Page 27 of Valley Girls
He laughed and looked at it briefly, before shoving it back into his pocket. “Gotta go save some lives,” he said.
“Ugh. I hate you. Get out of here, with your gloating.” Thea hit him on the head with the tea box still in her hand.
“This isn’t over.” He pointed to Rilla, with a glint of teasing in his eyes. “Hopefully, I’ll make it back alive to finish.”
“Get out of here, drama queen. Stop flirting with my sister.” Thea opened the door. “Don’t fuck anything up.”
He saluted, picking up speed down the steps and disappearing into the night at a jog.
“Was he flirting with me?” Rilla asked, totally unable to help herself and trying very hard to keep her voice nonchalant.
“He flirts with everyone,” Thea said. She disappeared into the kitchen and reappeared a second later with two mugs. “I’ll finish his hand.”
“Thanks,” Rilla said, taking the mug and picking up her cards. She was almost afraid to breathe—sitting here, drinking tea with her sister. It was everything she’d wanted California to be, deep down. Maybe the tide was turning. She looked at the cards and tried to come up with something to say. “Why do they use pagers?”
“The cliffs do weird things to digital signals.”
“Pagers aren’t like cell phones?” Rilla asked.
“No.” Thea frowned at the cards and picked one out. “They use radio signals.”
“Oh. So, how come you can’t go?”
“It’s not my job.”
“How come? If it’s something you love ...” Rilla eyed her sister. Thea looked annoyed. Which could be her questions, or could be her hand.
“It’s really hard to get a position like that.” Thea tossed her cards with a sigh. “I don’t have anything.”
Rilla dropped her cards. “Do you want to play again?”
Thea yawned. “Mmm ... I need to sleep. Maybe tomorrow?”
Rilla nodded and started gathering the cards. All she kept trying to do was engage her sister. To talk like they used to. But she kept doing the wrong thing, somehow. It felt like Thea would rather be anywhere other than with her. She’d sat here and ate with Walker, played poker with Walker, laughed, and been herself. This curt person who needed to go to bed wasn’t Thea. Rilla was doing something wrong still. Maybe it was just that she was a walking reminder of everything Thea didn’t want to remember.
“Do you ever want to go back to West Virginia?” Rilla asked, turning on the bench. “Seriously?”
Thea paused at the beginning of the hall. “No.” She yawned again. “Good night.”
Never.
Rilla stared at the cards in her hands.
“You two make me feel like I need to call my sister,” someone said.
Rilla jerked up.
Lauren—the ranger with the dark hair and tattoos—sat in a corner on her laptop. Rilla hadn’t noticed her.
“Yay,” Rilla muttered.
Lauren just smiled and shook her head, still focused on the screen. She wore a big T-shirt, the thick glasses she’d been wearing before, and her hair in a messy ponytail, like she was ready for bed—except she was still wearing her uniform pants. “She loves you.”
Rilla shrugged. It wasn’t that she doubted her sister’s love. But right now, it just felt like a love stretched thin, without much substance for the everyday.
“My little sister is the good one.” Lauren clicked and peered at the screen. “She’s a nurse with two adorable kids. Mom never wants to visit me.” She rolled her eyes to the messy cabin. “Can’t imagine why,” she said dryly.
“Yeah. I’ll just be out ...” Rilla said quietly, putting the cards on the table. She dug out her phone and headed to the porch.
