Paper Thin

I stared at the paper in my hand. No. Emma would not write bad news on her beloved purple paper. She just wouldn’t.

“Come on,” Sadie pressed. “Read it.”

I chewed my bottom lip as my fingers unfolded the letter. My eyes soaked in her familiar handwriting. It was still pretty. A memory of trying to mimic her perfect Y’s flashed through my mind before I could focus on what the letter said. I had tried for hours to get the curl right.

“What’s it say?” Sadie pulled me back to the now. I situated myself so she could read it over my shoulder, and then dropped my gaze to the paper.

Char,

I’m sick of hearing your voicemail. It’s not even set up right. You’re supposed to tell people who they have reached, not let some automated robot say a standard, cold greeting and repeat your number. It’s impersonal. Change it. Please.

Three more things:

One: Call me! Seriously.

Two: Mom is fine, so don’t worry. Although, she probably wouldn’t mind talking to you more as well.

Three: I’m getting married!!!!

The engagement party is in two weeks. Please, please come home for it.

Love,

Emma

P.S. Pick up your cell and call me. NOW!

“She’s getting married.” Sadie said the words before I could, with just the right amount of shock.

My sister was getting married. That couldn’t be right. I skimmed the letter once more. The words were there, written in her impeccable handwriting.

“When did this happen?” Sadie shouted. “Who is she even dating? You haven’t mentioned she was seeing anyone serious.” I told Sadie everything, and it was obvious from her tone she thought I had left out some vital information.

I didn’t know the answer to either of those questions. My sister didn’t have time to date, let alone find someone to marry. At least I hadn’t thought. Apparently, I had been wrong. “I don’t know.”

“So she hasn’t mentioned anyone to you?”

I thought back to our previous conversations. “No. She only talks about Mom’s doctors and nurses. Stuff like that.” Which was why I avoided her calls.

“Could be a hot, young doctor she’s been taking your mom to.”

My brows furrowed as I contemplated this. “No. She would have told me if there was a hot doctor she was interested in.” At least I thought she would. Maybe I had let us drift so far apart it wasn’t something she felt a need to inform me of. I couldn’t think of the last time when we’d discussed dating and guys.

“Could it be a hot nurse, then?” Sadie moved to sit on the edge of her bed. “There are some pretty hot male nurses nowadays. It’s not just females in the field now. Eric was in school to be a nurse.”

“I remember.” How could I forget him? He was one of the first guys Sadie dated during our freshman year here. He was also the first guy I ever met who was in school to become a nurse. Eric would be making a lot of women’s fantasies come true in the nursing ward one day. “And no, she didn’t mention any guy nurse. She hasn’t mentioned anyone to me. At all.” Why hadn’t she mentioned someone to me before now?

“Okay, this is your sign, then. You have got to pay more attention when she calls!” she chided. “There is no way she wouldn’t have said something to you about this.”

I averted my gaze to the carpeted floor of our dorm room. “I know.”

“I love you to death, Charlotte. I really do.” She slipped off her bed and moved to kneel in front of me. She smoothed her hand along my forearm while holding my stare. “But, you seriously should answer the phone and pay attention when your sister calls. What if it had been something about your mom? What would you do then?”

“I don’t know.” I could have mentioned that had been my fear from the moment my eyes landed on the envelope, but I didn’t because then she would ream me even more for my lack of relationship skills when it came to my sister.

Sadie talked to her mom every day, and her dad and brothers at least three times a week. She didn’t understand why I would keep distance between my sister and me the way I did, especially not when our mother was as sick as she was. To Sadie, this was a time when I should be calling home every day. She didn’t understand I couldn’t; I was scared to hear from Emma that Mom was getting worse.

“I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again.” Sadie stood and walked toward our shared desk. “With as sick as your mom is, the two of you should be bonding over it. No one in the world knows how you feel better than Emma.”

I closed my eyes, knowing she was right, and fell back against my mattress. I couldn’t count how many times Sadie had said those exact words to me. Each time they made me feel like the world’s shittiest sister.

“I’ve said my piece. Now I need to meet Jeff in the quad.” The sound of her moving around the dorm made me look at her. I watched as she plucked her denim jacket off the edge of her bed and flashed me a smile. “He’s taking me out to a late lunch. This is date number two.”

I sat up on my elbows and narrowed my eyes at her. “Don’t you mean number three?”

“Studying in the library does not count.” Her facial expression grew so serious I laughed.

“Okay. Sorry.” I contained my laughter. “I forgot about your ‘it’s not a date if you don’t leave campus’ rule.”

“Why do you always laugh at that? It’s good to have standards.”

“I’m not saying standards are a bad thing. I just find some of yours to be comical is all.”

“Anyway, I’m out of here. I don’t want to leave him waiting. He’s taking me to that little deli around the corner.” She adjusted the collar of her jacket and flipped her hair over her shoulders.

“Have fun.”

“I always do.” She winked over her shoulder at me before slipping out the door.

I fell back against my mattress again and let out a long sigh. My sister was getting married. I really needed to call her.

I PULLED THE DOOR to Double Shot open and stepped inside. Sadie had wanted me to be here by six thirty. However, it was nearing seven, which meant I was late like always. I realized early on in life being punctual wasn’t my thing and had grown used to it. Sadie was my alarm clock. She knew how to wake me up and get me out the door on time for most things. Tonight she had left me on my own, and I wasn’t sure why.

Double Shot was a place frequented by the students of Bradly University, but rarely by Sadie and me. Which had me wondering why we were here tonight, considering I needed to leave first thing in the morning for Parish Cove. I grimaced at the reminder, because the seven hour drive was not something I was looking forward to.

Sca

Strike two, I thought as I watched them. Jeff’s first strike had been the way he shook my hand the night I met him. My grandma—God, rest her soul—had a firmer handshake than he did. A guy should have a firm handshake, it was an unwritten man rule. Jeff’s second strike came from paying more attention to his cell than Sadie. They should be chatting, not trolling Facebook. I gave them another week, tops.

Tugging my purse higher onto my shoulder, I started toward them. I bit my bottom lip, trying to keep a smirk off my face. Sadie hated it when I tossed out predictions about her relationships. Not because she found it a

“Hey, guys, what’s up?” I slipped into the chair beside her, and hung my purse on the back. “Anything happening on Facebook I should know about?”