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

then she scoffed. Real nice, Mom.
     
    “Come on,” Katherine said once we left the room and were out of earshot, “Let’s go out. I haven’t been anywhere in ages.”
     
    “Okay,” I said, surprised. Normally my sister wouldn’t want to go anywhere with me. It seemed that she’d changed quite a bit since the last time we’d spent any time together.
     
    She drove us around in silence for a time, seemingly lost in thought. We weren’t heading in the direction of any bars that I knew of but maybe she’d found a spot of her own, a new place that had opened up recently or something. I was a little bit surprised when we pulled into a strip mall and parked in front of a coffee shop, but the place was pretty busy considering it was so close to a holiday. It was probably packed with people like us - eager to escape their families for a time and gear up for the festivities the next day.
     
    We both ordered lattes and found a quiet table by the front window. We sat and people-watched and sipped our drinks in silence for a while. It was nice to spend time together without fighting, and sometimes it seemed like the only way to keep from sniping at each other was to avoid saying anything at all. So I smiled at her over my coffee and said nothing. I still wanted to reach out to her but there was no reason to rush it.
     
    “So, bartending?” Katherine said, finally breaking the silence.
     
    “Yeah,” I said, “It’s fun, I guess. The money’s good depending on the night.”
     
    “You don’t want to do something with your degree?”
     
    “I don’t know. I haven’t really tried.” I’d done a little job-hunting when I moved to the city but nothing had come of it. I rationalized it away - a full-time office job seemed like a good way to kill all of my musical ambitions. But now I wasn’t playing music at all. Time to steer the conversation elsewhere.
     
    “What about you? Substitute teaching, you said? Do you like it?”
     
    “Yeah,” she said, a smile finally replacing her usual frown. “I love working with kids. I just wish I could find a full time position. But it’ll happen eventually.”
     
    “Anything else going on?” I asked. “I mean, is everything okay? You seem kind of… down.” I cringed as I said it, expecting some sort of snippy reply. She’d tell me to mind my own business, or blame it on me.
     
    She did neither.
     
    Instead, she placed something on the table and pushed it toward me. It looked like a poker chip, but when I squinted at it I could see that it said “3 months.”
     
    “Is that an AA chip?” I asked, barely able to keep the shock out of my voice.
     
    “Yeah,” Katherine said, nodding. “It’s why I wanted to talk to you. I have… amends to make.”
     
    I felt myself immediately tear up. After everything I’d been through, with the band, with Mal, I hadn’t shed very many tears. I just wasn’t a crying sort of girl, not generally. But there with my sister opening up like she was, I wanted to cry.
     
    Her eyes glistened back at me and she laughed. “I can’t do this if you start crying!”
     
    I laughed, too - I felt silly for getting so emotional so quickly. “I can’t help it!”
     
    She reached across the table and took my hands, squeezing them tight. “I’ll make this quick, I swear,” she said, sniffling. I nodded, and she took a deep breath. “I’m sorry that I missed your graduation. I’m sorry that I’ve been such a shitty big sister and kind of a bitch in general. I feel like I’m part of the reason you wanted to move away so quickly, but I’m so happy that you’re making it in the city. I… I’m proud of you. Even if you don’t think there’s anything to be proud of. And I hope that one day I’ll make you proud, too.”
     
    Tears were flowing freely from the both of us by the time she finished. I opened my mouth to speak, but she cut me off. “Don’t say anything!” We laughed at our tears again, wiping them away with our