Torn - Part Three (The Torn Series) by Ellen Callahan Read Free Book Online

barely registered on her face. She looked like she wasn’t even listening.
     
    “All right,” I said finally, “Let me throw my stuff upstairs and I’ll get started.”
     
    “Try not to make a mess, I just finished cleaning.”
     
    This time, Katherine sighed.
     
    ○●○●○●○●○
     
    “Why don’t you move out?” I asked my sister. She’d followed me upstairs to watch me settle into my old room, presumably to make sure I didn’t make a mess, but what exactly was I going to do? Knock the photos askew on the walls? Immediately empty my purse on the floor? I wasn’t even planning on unpacking my bag.
     
    “I can’t exactly afford to. Not on a substitute teacher’s paycheck.”
     
    “I couldn’t afford to but I did it anyway.”
     
    She frowned. “You had Tyler. It’s much easier when you have someone to share living expenses with.”
     
    So find a friend. Get online and find a roommate. We’d had this conversation before and all of my ideas were met with roadblocks. Truth was, Katherine was afraid that our mother couldn’t take care of herself. It wasn’t true - the woman was just a master manipulator. I just hadn’t been able to make Katherine see it that way, yet.
     
    I changed the subject instead. “Tyler and I broke up.”
     
    “Oh?” She sat on the edge of my bed. “What happened?”
     
    “It’s complicated.” She remained sitting at attention with sisterly interest - a rarity between us. So I tried to continue. “He broke up with me because he didn’t like my new friends and the band I was playing with and, well, he just didn’t like going out much in general. Then he wanted to get back together but I’d already moved on.”
     
    “Moved on? You found a new guy?”
     
    “Just a casual thing,” I shrugged. I didn’t want to get into that, no matter how much I was enjoying Katherine’s interest. “Anyway, I’m done with Tyler.”
     
    “Shame,” she said, “He was going places.”
     
    There was the sister I knew. “Yeah, he’ll have a big fancy career and I’ll keep on being a loser bartender,” I said, waving my hand.
     
    “Stop, you’re not a loser.” She stood. “You’re just young. I’m the loser.”
     
    The mean sister part of me answered yes, but the other part of me was horrified. This wasn’t like Katherine at all. How much had I missed while I was avoiding the family?
     
    I didn’t pry, though I wanted to. Instead I hugged her. “Don’t say that. Neither of us are losers, okay?”
     
    She sniffled and pushed me away. “Come on. You can help me get everything ready for tomorrow. You’re on desserts, right? If Dad’s coming we’ll need cake, he doesn’t like pie, and if his sister and the kids are coming, we’ll need cookies…” I let her ramble as I followed her back down the stairs. I was definitely going to have to pull more information from her when the time was right. Maybe after Mom drank herself to sleep. I nodded to myself; that would be for the best. I’d take Katherine out someplace and find out what exactly was going on in her life. Obviously something was bothering her. And I could be a good sister for a change, or at least try.
     
    Because I certainly didn’t want our relationship to wind up as bad as Mallet’s with his brother. I couldn’t imagine us reduced to violence at a diner, but it was easy to see how we could lose touch completely outside of holidays. We could become strangers. I didn’t want to come home but I didn’t want that, either.
     
    ○●○●○●○●○
     
    Some pies and potatoes later, I finally got my sister alone. We had to help our mother up the stairs to her bedroom first as her words slurred and her slippers fell off.
     
    “You did remember to pick up the turkey?” she asked for what must have been the third time.
     
    “Yes, Mom,” Katherine said, helping ease her onto the edge of her bed. She sat and observed us with unfocused eyes.
     
    “My girls,” she said, and