Page 81 of The Texas Ranger: Saddled Up
“What?”
She gave a small shrug. “You need to realize I’m an adult now. I’m no longer a child.”
Aasia set her cup down with a click. “I realize you’re an adult. I guess old habits die hard. I felt more like your mother than your older sister.”
“Point is,” Phoebe features were strained. “I need a sister not a mother. The time has passed for that. Have you heard that Mother is getting married…again?”
“She might have mentioned it the last time we spoke, but I’ll believe it when I see it.” If she was completely honest, Aasia didn’t care one way or another. They were more like distant cousins than mother and daughter. The one thing Aasia and Phoebe could agree upon was that the time to have a maternal relationship with their mother had passed. At least they had each other. “I see you’re still sketching.” Aasia jutted her chin at the sketchbook. She had no desire to discuss their mother.
Her sigh seemed to carry the weight of the world. “I try. It’s therapeutic.”
“Is there anything I can see?”
Phoebe blinked twice like she couldn’t believe Aasia was asking. “You really want to see?”
“I do.”
Turning the book to a page, Phoebe held it up. Aasia gasped in shock. There was a lovely pencil drawing. It perfectly captured Aasia’s features. “That’s me.”
Phoebe smiled. “Yes, it is. At least it’s good enough that you can see the likeliness.” She closed the book and pushed it away.
“It’s…beautiful.” Aasia worked to keep from showing too much surprise. “Your technique, your talent, it’s amazing.”
“And you seem very astonished.”
“I’ve always believed in you and your art.” The smirk on Phoebe’s face felt like a stab to Aasia’s chest. “I did, Phoebe. It isn’t a surprise that you’ve become an amazing artist.”
“Do you remember when we found all those paint markers thrown into the dumpster and we grabbed them. We used them to paint the walls of our bedroom.” A genuine laugh escaped her. “We thought it was a Picasso. Mom wasn’t impressed.”
“Mom was never impressed with anything except her next high.” Some of the tension returned. “We had a lot of fun together in those days, you and me. We didn’t have toys, so we had to be creative. I think that was why you became an artist and I loved experimenting to see the results. I loved science and biology. I couldn’t get enough. It felt like it was the only place in my life that I felt like I had control over the results.”
“Same with my drawing. It was an escape.” She sighed, another weighty one. “And then I destroyed everything by falling for the wrong guy.”
“He was quite the charmer, wasn’t he?” Aasia met Phoebe’s gaze.
“I think we were just young and looking for something bright and shiny in this gloomy world. He turned out to be a jerk. You were right.”
“Sometimes we need to experience things for ourselves to know,” Aasia said softly.
Phoebe laid her hand on Aasia’s. “I’m sorry. Truly I am. He was a big mistake.”
“Yes, but I’ve been thinking, maybe you needed him to help get you away from here. To spread your wings. I want you to know that I wasn’t angry because you left. It hurt because you left the way you did.”
Phoebe slid her hand back. “I knew if I told you goodbye you’d never let me leave. Honestly, I probably would have changed my mind.”
“You never did like it here. Since you were little, you had big dreams of moving to a city where there was always something happening. You need to experience life. You needed more than what this town could offer. I guess I’m shocked that you came back.”
All smiles left Phoebe’s features. “It seemed like the best place to be because…I needed to be close to family.”
“Because?” Aasia saw the trepidation in her sister’s eyes. Was she sick? Was she suffering or struggling from a travesty?
“If I tell you please promise you won’t overreact,” Phoebe said in a quiet tone.
“Overreact? When have I ever overreacted?”
“When there’s no coffee in the pot.”
Aasia snorted. “I thought we squashed that?”
