As they exchanged numbers, Shelley said, “Do you need a ride to the ferry?”
“Yes, if you don’t mind. Thank you,” Cait said, sounding more at ease. “I took an Uber here.”
“No problem.” Shelley turned to Abby and Deirdra and said, “Jules is anxious to stop by and see you.”
Shelley had three daughters, Sutton, Leni—Abby’s bestie—and Jules, and three sons, Jock, Archer, and Levi. Jock, Archer, and Jules lived on the island.
“We know,” Abby and Deirdra said in unison.
“She sent a group text trying to set up a girls’ night.” Jules was the queen of group texts. “But everyone is so busy, we haven’t been able to coordinate schedules.”
“My little social butterfly keeps the island girls hopping,” Shelley mused. “Just you wait, Cait. Jules will sweep you into her net, too.”
“That ought to be interesting.” Cait picked up her chair and said, “Is it okay if I help put these things away before we go?”
“Of course,” Shelley said.
As Abby and Cait carried their chairs inside, Abby said, “Cait?”
“Yeah?” She turned, her eyes moving over Abby’s shoulder to Shelley and Deirdra talking on the patio.
“I was wondering if you have other siblings . . . or if you want siblings . . . ?”
“I don’t have any siblings, but . . .” She stood up taller, her gaze filling with confidence. “I know your mother threw us all for a loop—”
“Our mother, Cait. I don’t see you as an outsider.”
“Right. Okay. Thank you, but I don’t want you to feel like you have to include me in the business, the inheritance, or your lives. You don’t have to get to know me just because your mother made a mistake.”
“First of all, don’t refer to yourself as a mistake. Second, as far as the business goes, it’s one-third yours. Whatever happens to it will be one-third your decision.” She was surprised by her vehemence, but Abby didn’t like anyone feeling uncomfortable . . . ever, and this was her sister. “If our mom thought you were a mistake, I don’t think we’d be standing here right now. I don’t feel pressure to get to know you. I want to get to know you. We’re sisters, Cait, and that means something to me. It’s a special connection, and yes, it’s new for all of us, but it’s not unwanted. You’re not unwanted. Are we? Deirdra and I?”
Cait’s lips pressed into a firm line as she shook her head. “I don’t have any siblings, but I don’t want pity.”
Abby knew all about not wanting to be pitied. When she was younger and all her friends were playing and she and Deirdra were helping their mother at the restaurant because it was either that or starve, she hadn’t wanted pity, either.
“The hell with pity.” Abby rarely cursed, but this called for it. “How about friendship?”
“I could use a few friends.”
“Good, because so can we. My sister—our sister—and I are workaholics, but Deirdra is even worse than me. And now you know she’s not a warm and fuzzy person. But she’s pretty fantastic anyway, and before Mom spiraled into alcoholism, Dee was a whole different person. We both were. Maybe you can help us find ourselves again.”
“I barely know who I am half the time,” Cait said flatly.
“That makes two of us. And you know what? Mom did throw us all for a loop. She was good at that, so maybe I’m used to it. But we share a mother, and who knows what else we have in common. We could have gone our whole lives without knowing about each other. Bringing us together was a purposeful move on her part.” Abby looped her arm around Cait as they walked toward the door and said, “You were no mistake, Cait. You’re our gift, and maybe we’re yours.”
Cait’s eyes pooled with emotion.
“Shelley said she has something else for us,” Deirdra said as she carried a chair into the restaurant.
“Okay. Let’s get the last chair and the table inside first.”
As they walked outside, Cait said, “You’re not freaked out by all this?”
“Sure I am. But when you grow up with an alcoholic parent, you learn that you can handle a lot more than you ever thought possible. Besides, my boring life needed a little upending.”
“Maybe we do have a few other things in common,” Cait said.
Abby carried the last chair inside, and then the three of them moved the table, and she locked up the restaurant.
“Okay, ladies. I know your heads are probably spinning, but Ava left you each one more thing.” Shelley pulled three envelopes out of her bag and handed one to each of them.
Abby’s chest constricted at the sight of her name written in her mother’s loopy handwriting on the front of the envelope. She thought back to the notes her mother used to put in her lunches, but like everything else, that had stopped after Abby’s father died. She pressed the envelope to her chest, reveling in the good feelings, hoping the letter would shed more light on Cait and their mother’s thoughts in her last few weeks.
“I’ll get right on opening it,” Deirdra said sarcastically as she shoved the letter into her purse with the other documents.
Cait stared at the envelope, running her fingers over her name.
Shelley touched her arm and said, “It must be weird to see your birth mother’s handwriting for the first time.”
A spark of amusement rose in Cait’s eyes, and she said, “Almost as weird as meeting my sisters for the first time.”
When they hugged Cait goodbye, she was more at ease than she’d been at first. Abby waved from the parking lot as Shelley drove away with Cait.
“Wow, Dee,” Abby said. “We have another sister.”
“Did she look like Mom? I think she looked like Mom. Her cheekbones, her eyes?”
“I noticed that, too. I can’t believe Mom never said anything.”
Deirdra rolled her eyes. “Why are you always surprised by her inability to do the right thing? She failed us for nineteen years.” She leaned against the side of the car, looking at the restaurant, and said, “We’re going to sell this dump, right?”
Abby knew they would never agree, but maybe they didn’t need to. Deirdra had worked hard for her career, and she seemed to love it despite the endless hours. Abby had long ago become disenchanted with the reality of working under someone else’s thumb. She gazed at the Bistro, seeing something so different from what her sister saw and remembering happier times—times that even all these years later, she’d never again come close to experiencing. She didn’t want to forget them.
She wanted to bring them back.
A flutter of excitement rose inside her, and she realized that what Deirdra saw as a burden, she saw as their legacy.
“I can do this, Dee,” she said confidently. “I can bring Dad’s restaurant back to life, and you won’t have to give up anything.”
“I hope you’re kidding. Abby, you’ve come so far. Let this go. You’ll lose money hand over fist, and I don’t want to see you get hurt, or lost, or go broke.”
“I’ve been hurt before and still landed on my feet. I was lost when I first went to New York, but I found my way, and I might go broke, but I believe in myself. I think I can do this and turn a profit. I want to do this, Dee.”