Chapter 162
On my way back to the hospital, I think over and over what I might tell my parents and Thea.
Engaged to a candy empire heiress, Garnar has no reason to accept my father’s pitiful sum. There’s really no way to spin this. Garnar is not going to return to Thea’s life no matter what Dad offers.
I guess, the only way I can explain what happened is just to tell the truth.
After parking my car, I head inside. My father is in the hallway outside of Thea’s room, pacing. When he sees me, he stills. He must be able to tell the answer from the look on my face and the lack of Garnar with me.
“He’s engaged,” I say to Dad, as soon as I’m close enough. “To a candy heiress.”
Dad curses under his breath. “That bastard never deserved either of you.”
In this, at least, I’m glad we can agree.
“I’m sorry, Dad,” I tell him.
“You did your part, Esther.” With a sigh, he says, “I need coffee,” and starts walking down the hallway.
Inside Thea’s room, Mom has fallen asleep curled up on the small couch in the corner of the room.
Thea, blearily, is watching her. She must be on some kind of sedative, her eyes seem unfocused. As she looks from Mom to me, she laughs a little.
“Esther,” she says, waving me closer. When I move to her side, she gives me a wide, innocent smile. “Can you believe that I wanted to have Garnar’s baby?”
I’m happy to hear that she thinks that’s funny now, but I’m uncertain of the steps she took to reach this new conclusion. Especially when this whole event occurred because of her small break from reality.
“I think the pregnancy is going to my head…” she says. “I know he’s a good father. I guess I wanted that for my baby.” She wraps an arm protectively over her waist.
It’s a soft moment, so I don’t bother ruining it by reminding her that she only ever wanted Garnar for the stability and money he could offer her. As well as some kind of envy she had regarding me. None of it ever made any sense to me.
Thea is beautiful and young. Our parents adore her and spoiler her. She never needed someone like Garnar to take care of her.
“But,” she says. “He snores.”
“He cuts his toenails in the living room,” I add, happy to provide her with more reasons not to want to be with Garnar. “He doesn’t clean up after himself at all, either. If you married him, you’d be stuck doing the whole household’s laundry and dishes. Has he made you cook for him?”
She snorts. “He tried. I don’t even know how to cook. I convinced him to order in.”
I imagine that wouldn’t last very long. In our relationship, Garnar had been sweet and attentive in the beginning. Most of the demands came after we married, more so even when we started having children.
“Eventually, he would have insisted,” I assure her. “He’d buy you a cookbook and lock you in the kitchen.”
“That wouldn’t have made a difference,” she says. “I detest cooking.”
“You dodged a bullet then, by dropping him,” I say. “He would have made your whole life miserable.”
“Maybe…” She rubs her hand over her growing stomach. “But now my baby won’t have a father…”
“Have you considered reaching out to the other man?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “He has nothing to offer us. He was a mistake.”
I nod, unwilling to press the issue. She would know better than me, since I don’t even know who he is, though I hope that she’s not making her judgments solely based on how many figures are on his paycheck.
Thea drops her head back against the pillow and looks up at the ceiling. “Why are men such jerks, Esther?”
“Not all of them are,” I tell her. “But it’s a matter of finding the right one.” Miles comes to my mind.
“That sounds exhausting.”
“It can be.” When I think of everything Miles and I have faced so far, and all the hurdles still in our way, honestly I can’t disagree with Thea’s assessment.
Even dating the good guys can take a lot out of a girl.
“I hope I meet a good one soon…” Thea says. Her eyes start to droop.
Inside by purse, my phone starts to vibrate. I quickly grab it to send it to voicemail. Before I do, I catch Miles’s name on the screen.
“Work?” Thea asks me. Her eyes are wide open again, looking at me curiously.
“Yeah,” I tell her, because it very well could be. It could also just be Miles checking in. It’s hard to say without first talking to him.
I’m not ready to share Miles with my family just yet, especially with Thea.
It would probably be fine. But after she went after Garnar, my husband at the time, I’m not too excited to share the topic of my new secret boyfriend, even with this sisterly bond we’ve been forming.
“You can answer it,” Thea says.
“Later,” I tell her.
“Weren’t you on the campaign trail?” Thea asks me, surprising me. I didn’t think she cared enough about my work to even know what I do. “That seems important.”
“It is,” I tell her, “But you are my sister. You are more important.”
Thea rolls her eyes. “Mom and Dad are already worried all over me. I don’t need you to be too. You should get back to work.”
I look at her, studying her. “Are you serious?”
“Yes,” she says, holding my gaze. Her eyes droop again as she leans back on the pillow.
As she falls asleep, I really hope she remembers this conversation.
Mom wakes from the couch as I turn to leave. Though, with how alert she seems, I wonder if she’d only been pretending to sleep to listen on our conversation. She holds a finger to her lips, indicating that she doesn’t wish to speak here.
Out in the hallway, Dad returns from the cafeteria with a cup of coffee. He takes one look at the displeasure on Mom’s face and then turns to me. “What did you do?”
I wasn’t aware that I had done anything.
Mom helpfully fills Dad and I both in one what she’s talking about. “Esther plans on going back to work as soon as she can.”
Dad glares at me.
“Thea said I should…” I say weakly, but maybe that’s unfair. Thea has been drugged up since our arrival at the hospital. I have no idea if she means any of what she’s said, or if she’s going to wake up tomorrow and the entirety of today will be a blur.
“What Thea thinks you should do and what is right are very different things,” Mom says. “Thea wouldn’t abandon you like this.”
If our roles were reversed, Thea wouldn’t even use an excuse as serious as work. Shoe shopping would probably be more important than visiting me in the hospital. She didn’t even come visit my Iris until she was 8 months old.
“We raised you better than to abandon family,” Dad says.
Guilt takes hold inside of me. Am I being a bad daughter, a worse sister?
