Page 98 of Little Bitter Truths
The four of us chitchatted about other things for a while, and the food arrived a short time later.For a few minutes, everyone focused on eating.Then Renee set down her fork and looked at Mia.
“Do you remember the family reunion at Grandpa’s house when we were kids?”she asked.
Mia looked up.“Which one?”
“The summer it was so hot all the adults stayed inside, and we spent the whole day in the pool.”
A faint smile crossed Mia’s lips.“I remember.”
“You and Wren kept swimming to the deep end,” Renee said.“I was too scared to follow.”
“You were little.”
“I was seven,” Renee said.“Old enough to be embarrassed I couldn’t join you two.Wren kept coming back for me.Every time I tried to swim closer to the two of you and panicked, she’d swim back and tell me I didn’t have to go all the way.”
Mia looked to the side as if recalling the memory.
Renee’s voice grew quieter.“I loved that about her.She never made me feel stupid for being afraid.”
“No,” Mia said.“She wouldn’t.”
“You were so much braver,” Renee said.“You’d swim all the way across and back before I even made it past the steps.I used to want to be part of whatever you and Wren had.I knew you were sisters, and I knew that made it different, but I always wished …”
She stopped herself.
“You always wished what?”Mia asked.
“That there had been more room in your lives for me too.”
The table went quiet, and Bryan stared down at his chowder, as if giving the two of them space.
Mia placed a hand on Renee’s shoulder.“I should have been a better cousin.”
“I’m just happy we’re connecting now,” Renee said.
“Me too.”
Renee, perhaps uncomfortable with the weight of the conversation, reached for her water and changed the subject.“So, besides the neighbor with the missing dog, are there any other suspects?”
Mia let out a small, bitter laugh.“There’s one.His name is Jeremy.”
I looked at her, surprised she’d brought him up.
“Who’s Jeremy?”Renee asked.
“A master class in why I should never be allowed to choose men unsupervised.”
“You don’t have to talk about him,” I said.
“It’s fine.”She looked at Renee.“Remember Christian?My ex?”
She nodded.“Wren told me you had a bit of trouble with him after the breakup.”
“When Christian and I were together, he wasn’t close to his brother, Jeremy, who only learned about me after Christian died.”
Renee went still.“Christian’s dead?”
“He died in a car accident a couple of months ago.I didn’t know until yesterday.No one told me.”
