Lowcountry Boneyard by Susan M. Boyer Read Free Book Online Page B

blonde as mine, highlights courtesy of Phoebe over at Phoebe’s Day Spa, just like mine. Her eyes were the identical shade of cobalt blue she, Blake, and I all got from Mamma. Strangers immediately made us for sisters. I was taller by four inches and didn’t care to reflect on the difference in weight. Merry was more petite, is what I’m saying.
    We had a complicated relationship. In most respects, our ideas and perspectives were so aligned we often finished each other’s sentences. Sometimes I picked up the phone to call her and the phone rang before I had a chance to dial. The things we agreed on, we agreed on with zeal. We both did our dead level best to avoid topics on which we disagreed because the fallout was not pretty. My sister was a mule. No doubt she’d call me worse.
    On the way home from The Cracked Pot, I called Merry. When she answered, I said, “According to Moon Unit, you have a new boyfriend.”
    “Are you coming to dinner at Mamma and Daddy’s Saturday night?”
    “Yes, but I still don’t understand why we’re having dinner on a Saturday night. What disrupted the Sunday and occasional Wednesday night schedule?”
    “My new boyfriend. He has to fly out of Charlotte Sunday afternoon.”
    “He’s coming to dinner Saturday night?”
    “Yeah. You’ll really like him.” I could hear her smiling.
    “And you were going to tell me about him…when?” Hurt and confusion battled for the upper hand in my head.
    “I’d planned on telling you Saturday night when I introduced you.”
    I pondered that for a moment. My sister and I didn’t have many secrets from each other. “Why didn’t you tell me when you met him? How long have you been seeing this guy? It must be serious if you’re introducing him to Mamma and Daddy. And Blake.” Our older brother was the Stella Maris chief of police. He took his brotherly duties just as seriously as his professional ones.
    “I met him a few months ago on a plane to DC. I was going to a conference. He was going to a different conference. He’s an investment banker—municipalities—based in Charlotte. I didn’t mention him because at first I didn’t see this going anywhere. I can’t do the long distance thing.”
    “I can’t believe you. I’m cut to the bone.”
    “What, because of the comment on long distance relationships? I’m happy it works for you. I just can’t do it.”
    It wasn’t working out all that great for me, either. “No—don’t play innocent with me. Because you’re seeing someone who clearly means a lot to you and you haven’t mentioned him to me at all . What the hell, Merry?” I was unaccustomed to being an outsider in my sister’s life and I didn’t care for the feeling the teensiest bit.
    “That is odd, isn’t it?”
    “ Merry …”
    “What’s the first thing you would’ve done?”
    I had a clear vision of exactly what this occasion should have looked like. I felt robbed of a memory I should’ve had. “Well, I would’ve liked to’ve shared a bottle of wine with you on the deck under the stars while you told me all the juicy details. I cannot be lieve you wouldn’t tell me first.”
    “What’s the second thing you would have done?”
    “What?” What kind of fool question was that?
    “What. Is. The. Second. Thing. You. Would. Have. Done?”
    “I don’t know…” I squinched up my face.
    “Okay. If I’d told Blake, what do you think he would have done straight off?”
    “He would’ve run a detailed background check.”
    “Ding, ding, ding!”
    “I would never—oh, hell’s bells. Of course I would have done exactly the same thing.” I huffed out a sigh. “But I would’ve had your best interests at heart.”
    “I know. And I love that about you. I really, really wanted to tell you. Only I didn’t want either of you picking through his life until you knew more about him than I did.”
    Okay, I was slightly mollified because she’d wanted to tell me but couldn’t because of my protective