Chapter 8
Julia went up to the third floor to the small room she’d shared with Katie two nights ago. Katie had been superstitious about seeing Shane before the wedding and had asked to stay with Julia for her last night as a single woman.
Although, technically, her last night as a single woman had been the day before Owen and Laura’s wedding.
Katie and Shane had been together pretty much from the moment he’d rescued her from a rip current at the beach outside the Surf, where the Lawry siblings had been swimming their entire lives.
That’d been a close call, and it still made Julia shudder to think about how suddenly her sister could’ve been taken from them.
As she changed into a bikini, tank and denim cutoff shorts, Julia thought about that day and the roller coaster of emotions she’d experienced after hearing what’d nearly happened to Katie on the same day their beloved Owen had married Laura.
Julia had survived a lot in her life. She never would’ve survived losing Katie. Suffice to say that Shane had had her at hello with what he’d done for Katie—for all of them—that day.
After living in a state of perpetual disaster for most of their childhood, the Lawrys had already had more than their share. Certainly, in the grand scheme of things, they were due some good karma after everything they’d already been through.
Julia was ready for some good karma. Any time now.
A knock sounded at the door. She opened it to find Katie standing there.
“Hey, what’s up?” Leaving the door open, Julia went back to tossing sunscreen, a hat, sweatshirt and hotel towel into a beach bag. “I thought you’d be off honeymooning.”
Katie came in and closed the door. “We’re not leaving until tomorrow.”
They were going to Ireland, which was another reason to be envious of her twin. Julia had always wanted to go to Ireland. “You must be excited for the trip.”
“We are. But I’m worried about you.”
Julia glanced at Katie over her shoulder. “How come?”
“You left in the middle of my wedding without saying a word to anyone, for one thing.”
“I’m sorry about that. I just needed to get some air.”
“Because my wedding was so stifling?”
Julia closed her eyes, counted silently to five and then turned to face her sister. “Not at all. I was just feeling emotional and took a breather.”
“Why were you feeling emotional?”
“Other than the fact that my twin sister and lifelong best friend was getting married?”
“Yeah, other than that.”
Here was the one person Julia couldn’t dodge, couldn’t fool and couldn’t escape. She sat on her bed, exhaling. “Things have been kind of complicated at home since you left.”
Katie sat on the other bed. “How so?”
Julia bit her bottom lip as she tried to think about how to say it without making Katie feel bad for leaving. “It’s just different.”
“Stop hedging and tell me what you mean.”
“I miss you, okay? Nothing is the same without you there, and I didn’t want to say that because I don’t want you to feel bad about leaving. I totally get why you stayed here after Owen’s wedding. And look at you now. An old married lady.”
Katie moved from her bed to Julia’s and put her arm around her sister, leaning her head on Julia’s shoulder. “Just because I’m married now doesn’t mean I’m not still your sister, your bestie, your twin. I’m right here, Jule. Right where I’ve always been.”
That wasn’t true, but Julia wasn’t about to say so, not when her sister was so happy in her new life. She would never want to say or do anything to detract from Katie’s happiness. “I know.”
“You didn’t eat anything this morning.”
“I wasn’t hungry. Too much champagne yesterday.”
“You didn’t eat anything at the wedding either.”
“I did, too.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Weren’t you too busy being married to watch me all day?”
“What’s going on? And don’t say it’s nothing. I know the signs by now.”
Not only did Katie know her better than anyone, she was a family nurse practitioner and had been aware of Julia’s eating disorders from the beginning. In fact, Katie had been the one to sound the alarm the first time Julia ended up in the hospital.
“I’ve had a rough couple of months. Nothing to worry about, but there’s been some stress. I’m managing it.”
“By not eating?”
“I’ve been eating. I promise.”
“When? When was the last time you had something substantial to eat?”
Julia had to think about that and knew there was no sense in trying to hide the truth from her twin. “Yesterday before the wedding.”
“That’s almost twenty-four hours ago, Julia. You know full well that’s too long.” From her purse, Katie withdrew a banana and handed it to Julia.
Julia took it from her, reminded of the many times Katie had convinced her in the past to eat by giving her a banana, knowing how Julia had always loved them.
She peeled the banana and took a bite, forcing herself to chew and swallow.
“It was one bad day. I promise to get back on track today. You should go be with your husband. He’s probably wondering where you are. ”
“He knows where I am.”
“Did you tell him your crazy sister was off the rails again and you had to perform an intervention?” Julia immediately regretted the harsh words, but it was too late to take them back.
“Not at all. I told him I wanted to spend some time with you before you have to leave.”
“I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that. I swear I’m fine. There’s nothing to worry about. Also, I’m not leaving right away. I was thinking I might stick around for the summer.”
Katie’s pretty face lit up with a huge smile. “Really? That’s great news!” Then she sobered once again. “However… I don’t believe you when you say you’re fine. I’ve seen fine, and I’ve seen not fine. This looks more like the latter to me. Maybe Shane and I should postpone our trip—”
“No! Absolutely not!”
“Then I’m going to need you to do something for me.”
“What?” Julia would do just about anything to not be the reason they postponed their honeymoon.
“Two things, actually. One, I want you to agree to see David or Victoria at the clinic for a full workup in the next few days, including blood work. And two, if you’re going to be here for the summer, I want you to start seeing Shane’s uncle Kevin.
He’s a brilliant psychiatrist with an office right here on the island. ”
Julia didn’t want to do either of those things, but if it meant that Katie wouldn’t postpone her trip because of her, she’d do it. “Fine.”
“Swear to God?”
Julia fully understood the importance of Katie asking her to swear to God. In their family, there was no greater measure of assurance. “I swear to God.”
“Good, because I’m going to check when I get back to make sure you were seen at the clinic.”
“Are you allowed to do that?”
“To check on a patient? Absolutely.”
“Go on your trip. Don’t worry about me. I promise I’m okay.”
“Don’t fall down this rabbit hole again, Julia. You’ve worked so hard to get off the merry-go-round. Please, if not for yourself, then for everyone who loves you, please take care of yourself before it gets out of control again.”
“I will. I am. It’s under control.”
Katie gave her a skeptical look that Julia knew she deserved. How many times in the past had she sworn to her sister that things were under control when they weren’t? And they weren’t now, but there was no way she was going to let her issues ruin this happy time for Katie.
Her sister withdrew her phone and started tapping away.
“What’re you doing?”
“Logging into the appointment system to get you scheduled. You want David or Vic?”
Realizing there was no point in objecting, Julia sighed. “Vic, I guess.”
After some more tapping, Katie said, “Tomorrow at three?”
“Okay.”
She continued to tap away.
“What’re you doing now?”
“Telling Vic that I made an appointment for you and to let me know if you don’t show.”
Julia bit back a stinging retort. “I said I’ll go, and I will.” She made an effort to keep from snapping at Katie.
“I just texted Shane’s uncle Kevin about scheduling you. I sent him your number, and he’ll get in touch when he gets a minute. He and his wife just had a baby, so it might be a couple of days. I expect you to respond to him, do you hear me?”
“Anything else?”
“You may as well know that I’m going to tell Owen to keep an eye on you.”
“Come on, Katie! I don’t need anyone keeping an eye on me.”
Katie raised a brow. “No? Do you honestly think I’m going to stand by and allow this to happen again? If you want us out of your business, take care of yourself. That’s nonnegotiable.”
Owen and Katie had saved her life once before, and Julia knew there was no point in arguing with Katie. If Julia wanted her sister to leave on her honeymoon as scheduled—and she did—then she had to go along with Katie’s demands. “Fine. Whatever. Go on your trip and don’t worry about me.”
Katie put her arm around Julia and leaned her forehead against Julia’s. “I will always worry about you, and I’ll always love you, and I’ll always, always want you to be my very best friend, even now that I’m married.”
The heartfelt words triggered a groundswell of emotion that Julia was powerless to contain.
“Please don’t tell me you ever doubted that,” Katie said softly as she held Julia while she wept.
“No, not really. It’s just that everything is different now.”
“Everything that matters is exactly as it has always been, exactly as it will always be.”
Julia clung to her sister and her assurances. Did Katie have any idea how much Julia needed to hear that?
Katie pulled back from their embrace and wiped the tears from Julia’s face. “So what’s up with Blaine’s smoking-hot brother?”
“Is he smoking hot? I hadn’t noticed.”
Katie laughed and nudged her with her shoulder. “Sure you haven’t. What gives?”
“Nothing. I just met him yesterday. We had some fun at the wedding, which he crashed, by the way.”
“I wondered where he’d come from. From what I hear, he and his brother don’t get along.”
“Yeah, he said that. But they’re going to be working together this summer, so that ought to be interesting.”
“Do you, you know… like him?”
“As anything more than a friend? Nope.”
“Why not?”