Page 10 of Dull
“You’re my sister’s.That is who you’re supposed to marry.Not me.I’m the spare.The backup plan.Did you know my parents didn’t want me?”she asked.She didn’t wait for a response.“They got pregnant and were hoping for another son.I’ve got an older brother.You know that, right?Anyway, she was pregnant with a girl, and that was little old me.They didn’t need another girl, but they decided to have one.They would joke that I was the spare in case something happened to Isa—my sister.”
He had noticed she never called her sister by her name.
“Yep, I’m the spare, and as I grew up, I was the disappointment.I didn’t have beautiful, long blonde hair.I was a brunette.Boring and dull brown.I was not beautiful like my sister.She was a looker.”Clarissa sighed.“I was nothing but a disappointment.My sister was my best friend, though.She would call me ‘Mousey.’We saw a garden mouse, and it was so happy, and it would run around all the time.She said I was like that.Always talking.Always making noise.I was her little mouse.”
Lorenzo held her.
“I miss her so much,” Clarissa said.“She made me feel loved and wanted.Like Grandma.”
He kissed the top of her head.
“But you’re not mine.You’re not supposed to be mine.You’re meant to marry my sister, not me.I’m here because I was the one that should have died that day.”
“Don’t,” he said.
“It should have been me.The ugly sister.The fat one.”
He pulled her close, because he couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to her.There was no way he could tell her that he was glad she was his.He knew of her sister, but never met her.The engagement had been agreed to when the girl was fifteen.Like with Clarissa, he hadn’t wanted to meet his bride as a freaking child.He fought against the marriage, as he didn’t want a young bride.
Now he had Clarissa, and he had fallen for every part of her.He wanted to get to know all of her.Her grandmother had told him that one day, she hoped Clarissa would finally open up.He wanted that too, more than anything.But so far, that wasn’t happening.
“I’m going to be sick.”
And like all the other times, Clarissa couldn’t handle the alcohol, and he signaled to the driver to pull over.He learned the hard way the first time.
The moment the car came to a stop, he opened the door and held her out of it, pulling back her hair.Again, all a learning curve he had come to deal with.
She started to throw up, and he rubbed her back with his free hand.He would happily clean up her sick, especially if it meant he got to enjoy the warmth she never gave him as well as the truth, when she was sober.
Chapter Four
“I’m never drinkingagain,” Clarissa said.
“Maybe we should stop saying that,” Lorenzo said.
She groaned.“This time, I mean it.”
