Sisters In Love (Snow Sisters, Book One: Love in Bloom Series)

Chapter Nineteen, Sisters in Love

Chapter Nineteen

Blake’s legs bounced nervously beneath Sally’s kitchen table. The house was thick with the scent of bouquets, which covered the top of every inch of counter space in the kitchen.

Sally set a cup of coffee in front of Blake and sat down across from him. She clasped her hands around her cup and looked into the dark liquid. “Thanks for coming over,” she said.

“Sure, whatever you need. I’m happy to help, but I think before you tell me whatever it is you need to tell me, I need to talk to you about Rusty.” He’d wrestled with how to tell Sally about Rusty’s excursion all night and finally decided that the truth was the only appropriate path and that not telling her could only lead to a tangled web later.

Sally lifted her eyes. “I’m sure that whatever it is, I already know.” She looked back down into the steaming coffee.

“Sally, when I took Rusty to basketball practice the other night, he…well, he didn’t really go to practice. I know I should have said something, but with all that you’re going through—”

“I know,” she said in a flat tone.

“You know?”

She looked up with tear-filled eyes. “That’s part of what I wanted to talk to you about. Surely you knew about our problems—mine and Dave’s?”

Shit. The last thing Blake felt prepared to handle was their marital issues. “I don’t get it. As far as I knew, you and Dave were the happiest couple around. He was always carrying on about your family movie nights, Rusty’s basketball practice. Hell, getting him to spend any time away from you was like climbing Mount Everest.”

A tear slipped down Sally’s cheek. She shook her head. “Family movie night? We did that once, like date night. Dave was anything but happy, Blake.” She looked down again. “Wow. I really thought you knew.”

“No,” he said thoughtfully. “Why are you telling me all of this?”

“I’m telling you for Rusty. I know he quit basketball; the coach called me two months ago.” She swallowed hard. “But that’s also about the time that I realized Dave was really having an affair.” She wiped a tear. “Before that, I just thought, I don’t know, that something was going on, but I didn’t really know what.”

“I just can’t believe that, Sally. I mean, Dave gave me a hard time for slee—dating so many women all the time.” Did he? Or did he only egg me on? Blake couldn’t be sure anymore. “He adored you and Rusty. He said he went to every basketball practice.” Blake ran his hand through his hair and let out a long sigh. “I just don’t understand this. I feel like I’m being Punk’d or something.”

“I wish you were. Dave was really good at covering his tracks. For the first few weeks, he claimed to be leaving work late, going skiing with you at night.”

“Me? He and I hadn’t gone skiing for ages before…the accident.” Blake took a sip of his coffee and lowered his face to his hands, trying to figure out what was going on. Could he have been that blind to Dave’s charades? He lifted his head, anger bubbling into pain in his gut. Danica’s words came rushing back to him. This isn’t about you. It’s about Sally and Rusty. He remembered Kaylie’s advice of empathy. “I’m sorry that you two were having trouble,” he said with compassion. “I still don’t understand why you're telling me all of this now. I mean, Dave’s gone. There’s nothing I can do.”

She leaned her elbows on the table and then crossed her arms over her chest. Blake watched her open her mouth, then close it again, struggling to find the right words. He had an urge to hold her in his arms and tell her everything would be all right, but how could he do that when everything was not all right?