'd asked her to marry him, to move back East with him, to return to her roots, to take the place in his life he'd always thought she should have.

William cleared his throat and spoke. "Why would I be angry with you? I'm glad you're finally awake and talking. You scared me."

"I scared me." She drew in a breath and let it out. "Wasn't sure ... I could make it back."

"Well, you did, and you're not going anywhere, except home."

Home. That sounded perfect. He must have seen her expression change, for his own grew more despairing. She didn't want to hurt him, yet she feared she did with every word she spoke, every breath she drew. He wanted her to be the girl he remembered, the one who'd almost married him. She could barely remember that girl.

"I've changed my plans, cleared my schedule," he said briskly. "I can stay here with you as long as you need me."

"You don't have to stay."