Chapter 15
Thea texted her niece as soon as Crissy stopped crying on her shoulder. It took less than a minute for her to respond.
I’m okay. I just needed to get off that shrinking island.
Call your mom.
Thea couldn’t blame her niece for leaving, but she didn’t need to storm off.
She thought it had been hard being known as the pizza girl, but her parents were honest, hardworking people who most everyone on the island loved.
And being such a touristy spot, the pizza being so fresh and baked in the famous brick oven her father had built with his own two hands, the locals took pride in their very special local pizzeria.
“She just texted me,” Thea announced to her sister. Crissy sat on Sophia’s couch next to Dean, who now held her.
“What did she say?” Crissy asked after she blew her nose, clearly heartbroken.
“She says she’s okay.” Thea sat down on the other side of Crissy. “She just needs some space. Remember when you needed space?”
Crissy had taken off for college one fall and hadn’t returned until Christmas that same year.
Thea had felt so hurt that Crissy had chosen to leave home.
Being nine years younger, she hadn’t understood that’s what people did in regular households; she couldn’t comprehend why Crissy would want to leave after graduation.
Not in the Manus household. Family stuck together.
It had been drilled into her head by her mother and father, only for her to be left alone for most of her life.
Crissy’s shoulders fell even farther down. “I hated living under our parents’ roof. That’s why.”
The admission felt hurtful but immediately made Thea feel a deep-seated anger she had pushed down years ago because she, too, had felt that desire to abandon ship.
Family or not, living under Nico and Athena Manus had not been easy.
But unlike Crissy, who’d gotten to leave for college and then for marriage, Thea’d had to stay.
Thea resented Crissy for being able to escape the way she had by marrying Scott.
It wasn’t like Thea hadn’t wanted her own prince to come and save her from limitless menial chores, but she hadn’t been willing to sacrifice her soul for a guy like Scott or Johnny or anyone she had met until that point.
She had to fight Nico Manus every step of the way through college.
He hadn’t thought she should attend a higher learning institution, because she wasn’t “book-smart” like Crissy.
According to her mother, she lived in the clouds.
But why live in the real world when you could be scraping burnt cheese from pizza trays and washing dishes all day?
But she’d stayed because that’s what had been expected—never for Crissy.
Thea had been forced to stay until she could afford to start her own business, which had taken years of saving and working, and saving and working.
Crissy had had the privilege of leaving with a husband, living her life without even bothering to help with their parents and their increasing needs as they’d gotten older.
It’d just been left up to Thea to take them to their doctor’s appointments or to the mainland when they had something they needed to do, like hair appointments or shopping.
It was Thea who’d taken time off when their mother had had a knee replacement, even though Crissy had been a stay-at-home mother.
Athena and Nico hadn’t even bothered to ask her.
It had just been expected that the unwed daughter had nothing better to do.
Crissy hiccuped. “I can’t believe she’s missing the wedding.”
“I think it’s best she misses the wedding,” Thea said, thinking about the breakup. “She wants Jason to enjoy himself. It’s about his new family. It would just be awkward.”
“Are you taking her side on this?” Crissy stopped crying and faced Thea.
She narrowed her eyes as if Thea were suddenly the enemy.
Thea hadn’t seen that look in a while. Not since she was Mrs. Scott Gagnon.
“She should just skip Sophia’s wedding after everything this family has done for her?
Why didn’t you stop her? Oh, that’s right. You always want to be the cool aunt.”
“Excuse me?” Thea tried to remember where all of this was coming from. Crissy was upset about her daughter leaving. “Why are you upset with me? I was out for the night.”
“You didn’t even tell me what was going on when she was staying at your house,” Crissy said. “I didn’t even know she’d broken up with Jason.”
Thea didn’t see how any of this was her fault. “Then that’s on you. If Arielle wants you to know, then she’ll tell you.”
Crissy’s mouth dropped, and she let out a shocked single laugh. “Well, maybe if you were a mother, you’d understand where I’m coming from.”
Thea looked around the room. It was full of Crissy and Sophia’s new group of friends.
Sophia, Dean, Patrick, Mrs. Taylor, and Principal Wilson.
They were all there, concerned for Arielle and worried for Crissy.
Their loyalty ran deep for Crissy. By the way they were looking at her, it appeared that they also felt as though Thea should have done something differently.
Thea had once overheard her sister tell a local resident about moving in with Sophia and how well their families had blended together. She had told him she considered them “more family than her real family.” Thea had thought that’d been the worst betrayal until maybe right about now.
“I’ve got to go.” Thea didn’t look at her sister as she got up, just straight ahead. She wouldn’t let her see her tears. She wouldn’t fall apart in front of these people and have them feel sorry for her.
She turned the doorknob as Crissy began to apologize.
“Thea, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that.”
But she had said it. And the words coming out of a scorned mother who felt she sat amongst a traitor was as honest as they came.
She didn’t think Thea was anything other than the “fun” aunt.
She’d chosen Sophia to live with not only because there was clearly more space, but because the truth was, Crissy and Thea had never really had much of a sisterhood like the two best friends.
In fact, if someone were to ask Thea who were more like sisters, Sophia and Crissy or she and Crissy, she’d honestly not be able to answer, because on this island, blood is thinner than saltwater.
Thea ran to her apartment. She didn’t even slow down when she reached the steps and saw Johnny standing there.
“Thea, please. I need to talk to you,” he said, with his hands together in a pleading motion as she passed right by him.
“Leave me alone, Johnny,” she said, running up the steps to her door. She wished she’d left it unlocked so she wouldn’t have to slow down with Johnny coming up from behind.
“I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I can’t work.” Johnny’s voice sounded raspy.
She turned around, fast, making him almost slam into her. She locked her eyes onto his and held them there until he was inches from her. His eyes had heavy bags underneath and were bloodshot. He looked even more pathetic than she remembered.
“I don’t want to see you again.” She didn’t move toward her door but continued to stare him down. “Do you understand?”
“You can’t mean that!” he cried out, sounding like a child not getting his way. But he didn’t move. He stood on the step below her.
He cried harder. “I love you.”
“You need to leave, Johnny.” She backed up another step.
Again, he didn’t move; he just fell onto his knees right there on her apartment steps and cried. “I love you. I will do whatever it takes to show you how much I love you.”
Was this how it went? All she had to have done all these years was break up with him? She’d wanted to curse him, not put a spell on him. She’d wanted karma to come back and burn him just like he’d done to her.
“I hope nothing but the best for you,” she said instead, as the burning behind her eyes became too much.
She turned and ran up to her door, shoving the key into the hole and twisting without any problem.
The door, which usually jammed in the humidity, swung open easily, sending a breeze into the room and lifting up a piece of paper off the table.
She slammed the door behind her, locked it shut, then turned to watch the paper slowly float down to the floor.
Dear Auntie Thea, it started, written in Arielle’s handwriting.
Was she just the fun aunt who’d let this kid use her to get back at her mother?
She didn’t know how she felt about the whole situation anymore.
A few hours ago, she’d thought she had been a good example for her niece, and now she was just someone who didn’t know anything about children.
A barren cat lady.
She fell on her bed, where Salty and Foggy snuggled together. She spooned the two cats at the bottom of her bed and let the tears fall silently as Salty nestled closer to her.
She looked at the clock. The bar at the inn had just closed fifteen minutes prior.
Her apartment happened to be on Johnny’s way back home, if he had done his usual night out.
And Johnny was, if anything, consistent when it came to going to the inn’s bar.
This plea for her to come back was just convenient.
It’s how they’d gotten to know each other as adults.
She’d poured him drinks as he’d told her about his business.
At first, his knowledge had been helpful.
He had helped her with asking Margaret about the rental property she didn’t use, securing a loan from a bank, getting references and making connections.
It had been his idea to open a gift shop that catered to tourists that came to the island.
It had also been his idea to rent out surfboards.
She thought of the times she had wished nothing more than to have him beg for her. At least she’d woken up and wasn’t that woman anymore. At least she didn’t want to be with someone who waited for her to leave to tell her he loved her.